memory foam is absolutely the wrong material for a bike seat. it will compress to the bottom of its depth, then you feel the full impact of the seat underneath. memory foam is designed to crush and stay crushed, not spring back, and certainly not designed to absorb impacts.
If you want to use original cover then you have to chop out old seat foam and replace with new or get a new piece of seat material to accommodate extra foam
If you're going to go to the trouble of doing this yourself, do it properly. A new piece of vinyl probably costs less than the piece of foam. So all up not that expensive. Trying to make the extra foam fit in the old cover was a total waste of time.
It appears you might have removed too much foam after you attached it. Maybe get gel pad and insert in a pocket you create on the foam you installed. But, excellent effort and determination.
You took a lot of foam off. It's much easier to get a new piece of vinyl and lay the old piece on it and trim an extra inch all the way round from the template then you have all the room in the world. Also it pays to get a good strong stapler it makes the job so much easier.
He should of shaved the old foam first before adding the new comfy foam. Making it have more low density comfy foam on top of the high density firm foam. But it’s all a learning process and I’m sure after awhile he will figure that he can always add more.
You made the staple fixing look easy whereas a lot of people, including me, struggled with it, what staples did you use as I'm going to customize my bandit seat.
I'm about to do something similar on my zx9r.Can't help thinking that you should have reduced the base foam,so that you could have the full depth of memory foam on top.It seems obvious that by raising the overall seat height,the cover would then not fit.Better to cut the foam underneath,thus eliminating the need for reshaping on top.Just my thoughts....
you're right, I should have done it, but it was my first time and its not perfect, but as you know, man learns from mistakes, it's a shame that it's his own 🤣. Good luck with your project. Ride safe..
MotoAndy - I think leaving the factory foam at its original thickness was the the right move as a base layer because adds some resistance & it will keep the memory foam from compressing too much. I’m guessing it didn’t raise the seat height too much because the leather outer cover still fit back on. All in all, the project turned out great - especially for a first attempt 👍
gregg ferns - You have the right idea. Andy chose to trim down the good memory foam while leaving all of the original foam in place (?). The result looks like a whoopie cushion containing too much foam under too little cover. Bad planning, bad result.
@@FourthWayRanch Search other's videos for tools, supplies and techniques. K.I.S.S. Recognize that you have stacked two materials with different spring constants in series, and the combined spring constant can be estimated... Search for'springs in series,' or 'combining springs;' for instance, socratic dot org/questions/what-is-the-spring-constant-in-parallel-connection-and-series-connection
I’m not clear on what was wrong with the original seat foam? Not thick enough? Personally, I would have excavated between the foam and pad , put in firmer foam, left the top alone
At MotorcycleUpholstery.com we either replace the foam or shave the seat foam to the accommodate the height of the person, then add Luimoto gold gel, then add a Luimoto seat cover then ship the seat back to the customer. Motorcycle Upholstery is not expensive; less than rear sets about the price of levers.
Los Angeles Upholstery - it’s not hard to do it yourself but the gel is not the right compression material for “all day” comfort. It only provides some help with engine vibration but once you sit on it, it compresses very little & you have the same hardness issue - I’ve tried it on 2 separate bikes.
@@jasonjackson5696 I guess it depends upon how many hours you ride at a time. I never ride more than 3 hours at a time. There are many different types of gel; the one I have had the best luck with is from Luimoto which is there own proprietary formula. I used to hurt after about 30 minutes of riding but after installing the gel I have never had an issue ever again; Additionally, I have never had a single complaint out of the last 1193 seats that I have upholstered with Luimoto gel.
Los Angeles Upholstery - thanks for the info. I did not use Luimoto gel, assuming most are made of similar properties. Before the gel, I’d start going numb in about 45 minutes & after the gel it was after 1 hour or so. I have another product I’m getting tomorrow & think it may be the answer I am looking for but we shall see ....
@@losangelesupholstery6773 is it not the case with the (luimoto) gel pad that if the motor cycle is in the sun it takes a long time for the gel to cool down?
@@beernaertkoenraad The gel is underneath everything, it's difficult to feel the gel. The purpose of the gel is for long rides. The Luimoto gel is a firm gel that absorbs the vibration while providing extra comfort. The gel is placed underneath both the seat cover and an added layer of 1/4" foam on top of the gel. The difference in seat temperature with or without the gel is nominal. I leave my bike in the sun all day and have never noticed a difference in the temperature of the motorcycle seat with or without the gel.
I am at a loss here. Basically you slapped a big piece of foam on your existing seat then cut most of it back off to get the original cover back on. Seems pointless. Why did you not cut a bit out of the original. I am very confused😳😳
It was my first modification of a motorcycle seat, so my knowledge was negligible at the time, although it slightly improved the comfort of riding, the seat was more comfortable than the original, so I will consider it worth it, if you think otherwise, no one forces you to do it in the same way . Recently, I made upholstery on my other motorcycle and this time I started everything from scratch, if you are interested, I invite you to watch it. ruclips.net/video/5GU-kPFVgjk/видео.html ruclips.net/video/nvWF7yRCLK0/видео.html
I have a 2021 Kawasaki Versys 650 and the angle of the seat was awful. I took the vinyl off and began reshaping the seat. Once I had the shape how I wanted it I took a piece of egg crate foam that came in a box of electronic hardware. Approximately 1” thick. Cut it the shape of my seat and recovered. Most comfy seat I’ve ever had!
When you add cushion to your seat like that, you need to change your fabric cover as well, all the memort foam that you add, only 1 third of it stay after all the cutting and sanding so its worthless if you dont change your fabric cover
@@ronlheureux7623 im ghe kind of person that will do a research when im planning to do something before i do it, and no, i havent personally done it, have riders buddies that have, they will remove the gel the first 3 weeks of summer riding.
Glue the foam on then cut and sand it all off...what's the point? Get yourself a bigger piece of seat cover. Then you have to decide if you like your seating height about 2 inches higher. Inserting a gel pad is better in my opinion.
I like memory foam for my mattress, but gel for my butt. 😂 Good video, just wrong material, in my opinion. Thanks for the video, tho!! I’ll use your experience, to make mine with purple seat gel. Thanks! 👍🏻
www.schuimwinkel.nl/schuimrubber/traagschuim/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAy579BRCPARIsAB6QoIZH3t-ABgCAqUkJO78k3fj8Cv1Mg8RpyQXBBguJpjlvlaj6yBammzcaAvu_EALw_wcB www.gbfoamdirect.co.uk/foam-cut-to-size/memory-foam/ Just google memory foam
@@cpuuk Good question, as with everything else in the world there is a freezing point. Gel however has a lower freezing point than water; Moreover, gel comes in soft, medium and firm so if you are using this in cold temperatures then I would recommend a softer gel whereas motorcycles typically use a firmer gel than other applications due to engine vibrations.
Versys seat was just awful. Awful. Always sliding forward, e.t.c. Had SeatConcepts redo it back in 2012 for $169. Now, best seat I've ever owned and still own. Im actually taking it to local guy and am having him do my Harley seat with whatever magical foam seatconcepts used on my versys seat.
Don't use memory foam by itself, because memory foam breaks down and does not hold up with the motorcycle vibrations. Get Gel like the Luimoto gold gel we sell at MotorcycleUpholstery.com then if you want you can either lower or raise the seat, add comfort for long rides, and make the seat look beautiful with a luimoto seat cover.
he didn't cut most of the foam off he shaped it lol that's a thick piece of foam and I'm sure it did wonders for the ride. He cut very little out of the actual sitting area geezzz people LOL
memory foam is absolutely the wrong material for a bike seat. it will compress to the bottom of its depth, then you feel the full impact of the seat underneath. memory foam is designed to crush and stay crushed, not spring back, and certainly not designed to absorb impacts.
If you want to use original cover then you have to chop out old seat foam and replace with new or get a new piece of seat material to accommodate extra foam
Love the work & the video. Great job.
If you're going to go to the trouble of doing this yourself, do it properly.
A new piece of vinyl probably costs less than the piece of foam. So all up not that expensive. Trying to make the extra foam fit in the old cover was a total waste of time.
he could have heated the vinyl instead of cutting the lovely new foam or just trimming the old foam. Good video though of how you did the process.
It appears you might have removed too much foam after you attached it. Maybe get gel pad and insert in a pocket you create on the foam you installed. But, excellent effort and determination.
or simply get a larger offset vinyl or leather piece from original to wrap the new seat easier.
You took a lot of foam off. It's much easier to get a new piece of vinyl and lay the old piece on it and trim an extra inch all the way round from the template then you have all the room in the world. Also it pays to get a good strong stapler it makes the job so much easier.
Which works better for 3+ hours of riding, gel or memory foam?
Nice idea and overall execution, but it appears that you removed too much of the new gel foam for it to be effective.
I guess it might depend what he personally considers effective 🤔
it looked so good and i thought wicked and then you started cutting it down to make the old cover fit and i was like noooooooo why?????
To make the cover fit.
He should of shaved the old foam first before adding the new comfy foam. Making it have more low density comfy foam on top of the high density firm foam. But it’s all a learning process and I’m sure after awhile he will figure that he can always add more.
You made the staple fixing look easy whereas a lot of people, including me, struggled with it, what staples did you use as I'm going to customize my bandit seat.
Just basic RVS staples
looks much more comfortable i'm gonna do mines
I'm about to do something similar on my zx9r.Can't help thinking that you should have reduced the base foam,so that you could have the full depth of memory foam on top.It seems obvious that by raising the overall seat height,the cover would then not fit.Better to cut the foam underneath,thus eliminating the need for reshaping on top.Just my thoughts....
you're right, I should have done it, but it was my first time and its not perfect, but as you know, man learns from mistakes, it's a shame that it's his own 🤣. Good luck with your project. Ride safe..
MotoAndy - I think leaving the factory foam at its original thickness was the the right move as a base layer because adds some resistance & it will keep the memory foam from compressing too much. I’m guessing it didn’t raise the seat height too much because the leather outer cover still fit back on.
All in all, the project turned out great - especially for a first attempt 👍
gregg ferns - You have the right idea. Andy chose to trim down the good memory foam while leaving all of the original foam in place (?). The result looks like a whoopie cushion containing too much foam under too little cover. Bad planning, bad result.
I think reduce the base foam too, just ordered my inserts for rider and pillion
@@FourthWayRanch Search other's videos for tools, supplies and techniques. K.I.S.S. Recognize that you have stacked two materials with different spring constants in series, and the combined spring constant can be estimated... Search for'springs in series,' or 'combining springs;' for instance, socratic dot org/questions/what-is-the-spring-constant-in-parallel-connection-and-series-connection
Good work
did this have the desired effect thats the question
You cut all the new foam off??
Great video. Think I can do this to my 2018 BMW G310R seat. Thnx
I’m not clear on what was wrong with the original seat foam? Not thick enough? Personally, I would have excavated between the foam and pad , put in firmer foam, left the top alone
Does a good quality cycling shorts work? which has a padding inside
Didn't work for me
At MotorcycleUpholstery.com we either replace the foam or shave the seat foam to the accommodate the height of the person, then add Luimoto gold gel, then add a Luimoto seat cover then ship the seat back to the customer. Motorcycle Upholstery is not expensive; less than rear sets about the price of levers.
Los Angeles Upholstery - it’s not hard to do it yourself but the gel is not the right compression material for “all day” comfort. It only provides some help with engine vibration but once you sit on it, it compresses very little & you have the same hardness issue - I’ve tried it on 2 separate bikes.
@@jasonjackson5696 I guess it depends upon how many hours you ride at a time. I never ride more than 3 hours at a time. There are many different types of gel; the one I have had the best luck with is from Luimoto which is there own proprietary formula. I used to hurt after about 30 minutes of riding but after installing the gel I have never had an issue ever again; Additionally, I have never had a single complaint out of the last 1193 seats that I have upholstered with Luimoto gel.
Los Angeles Upholstery - thanks for the info.
I did not use Luimoto gel, assuming most are made of similar properties. Before the gel, I’d start going numb in about 45 minutes & after the gel it was after 1 hour or so.
I have another product I’m getting tomorrow & think it may be the answer I am looking for but we shall see ....
@@losangelesupholstery6773
is it not the case with the (luimoto) gel pad that if the motor cycle is in the sun it takes a long time for the gel to cool down?
@@beernaertkoenraad The gel is underneath everything, it's difficult to feel the gel. The purpose of the gel is for long rides. The Luimoto gel is a firm gel that absorbs the vibration while providing extra comfort. The gel is placed underneath both the seat cover and an added layer of 1/4" foam on top of the gel. The difference in seat temperature with or without the gel is nominal. I leave my bike in the sun all day and have never noticed a difference in the temperature of the motorcycle seat with or without the gel.
I am at a loss here. Basically you slapped a big piece of foam on your existing seat then cut most of it back off to get the original cover back on. Seems pointless. Why did you not cut a bit out of the original. I am very confused😳😳
It was my first modification of a motorcycle seat, so my knowledge was negligible at the time, although it slightly improved the comfort of riding, the seat was more comfortable than the original, so I will consider it worth it, if you think otherwise, no one forces you to do it in the same way .
Recently, I made upholstery on my other motorcycle and this time I started everything from scratch, if you are interested, I invite you to watch it.
ruclips.net/video/5GU-kPFVgjk/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/nvWF7yRCLK0/видео.html
I have a 2021 Kawasaki Versys 650 and the angle of the seat was awful. I took the vinyl off and began reshaping the seat. Once I had the shape how I wanted it I took a piece of egg crate foam that came in a box of electronic hardware. Approximately 1” thick. Cut it the shape of my seat and recovered. Most comfy seat I’ve ever had!
@@maxsmith3335 good for you 😁👍
Build up with new foam
Shape foam
Use existing seat cover to create new seat cover
Staple in place
What kind of foam is this
memory foam 3cm
Nice work
When you add cushion to your seat like that, you need to change your fabric cover as well, all the memort foam that you add, only 1 third of it stay after all the cutting and sanding so its worthless if you dont change your fabric cover
Everyone's a critic. Have you done this same mod and been disappointed when done?
@@ronlheureux7623 im ghe kind of person that will do a research when im planning to do something before i do it, and no, i havent personally done it, have riders buddies that have, they will remove the gel the first 3 weeks of summer riding.
Glue the foam on then cut and sand it all off...what's the point? Get yourself a bigger piece of seat cover. Then you have to decide if you like your seating height about 2 inches higher. Inserting a gel pad is better in my opinion.
I need to do this to my R6 but use 2 layers of foam
Is it way more comfortable?
Very good, like a pro
I like memory foam for my mattress, but gel for my butt. 😂
Good video, just wrong material, in my opinion.
Thanks for the video, tho!!
I’ll use your experience, to make mine with purple seat gel.
Thanks! 👍🏻
where did you find memry foam?
Internet my friend, internet
@@MotoAndy ok, but where?
www.schuimwinkel.nl/schuimrubber/traagschuim/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAy579BRCPARIsAB6QoIZH3t-ABgCAqUkJO78k3fj8Cv1Mg8RpyQXBBguJpjlvlaj6yBammzcaAvu_EALw_wcB
www.gbfoamdirect.co.uk/foam-cut-to-size/memory-foam/
Just google memory foam
Memory foam gets too soft under the sun. How did that work for your saddle when leaving you bike under the sun?
Yah, memory foam sucks for that reason; Moreover, it is quick to break down, that's why we use gel.
And gel goes hard in the winter LOL
@@cpuuk Good question, as with everything else in the world there is a freezing point. Gel however has a lower freezing point than water; Moreover, gel comes in soft, medium and firm so if you are using this in cold temperatures then I would recommend a softer gel whereas motorcycles typically use a firmer gel than other applications due to engine vibrations.
Nice job
Nice video, but why not buying A bigger cover..... 🤷🏽♂️
Why not just remove all the old foam and make the whole thing memory foam?
the memory foam itself would be too soft
How are you liking the seat after the mid? I’m considering trying this on my FJR seat.
the quality of the seat has improved, in the long run it is difficult to say because I sold the bike 😊
Will you do this mod on the Versys seat too?
in versys this mod is not needed, I can withstand up to 5 hours of riding.
Versys seat was just awful. Awful. Always sliding forward, e.t.c. Had SeatConcepts redo it back in 2012 for $169. Now, best seat I've ever owned and still own. Im actually taking it to local guy and am having him do my Harley seat with whatever magical foam seatconcepts used on my versys seat.
Hi Moto Andy, very nice work, which density did you use for the blue foam??
I have no idea, I just bought memory foam, .....
Don't use memory foam by itself, because memory foam breaks down and does not hold up with the motorcycle vibrations. Get Gel like the Luimoto gold gel we sell at MotorcycleUpholstery.com then if you want you can either lower or raise the seat, add comfort for long rides, and make the seat look beautiful with a luimoto seat cover.
@@MotoAndy indeed, you obviously had no idea...
Good effort, trimming the original seat would have been better, good job though,
what you mean better? more comfortable? or look cooler?
more comfortable
he didn't cut most of the foam off he shaped it lol that's a thick piece of foam and I'm sure it did wonders for the ride. He cut very little out of the actual sitting area geezzz people LOL
Mate..u put the form..and then shaved it off.....
So, by the time the expensive memory foam is cut away to fit in the original cover, it is basically a fading memory. Net gain--zero.
He barely removed any from where it was needed 🤷🏻♂️
Only a bit better
5
I was going to say what a great video, then at the end, it says it's a bit better..
Sure I has expecting all day comfort now...!
lewis eyers - 100% agree.
Alas, if all it took was a layer of MF Kawasaki would have started off with it don't you think ;-)