Making a custom seat for my Vulcan 500

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by burkbuilds

Here are a few shots of the finished seat. Now I've got to build a new trunk to go with it.

I like the shape; kind of like a tractor seat.

Looks a LOT taller though. Do your feet still touch the ground ?? :roll: :crackup

[Water Warrior 2]

Gotta say it BB. The new seat looks a little strange but dang it, it looks like it will work great. Should be a great long distance seat with proper support and good posture. The upholsterer did a nice job too.

[mrlmd1]

Nice job.
That seat is homongous. Are you sure it's not a porta-potti in disguise? (j/k). Looks like it should be pretty comfortable.
How much did you raise the seat height to fit you?

[dentheman]

Is it as comfortable as it looks?

[alanmcorcoran]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Nice job.
Are you sure it's not a porta-potti in disguise? (j/k).

I was thinking the same thing. Looks like you could lift up the "lid" and take a dump enroute. Now, that would be a seat that would attract a lot of attention!

[burkbuilds]

The Upholsterer made the same comment about the look. I'm more interested in the comfort level on long rides, besides, when I'm sitting on it you really can't see the top

of the seat.
It is huge looking, I don't care for that either, but again, I'm looking for what fits me best not what is stylish.

I can still put my feet on the ground, but if I want to be completely flat footed I have to slide forward a little. The new seat height is about 32"-32.5" which makes it

about 4" higher than stock seat height.

The seat is very comfortable, although I've only had the chance to take about a 45 minute ride so far. I'll have a two hour trip back to Atlanta later this weekend, which

should tell me whether or not I have succeeded in making this seat comfortable on long trips. I'll let you know what I think afterwards.

The backrest is way to low now and rubs the top of my hip bones uncomfortably, so today I'm working on a temporary solution, I may do something different later.

Next project is to redesign the trunk and move it forward a little. I'd like the back of it to be about even with the tail light. Right now the back is hanging over about 4"

past the tail light. I want to end up with a slightly larger trunk with luggage rack on the lid. I use this as my main transportation and more room for groceries or enough

room to carry an extra helmet for different weather conditions would be nice. Nothing beats a modular helmet for keeping the cold and rain out, but if it's warm weather

and dry I'd rather have more air movement, so I'd like to have enough room to easily accommodate the extra helmet without having to give up the entire trunk to it. Same

goes for my heavy riding coat. Some mornings I wear it, but by late afternoon I'd rather put it in the trunk, but it takes up every bit of room in the trunk all by itself,

which limits what else I can carry.

Thanks for all the comments.

[burkbuilds]

I was able to elevate the backrest 3" using some checker plate aluminum. I'll try this out and see how it feels. More adjustment or a different design may be required.

[Water Warrior 2]

BB, it looks like you have turned a 500 street bike into a long distant commuter without spending a bucket of $ and relying on your individual needs to determine the results. A big congrats on a plan well thought out. :2tup:

[burkbuilds]

Thanks WW, I'm heading out for Atlanta in a few minutes, should be able to tell if this is going to be a good solution for long trips in a couple of hours. I'll post my thoughts, but I've got a paper to finish and some other homework to do so it may be later in the week when I get a chance to log it on here.

[burkbuilds]

Quick note: I just finished a two hour ride on the new seat. The seat was very comfortable. I felt about like I do sitting in a nice chair for two hours at the end of the ride. The back rest is still a little low so I've gotta figure out a way to bring it up about another 1" - 1 1/2"