I got one of the first replica seats from Bob and made sure it fitted OK, then took the cover off and started to work out how to get the 1979 Giuiliari Z900 seat cover I had to fit. It was pretty much a different shape but the parts I really wanted were the original top surfaces of the seat and especially the rear panel with the embossed dice logo and Kawasaki lettering. I decided that it was possible but that the sewing bit was a bit ambitious for me to attempt. I'd have had a go but I really wanted the seam between the back and the front to have piping in like the original and this (I know) is not easy to do.
Found a local vintage car upholsterer in Keynsham (Equinox - the guy is an excellent craftsman and knows his stuff) and we worked out where to cut the Z900 seat and where to add in material. One of the hardest challenges was to source the right finish of vinyl that matched - a lot of the modern stuff is too matt. The back panel wasn't quite big enough and we had to decide whether to move the whole hump back and reshape the foam but in the end decided to add a small strip at the rear - it's the only compromise we had to make and I feel we just about got away with it.
Bob's seat foam is deeper than an original Two/Four seat by quite a lot so we worked hard to try and keep the overall proportions right and spent a lot of time on the double curved seam with the piping so that it flowed (and visually meets the frame at about the right place.
I had to add a bracket to Bob's seat to attach the mechanism that stops the seat opening too much - not sure if all his bases need this or maybe he'd just forgotten to stick it on mine! But I made one out of aluminium and used rivnuts to make threaded inserts into the GRP base. Same for the two bolts that I used to transfer the plastic handbook cover over from my OE seat. Last thing I did was to get a pattern sticker for the battery breather routing so now when you open the seat it looks pretty authentic. Many of the 250s and 400s in my youth eventually ended up with these seats and I always wanted one on this 750 so was a bit stunned to find out that they were never available. (I guess the volumes at the time were too low to justify them being produced).
OK it's not period "authentic" and so may not be to everyone's tastes but I love it and it's been a good adventure getting here. (it's a lot lighter than standard too - good for at least another 10mph top speed!
seat 6 by David Bicknell, on Flickr
Seat 3 by David Bicknell, on Flickr
Seat 2 by David Bicknell, on Flickr
Seat 1 by David Bicknell, on Flickr
IMG_1729 by David Bicknell, on Flickr
