Sitting here with a bowl full of bananas (on sale just now @ 36 cents lb) to ease my cramping fingers. No joke.
I used 3M spray adhesive lightly to fix the new black SailRite AllPro 4-Way Stretch vinyl and several thousand of the finest stainless steel 8mm staples.
I pulled and worked this stuff, removed staples and pulled tighter, nope - tighter still, removed staples again, and pulled some more until the center returned a 'middle C' per my Hohner mouth harp.
The SailRite vinyl is the only way to go for DIY'ers, stainless staples should not rust and use good quality purpose made foam for seating purchased on-line from a pro supplier. (see the motorcycle seat web sites for addresses)
The shaping and trial fitting your rump will take awhile - maybe give it more than one day . "Why", you say - well your rump has different moods and you want to get the shape and thickness right before you put on the vinyl.
Trial fitting means put the foam on your scoot, cover it with the old vinyl and 2 bungees and take it for 1/2 hour rides.
SailRite has a pretty good video on recovering a motorcycle seat - showing you how to cut and sew for a pro job.
My wife gave me that look when I asked about her fancy Singer machine - plus I did not like the idea of a seam leaking through in the rain. I ride a lot in the rain. So, my cover is all one piece which - with my hugely rounded seat ends - meant I was going to have folds no matter how I pulled the vinyl. Since I've seen new Vespa seats with some I figured it was something I could live with if kept to a minimum.
My seat height is now some crazy figure - but at 6'3" it is not an issue for me as my heels are still on the ground. My new riding position is further back and higher. Easier to lift my feet onto the floor after stops. Very strange to know that ridge is under there but can't be felt. It's buried in layers of rebond foam covered by blue seating foam.
The men in the Philippine LIKE Club noted that my seat is shaped for a single rider only - no passenger can sit behind me. I built it this way because this scooter is too small for a rider my size to carry a passenger. I'll carry one on my next, bigger scooter.(I'm liking the big wheeled scooters by Kymco, SYM and the Scarabeos)
No seat is perfect for a guy my size (I have trouble on planes and in theatres) but this seat is pretty darn comfy!
I can sit back against the buried & curved rebond foam or slide forward to the big rebond foam head on the front.
I also built it to be wider, to take the pressure off of the center of my can, and firmed the outer edges to stop from rolling off the sides as I rode.
Do I like the way it changed the profile of my scooter? No, but given the seat pan Kymco presented me with, it is the best I can do, and I have the stock seat in a box if i want to look pretty for half an hour.
