KymcoForum.com
Scooters - 125 to 300 => LIKE 200i => Topic started by: Abner_Bjorn on April 07, 2014, 07:46:05 PM
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Stock w/ vinyl removed
(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r691/wallboard2000/100_0216_zpsc9332f56.jpg)
Flat surface to start
(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r691/wallboard2000/100_0218_zpsf464cab5.jpg)
First layer of 90lb foam w/ gel pad installed over pan hump
(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r691/wallboard2000/100_0219_zpsafbff276.jpg)
Second layer of 90lb foam
(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r691/wallboard2000/100_0231_zpscfc9ecc1.jpg)
Top 1" from Vespa ET2 seat added
(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r691/wallboard2000/100_0235_zpscf818832.jpg)
Finished Seat covered w/ marine grade vinyl
(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r691/wallboard2000/100_0242_zps229b5f63.jpg)
I'll post a picture once the custom Sheepskin is installed.
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Great job!
It is amazing how high one has to build the foam to make that hump in the seat pan go away!
OK, what kind of glue and where did you source the foam?
The seat front cover looks stitched - done at a ulpholstery shop?
Please give details of your work - powered staple gun, what weight vinyl, maybe an underseat picture of the finished stapling?
There are a number of guys who want/need a 'seat job' on this scooter - and many are put off by the $$ it would cost to have it accomplished.
They'd take a shot at it if they had some instructions.
Again, nice job - and probably very comfortable, yes?
Stig
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Marine grade vinyl, Dan Tack foam adhesive, high density 1" thick upholstery foam and small motorcycle gel pad. All off ebay.
Seat is stitched front and back. Done by my wife on a regular sewing machine. Stapled with a cheap hand stapler that takes Arrow JT21 1/4" staples.
If I had to do it again, I would not have built up the 2nd layer of 1" foam. One layer with the Vespa top would have been plenty. The gel pad over the high part of the pan really helps.
I never cared for the shape of the stock seat at the front and the rear. I built the front out with the piece I cut off the top of the horn. I built the rear up and flattened it out. Materials were pretty cheap. The glue is the same thing as 3M super 74 at about 1/3 the cost. I used a bread knife, 4" grinder with an 80 grit sanding disc and a drywall rasp to shape it.
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Nice profile pic, wallboard
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Marine grade vinyl, Dan Tack foam adhesive, high density 1" thick upholstery foam and small motorcycle gel pad. All off ebay.
Seat is stitched front and back. Done by my wife on a regular sewing machine. Stapled with a cheap hand stapler that takes Arrow JT21 1/4" staples.
If I had to do it again, I would not have built up the 2nd layer of 1" foam. One layer with the Vespa top would have been plenty. The gel pad over the high part of the pan really helps.
I never cared for the shape of the stock seat at the front and the rear. I built the front out with the piece I cut off the top of the horn. I built the rear up and flattened it out. Materials were pretty cheap. The glue is the same thing as 3M super 74 at about 1/3 the cost. I used a bread knife, 4" grinder with an 80 grit sanding disc and a drywall rasp to shape it.
Thanks wallboard....really nice job!
If you would ,please take photos of front and rear seams to show us your work, and an underside shot to show the stapling.
What do you think of the ride, now?
It took me awhile to get used to sitting so high.....but I think I'm a bigger guy than you - so, I wouldn't remove a mm of my foam! At 6'3" I still can be flat-footed at a stop light with my heels on the ground. Another benefit is - I've slowed the search for better rear shocks since doing the seat - the ride is so much better than stock for me. Some day I may take the seat to a motorcycle ulpholsterer to have a pro-seat cover sewn on. That shouldn't be too expensive _ and if it's snowing they might be glad for the work.
I cut away a lot of the nose, and added rebond foam (very firm stuff) to the nose - so I wouldn't have a tendancy to slide forward - and to the rear, so it feels like a small butt-back area to sit against. And with my size, there was no thought of trying to keep this a 2 person seat - never intended to take a passenger, then or now.
Good job - and thanks for sharing pics and info!
Stig
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Hey Wallboard, great job on the seat! I would love to see a pic of you sitting on the new seat to see how much higher you sit. Also, please let us know how it feels to ride on that seat as apposed to the stock seat. The more detail the better. I'm about to have mine done and the more info I can get the better.
Ride safe, mscmkr
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Excellent timing!
I just got a spare Like seat this weekend off from eBay. It'll be my weekend project.
I'll just work on the shape an padding, then will take it to a shop for upholstering.
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I'm 5-11. The stock seat wasn't horribly low for me. What I did not like was the inability to change my riding position. If I scooted back a bit, the plastic hump was right on my tail bone. The new seat solved this. The 2"+ build up has made it a bit squishy. The dantack adhesive worked great. The gel pad above the plastic hump takes away the harsh plastic bite. I masked the areas I didn't want glue on, and used registration marks to get everything lined up right. I've put about 50 miles on the scooter since the seat project. It is much more comfortable. Maybe 1.5" thick super high density foam with the gel pad would have been perfect. I was shooting for the vintage Vespa banana type seat. I am working on a sheepskin seat cover right now. I did the same thing on my HD200. The difference was amazing.
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That's some fancy stitching on the front there. Nice job, that vinyl leave little to no wrinkling. That gel pad INSIDE the seat is pretty inventive.
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Hey Wallboard, I'm starting to redo my seat right now and I'm not able to get the foam anywhere near as smooth on the sides as you did. I cut it with a bread knife and it's pretty jagged looking. I also can't get the original foam from the seat smooth either. How did you smooth out the foam to get it ready for the vinyl. I'm thinking this is the trick to making it look nice when it's done.
Ride safe, mscmkr
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I used two tools for 90% of the shaping.
1 - http://www.harborfreight.com/snap-blade-utility-knife-60828.html (http://www.harborfreight.com/snap-blade-utility-knife-60828.html) I extended the blade out most of the way and used it to follow the shape of the seat below the foam I had just glued on.
2 - a sure form drywall rasp. This is like a cheese grater. It smoothed out the transition from old to new. This isn't the exact one I used, but it is close. http://www.lowes.com/pd_57622-51834-8273_0__?Ntt=drywall+rasp&UserSearch=drywall+rasp&productId=4772251&rpp=32 (http://www.lowes.com/pd_57622-51834-8273_0__?Ntt=drywall+rasp&UserSearch=drywall+rasp&productId=4772251&rpp=32)
One other trick I didn't show. When the seat shaping was all done, I glued an 1/8" piece of dense packing foam over the whole area. It is that real dense white stuff that comes in rolls. It's used for wrapping fragile things before shipping.
If you need more help, send me a message through the link. I'd be glad to help out.
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Hey Wallboard, I'm starting to redo my seat right now and I'm not able to get the foam anywhere near as smooth on the sides as you did. I cut it with a bread knife and it's pretty jagged looking. I also can't get the original foam from the seat smooth either. How did you smooth out the foam to get it ready for the vinyl. I'm thinking this is the trick to making it look nice when it's done.
Ride safe, mscmkr
Hey Wallboard, I'm starting to redo my seat right now and I'm not able to get the foam anywhere near as smooth on the sides as you did. I cut it with a bread knife and it's pretty jagged looking. I also can't get the original foam from the seat smooth either. How did you smooth out the foam to get it ready for the vinyl. I'm thinking this is the trick to making it look nice when it's done.
Ride safe, mscmkr
PLease search youtube for motorcycle seat recovering, rebuilding, there I found ideas for tools to smooth the foam (if not smooth, will show thru your cover). One fellow was using a disc sander and electric knife to shape and smooth the foam. There arehelp videos for doing this .... I Guess a lot of riders have issues with their motorcycle seats....so the videos are out there.
Stig
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Applause!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Ummm, applause?
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That is a very helpful, and informative set of posts so I applaud you all.
Electric carving knives are used in LOTS of upholstery shops for cutting/shaping the foam. The fella that did my seat uses this method. Same thing for the thin layer of covering foam to neaten up the finished foam, and keep a smooth look.
Nice work.
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Unless you know what you are doing, I would stay away from the electric knife. I've done 3 seats, and used a good old fashioned non-motorized bread knife each time. Much better control, and much more forgiving than a power tool. It is a lot easier to take material off than put it back on.
:)
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True Dat! ;D
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You know, I can't fuss too much about Kymco putting this seat on our LIKE's. This fuel injected scoot with twin disc brakes and a pair of rear shocks, 12 " wheels, a rack with top case and a very spunky urban-street-eater engine with the Retro looks from an Italian designer - is a pretty good bargain at @ $2600. And, if you poke around a bit and locate one with a couple hundred miles on it you can get one for a song.
The seat for Americans (and for that fellow over there in Finland or where ever) is just too soft over those bumps in the pan. It digs into your tailbone!
Most scoot seats seem too flat and too hard - would that our's were, too! Sure would be easier to add a bit of foam to a flat pan!
But if some Filipino entrepreneur would start converting these seats & shipping them to California - he'd be as wealthy as Vivo in short order.
Stig
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Well, I seem to be proving the pincess and the pea story. I went for a long ride on my carved and loaded with foam seat and ended up with a numb butt!! I was sitting on a 3/8 inch gel pad with 3 inches of super high density foam and I could still feel that damn ridge! It was better and I rode for almost an hour and a half as apposed to about 35 minutes. But I still was not comfortable.
Unless I have some sort of super sensitive follow along or something I seem to be at an impass here. I'm going to try to build up the seat pan to just above the ridge so I'm sitting flush with it instead of it being higher than rest of the pan. I'm going to look for some foam that is very dense and doesn't really compress. I will use this to build the pan up higher. Then I will try the rest of the foam and see if that will solve it.
I will take some pics of where I'm at now and how it goes this weekend.
Thanks for all the great info and ride safe, mscmkr
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Seats, seats, and more seats... ;) ;D :o 8) ::)
(http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt330/bangkokrider/DSCF0023.jpg)
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Any reason you couldn't cut out the hump, and rebuild the pan w/ epoxy-glass?
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Because I have no idea how to do that. I have no idea how to do what I'm doing but everyone on here is really pull it off so it's inspired me to give it a shot. Also, there is the gas tank directly bellow that hump so I don't think it can be made lower.
I'm crossing my fingers that I can get this to work for me. The whole idea when I bought my scoot was to take it somewhere outside of town and go on long rides in the pretty country.
Thanks and ride safe, mscmkr
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I got ya.
The work you did is actually MUCH harder to do than Glass fabrication. Glass is a rough it in process where what you did is a finished product.
Just to put a bug in your ear... If you Dremmel out the hump, and lay a sheet of plastic under the hole with the seat pan on the bike you might gain an inch or so. Watch the vid, and you'll see what I mean.
sellerie auto,sellerie moto,sellerie bateau et generale, GS kustom, Montpellier (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3_z_gvQlEw#noexternalembed-ws)
Fabrication à l'identique d'un fond de selle de moto en résine polyester et fibres de verre (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wove_OhwRIs#ws)
Now you're gonna think about it all the tie till you say WTF, and do it! Sorry!
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Every time you go out for a ride, stop and get a burger and fries with a large soda. You won't feel that hump in a few weeks.
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Do you have any idea how hard it is to ride w/ a burger in one hand, super size drink between your legs, and still have the where-with-all to respond to a text? Never-mind the FRIES!!!
I guess you didn't really think that one thru J. ;D I post, and daydream all the time too! ;)
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Do you have any idea how hard it is to ride w/ a burger in one hand, super size drink between your legs, and still have the where-with-all to respond to a text? Never-mind the FRIES!!!
I guess you didn't really think that one thru J. ;D I post, and daydream all the time too! ;)
Here's a recent pix of me stopping to eat my Tater Totts - the grease sheds the rain making these great poor weather fare. You DO have to think through your scooter snacking.
Stig
(http://i62.tinypic.com/mwxvn8.jpg)
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I'm still looking for a little fold out table I can bolt to the hook under my glove box. This way I can ride and snack at the same time. Mmmm chili cheese fries! Drool!
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Because I have no idea how to do that. I have no idea how to do what I'm doing but everyone on here is really pull it off so it's inspired me to give it a shot. Also, there is the gas tank directly bellow that hump so I don't think it can be made lower.
I'm crossing my fingers that I can get this to work for me. The whole idea when I bought my scoot was to take it somewhere outside of town and go on long rides in the pretty country.
Thanks and ride safe, mscmkr
I think you can DO this thing!
I cut some heavy rebond foam into a tapered (slanted like a wedge front & back edges) "U" shape to fill that area in front of the center bump. Once I'd filled this dip I layered over it with inches & inches of blue seating foam until I could feel nothing under my 'follow along'. I ran the blue foam out to the edges to make a wider and flatter seating area. (checking to make sure the seat would close properly) -then worked the nose/front up higher to make certain I couldn't slide forward when braking. I used the rebond foam on the nose to build-up and at the very back to make something I can sit against - if I scoot back that far.
Once I firmly filled just that horse shoe shaped dip with stiff foam and put a thin layer all the way to the rear under the blue foam - I could no longer feel that bump. And this took inches of foam - in the side photo you can see how much I added before mashing it down with the stretched vinyl cover - and you can see that I worked to keep the front of the seat up - to keep me in place. I used the sading disc to scoop the seat a bit in the middle - in all 4 points of the compass.
I found that if I did not build the nose up after filling that horse shoe area - that 'knob' up there had now effectively disappeared and I was sliding forward on even light braking.
(http://i59.tinypic.com/33xfqyw.jpg)
(http://i59.tinypic.com/14lptkw.jpg)
(http://i58.tinypic.com/zof48y.jpg)
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The making of a monster.
Very very very nice Stig! Well done!
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Thanks Stig! We can always count you to bust out the knowledge and the awesome graphics. Very glad you are on this forum, as well as all the other folks with the great info. I'm going to give it another shot sometime this weekend.
I will say, I never should have test rode that People GT300i a month ago. That thing was SO NICE! I'm now thinking I may sell my Like and buy one of those. The extra CC's would be really nice. And of course the seat was pretty darn comfy! I had the opportunity to buy one new for about $4000 from a place that was getting out of the scooter business and just sticking to selling motorcycles. This was before I bought my Like.
I will keep everyone updated on my seat, ride safe, mscmkr
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Thanks Stig! We can always count you to bust out the knowledge and the awesome graphics. Very glad you are on this forum, as well as all the other folks with the great info. I'm going to give it another shot sometime this weekend.
I will say, I never should have test rode that People GT300i a month ago. That thing was SO NICE! I'm now thinking I may sell my Like and buy one of those. The extra CC's would be really nice. And of course the seat was pretty darn comfy! I had the opportunity to buy one new for about $4000 from a place that was getting out of the scooter business and just sticking to selling motorcycles. This was before I bought my Like.
I will keep everyone updated on my seat, ride safe, mscmkr
You're welcome!
And you would not be the first to move on up after owning a LIKE200i.
I forget if you already have a spare seat to work on - if not, might keep thinking about that big People before carving up the stock LIKE seat - for trade-in purposes.
In a year or two I'll be looking for a scoot with 16" wheels and considerably more cc's. I'll be close to retirement (I'm past reitrement age - but still have 2 kids in expensive Christian schools. We could have a pair of Mercedes and a SilverWing in the garage, otherwise - but I'm not complaining!) and cruising with the Mrs. Seeing how happy my scoot is making me - she is expressing an interest in riding along.
Stig