Ever since I bought my ’91 Honda VFR750F there has been a tear in the seat cover. The previous owner had put some black tape over it to cover it up. But it stayed an eyesore. Therefore I decided it was time to replace it. After doing some research I found a (Dutch) company that sells non-skid synthetic leathers especially for motorcycle seats. 1 meter would be more than enough already. Which would set me back only €36 (including shipping).
Getting the old cover off
The old cover was stapled to the plastic seat pan. Sadly Honda did not use stainless steel staples. Therefore after 29 years the staples had became rusty. But nothing that can’t be handled with a little elbow grease. And so after a few hours all the staples were removed and the old cover came off.
Putting the new cover on
Luckily the foam was still in a good condition. Therefore it didn’t need replacing. But since the foam was quite wet I thought it would be good to let it dry overnight.
Putting the new cover on was quite a bit more difficult. Especially on the Honda VFR750F RC36. Where the seat extends to cover a large part the tank. Luckily the synthetic leather is flexible and stretchable. As the front part of the seat looked the most complicated it seemed like a good idea to start there. With the emphasis on seemed. Because after an hour of trying and failing I decided to change directions. I stapled the cover roughly in the desired place alongside the the drivers part of the seat. This formed a good base to work further on. Next I tried to get the front part right again. This time with much more success. After I finally got the rough shape in place it was time to finish up. I stapled the new seat cover all around and cut off the remaining material.
I’m quite content with my first try on replacing the seat cover. It looks nice, fresh and well shaped. The real test came on the first drive. But luckily everything stay perfectly in place. And on top of that I am not sliding over the seat anymore because of the not-skid surface.
