BRIDGESTONE GTR SEAT.

[reed]

Bridgestone GTR seat.
On my Bridgestone 350 GTR i got from NC the seat is like new apart from a rip on the top of the seat.
I was going to put a new seat cover on when a friend of my wife came to the house and she does a
Lot of sewing looked at the seat and put in a new piece in, and it looks great! the seat is 44 years old
Even the seat pan is still black underneath and no rust and i should add i replaced the chrome buttons
Around the seat, the job turn out fantastic.
Thanks.
Steve.

[Mike Anderson]

Hi Steve,

Did the buttons I send work ok? I haven't tried them yet hopefully you did not have any trouble. Randy has always installed mine in the past, I may have to do them myself now that his shop burned. Hopefully he will get back up and running.
Thanks Mike

[reed]

Mike,
I put the new buttons in no problems!
Thanks again.
Steve.

[ziggy stardust]

I bought one of these seat covers off eBay a couple of weeks ago, looks o.k. but haven't fitted it yet.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170709692850

Anyone else bought one of these?

Z

[Mike Anderson]

Hi Ziggy,

Yes, I have used several of them with good results. Hope you are happy with yours. The only thing I don't use are the buttons. I buy them from sirconius, you will find them on the site.
Later Mike

[ziggy stardust]

Thanks for that Mike, I'll have a look in the morning. By the way I was looking at your gallery today, most impressive.

Z

[Mike Anderson]

Thanks for the compliment Ziggy, have several other projects wish they were all as far along as the one GTR. Have a good day, hope your holiday was nice.
Later Mike

[coxy]

i bought a pitreplica cover for the 175 it was around 2inches to short i near had to melt it with the jet fire heater to get it on and still broke the stitching .

[ziggy stardust]

I fitted the seat cover this afternoon and I'm so pleased with it, really good fit and not too hard to do.

I looked for sirconius on this site for the buttons but could not find him so had a go with the ones supplied. My first button marked in the middle when pressed together with it's back button so I used a curved anvil that the wife had in her sowing box as a cushion and placed a washer on the back button, no marks as I pressed together all twelve.

http://bridgestonemotorcycleparts.com/gallery/medium_1350_26_11_11_11_27_52.jpeg

Z

[Sno Jet]

The seat is really nice.  Looks like you are making a lot of progress on that bike quickly.  Good job.

[ztnoo]

ziggy,
Could you explain the term "curved anvil"?
It's a term that doesn't quite have a place to hang a coat among us Yanks.
Funny how Brits, Aussies, and Yanks speak the same language, but there are times and terms that kind of leave some of us scratching our heads.

A pic of the tool in question would be super!

Regards,
Steve

[ziggy stardust]

Mike commented that the buttons were not up to the job as supplied with the seat cover but I tried one anyway, he was right as it marked in the middle when pressed together as the back button stem appeared to be too long.

I looked for the guy he mentioned but could not find him on the site so I then looked on eBay U.K. for a stronger button, I found some examples and noticed that there were special tools supplied with the buttons or press studs as they are often called here.

This made me think about how I had tried to fit the buttons and when I saw this item listed on eBay called an 'anvil'.....

 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Craftool-Line-20-24-press-stud-dot-rivet-mini-anvil-leather-work-craft-art-/230706299447  

I realized that I needed one of those with it's concaved surface to protect the button face, I'd never heard of one before but just by coincidence the wife saw it on my computer screen and said she had one in her sewing box, don't know where it ever came from?

Anyway I tried again with a washer on the back to make the back button stem shorter and with the 'anvil' on the face of the button I pressed the two halves together with a pair of pliers, perfect with no markings so I finished the others as well, good job.

Z

[coxy]

/

[reed]

Lee,
Nice job on the seat cover!
Thanks.
Steve.

[ziggy stardust]

Hey Steve how you doing?

Yes I'm pleased with the seat, the photo in my post above shows an almost complete seat, this photo shows it completed.





Coxy, what happened to your post above?


Z