anyone modify their own seats?

[yechave]

I have a Corbin seat. With a long upper body, I would like to cut off the last 2" on the rear top of the driver seat bucket and sit right up against the passenger seat, maybe attempt to remove some foam from between the thighs for my shorter legs.

 

Not really sure what professionals use to do this. All I have is a 3" electric power grinder with fine pads, may be too much. I also have a really great foam carving knive.

 

I don't see I would make enough money to sell the seat, and pay for a used factory seat, and then pay Russell $1200 to modify both driver/passenger, plus heat.......even though that would be the ultimate. I pre-owned Russell would be nice, as most ususally have them lowered anyway. Just have not found any for sale yet. I could live without the heat.

 

Also curious how you wire the heated seat to the bike, and what controls it?

 

I've done some upholstering on furniture and car mods, but don't want to chop this up making it worthless, and then still have to buy another seat. I don't have a sewing machine to make changes to the cover.

 

Appreciate any ideas. Thanks!

[Godfather]

There are currently a few stock seats on eBay. The standard seat with all of that sheepskin you have may work. Less expensive than experimenting with a Corbin that you could sell for somewhere in the $350 range too.

[Dave_Armstrong]

If you have the grinder, foam knife, and upholstery experience I would imagine you can make your own seat with ease.

 

I have thought of changing the OEM seat with tempurfoam and molding it back to OEM contours and pulling the cover over and stapling, just like OEM but more comfortable.

 

Aircraft Spruce sells tempurfoam or conforfoam in up to three inch thick pads, 3"X16"X18" for $71.65. They sell this for seat cushions and I thought it might work well for BMW seats. Here is the URL: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/conForFoan.php

 

I also have a Corbin and went to the factory and observed how they did a 'nose job' on my seat. They pretty much just remove the cover and cut and sand until it looks right. Remove too much material and a new cover must be fitted. They make it look pretty easy.

 

I haven't gotten the guts to attempt this project, let me know how you make out. I hope the URL helps.

 

Regards,,,,,,Dave

[finallyabeemer]

Both Corbin and Russel used angle grinders to do fine shaping of the foam. I couldn't see exactly what type of disk they had installed, but I suspect a sandpaper style.