Recovering seats information requested

I know some of you have had your seats recovered. Some have even done the job yourself.

I have done one seat and have a decent stapler.

Can someone point me in the right direction where I can get a new seat cover in the correct factory material - especially the right texture - to do some of mine myself?

Right now it's the Grey seats I need - at least 3 of them.

Lot's of vendors on eBay but how do I know who has the right material? Texture counts!

I have a local shop but not sure this isn't something I can handle if I can just get the right material.

Thanks!

 

Finding the same texture is very hard. You likely won't, kind of hard. If you are so concerned about texture, be prepared to be disappointment with trying to match a color other than black.

I have done LOTS of seats with covers from a few different vendors / sources. None have been an exact match, but some are pretty damn close.

Contact joemama1931 on eBay and request a sample.

If you happen to find the correct material in bulk, consider contacting a seat cover vendor and see if they will create a cover using your supplied vinyl. joemama's designs have been some of the best as far as fitting, but you will be very hard pressed to find one piece covers like stock. And if you do, good-fucking-luck getting them installed without wrinkles like from the Factory. Solo seat cowl pads are ridiculously hard to recover as well, when you remove an original one you can see that they were partially formed in some way, likely with steam(?).

 

OK thanks, Capt.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has awareness of the issue of texture. I also hate those covers that have raised seams along the edges......no bueno!

What I may do in addition to your suggestions, is get with my local shop and see what they say about trying to get the right material. They are located just up the road in Port Orange and re-did the headliners on both my Volvo and Silverado and did a great job. But much of what they do are seats and upholstery jobs - marine, motorcycles, vehicles.....

 

I think that is the correct first move.

 

I don't really like the original vinyl feel. I prefer textured a bit. To me there is nothing worse than sliding around when I want to locked in. Some day I will get to try my suede seat on the 400.

 

All of my bikes, 83 - 95, have texture on their stock seats. Fairly pronounced actually.

 

Both the Hawk and 750 have original vinyl with little to no texture. I slide way too much. The Hawk is almost to the point of brittle.

 

Huh. Maybe it's a suppleness issue then. This is Hawk, VFR, CB-1, VFR.

 

Maybe I am thinking of texture vs grip. The seats do look like that, but they are slick as ice.

 

The 86 VF1000R RestoMod original seat cover has been exposed to the elements way more than my other bikes. It is not what I would consider supple anymore, the texture is more wore down and is definitely different feeling than my other bikes.

 

Perhaps cut back on the Armorall a tad?