Images Wanted, Ss With Non Standard Seat Units

All

Can anyone post any images they have of a Carbie 600/750/900SS with non-standard seat units please.

I'm about to shell out for an SL style single seat unit for the SS Mongrel I'm building, and know I really like the style, but thought it would be good to see if I like the look of anything else that has been tried in the past.

Thanks

Nasher.

 

Thanks guys, I'm no doubt going to end up with the SL, but just want to see if anything else has been done that works well.

I'm really not a fan of the 916 style unit, it doesn't go well with the rest of the styling on an older SS.
Also, I'm a bit biased against them as they were completely overdone in the past.
It seemed like every modified bike around at one point had a 916 or RGV seat unit on it.

Nasher.

 

Thanks Arquebus, that looks good, but looks slightly different at the rear to an SL unit.
Is it one off another bike or a one off?

Nasher

 

Thanks Guys.

I've considered a standard seat with some kind of different cover, but I'd want a hard cover for the pillion seat, and they are very hard to come by.

Nasher.

 

Fate may have had a hand in helping me make up my mind on this one.

My Eldest son and I decided at the last minute this morning to pop over to the VJMC Jumble at Popham airfield.
I've not been before so thought I'd give it a go, and it's less than an hour away from home.

It wasn't as big as some jumbles, but sat on the grass on one stall was the only Ducati part I saw there.....





It's actually Carbon Fibre, and although it's picked up a few knocks and scrapes there are no signs of any brackets ever being added, and the Neoprene seat pad doesn't look like it's ever been sat on. The green is lacquer so the weave can be seen all over it apart from under the White. The text is Decals under a top coat of clear lacquer.

It wasn't cheap, but it certainly wasn't the £400 the Carbon ones appear to be sold for on a couple of sites I've found recently.

On the journey home we talked about how we can rub down the green lacquer and replace it with a Red version, and remove the 750 F1 decals.

Then when we got home we stuck it on the bike and I sort of like it how it is:





The green works well with the Red Tank, but I don't know how it will work with the red Fairing as well, perhaps some White added to the Fairing would help.
The bike is a real Mongrel anyway, and although it's a 900 Engine with a CCW big bore kit the 750 F1 Decal is rather nice.

So, now I have a choice to make:
Back to Plan A - Try and find an original pillion seat hard cover and go down the standard duel seat route, plus sell this piece of art on.
Plan B - Rub this down, recolour it Red, add some brackets etc.
Plan C - Use it as it is by just adding some brackets.

Actually there is of course a Plan D - Sell this on and use the money to buy a Fibreglass version and paint it Red.

Nasher.

 

Just an update on where I am with this seat unit.

It’s not ready for paint yet, although I’ve decided to spray over the current green lacquer with Solid Red, but leave the strip of carbon showing along the bottom.
I’ll also reinstate the white number boards, and change the riders foam pad to 20mm thick stuff.

I should add that all the brackets I’ve made also need tidying up a bit more, and I’ll be flowcoating over everything on the inside to make it all look a little nicer. Taking these images before flowcoat shows a little better what I’ve done.

I’m really disappointed with how naff the standard rear light looks with the seat unit, and the large gap above it, so next thing to do is find a different light unit and adapt the seat unit to fit it better.



As purchased it looks like it has been used by just attaching it to the bike with the 4 M6 screws in the standard places, but there are no signs at all of the mounting brackets being added underneath to take the riders weight.

I simply refuse to spend the money Ducati want for the brackets, especially as the mounting points for them are not in place anyway.
Replicating the Ducati originals by Bending up steel strip was an option, but I decided to go my own way, and believe what I’ve produced is stronger.
I’m not of course, within reason, too interested in saving every last gram of weight, I’d have gone down a different route if I was.

At the front I bolted a couple of old tank mounting rubbers to small flat pieces of Fibreglass sheet, taped these to the frame rails, put a dob of fibreglass reinforced filler on top then bolted the seat unit in place on top of them.
Once the filler had gone off the brackets were stuck to the seat unit in exactly the right place and angle, and all I had to do was add some more filler around the sides to spread the load and fully captivate the nuts.



At the back I’ve gone down a similar route with a right angle bracket bolted to the frame, two seat rubber pads, and another small sheet of Fibreglass added to the seat unit.
When the bike is built up on it’s wheels and I can sit on it, I might add some more mounts at the back in the standard positions but in a similar way to what I’ve done at the front.





One thing that was really bugging me about using a Superlight style single seat unit was the lack of easy access to the underseat storage area.
I wanted the look of the SL seat but with almost the ease of use of the standard seat and storage area.
Lets face it, with a bike a few years old, and particularly a modified one, a small tool kit and somewhere to put a lock and chain etc is useful.

Option 1 was to cut a hole in the upright area, create a lip around the inside and use what had been cut out with the original key barrel to make lockable hatch.
If the hatch was just smaller than the foam pad the join would be hidden with the pad stuck on to the hatch.
This would have been very simple, but the access hole would be too small and it would weaken the structure a lot.

Option 2 was to reinstate the standard catch on the frame bracket, add a custom pin under the seat unit, then find somewhere to mount the Key Barrel on the mudguard or similar. But I couldn’t find anywhere I was happy with to mount the key barrel.

Option 3 was what I’ve ended up with and is based around swapping the catch and pin positions over. I’ve made a new pin and mounted it on the original catch bracket under the seat, then mounted the original catch on a new bracket attached to the underside of the seat. The Key Barrel itself I’ve recessed into the upright area of the seat behind the rider, and cut a hole in the pad to access it. Obviously I’ve used a new longer cable etc to join the two together.
This way the mechanism is fully contained within the seat unit, and I can hinge the whole seat unit up using the two front mounting bolts. I’ll turn the rear two original mounting bolts into dummies.


Cutout in the pin is on the other side







I'll get an image of in hinged up tomorrow.
Nasher

 

Thanks Sav.

I'm trying to keep the bike all Ducati, or Ducati intended accessories, rather than add any other manufacturer or cheap aftermarket stuff in the mix, so I'm going to look at different Ducati tail lights, maybe Monster.

Nasher

 

I gave up on the idea of using the two front mounting bolts as a hinge.

Mainly because the position of them meant the front of the seat would move forward towards the tank when hinged, so I'd have to leave a big ugly gap between the seat and tank.

Instead I cut the front mounts off an old seat base and added them to the seat unit, screwed to another piece of flat fibreglass sheet glued to the underside of the seat with fibreglass filler.

I'm really pleased with the result, and after a bit of massaging of the width of the unit using some wooden spreaders and Mrs Nashers hairdrier, it lifts on and off, and is as secure as, a standard seat.

Nasher.

 

Thanks DQ, Sev.

I'm really pleased with it.
Just need to sort out a better looking rear light, then paint it.

Nasher

 

I recently started another thread about carrying out a mudguard chop to compliment this seat unit:
https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/ss-rear-mudguard-chop.54488/

As mentioned in the thread above I really didn't like the look of the standard rear light unit either, so I ended up as below with some small aftermarket rear/stop lamps fitted on a bracket I made after doing the mudguard chop and fibreglass work to the mudguard.



Obviously the rear of the seat unit needed filling in, and today I got some time to get it done.

Firstly I made a mould for some more fibreglass by taping in the lid of an old ice cream tub covered in packing tape, with a small piece of wood added to create the lip.:



Then filled the gap with 4 layers of glass cloth and resin overlapped into the seat unit:



Once gone off the temporary mould could be removed.
All it needs now is a skim of filler and rubbing down before I paint the seat unit.







I'm going to keep the bottom of the unit showing as lacquered carbon and change the green to Red, which will obviously now need to flow down the back towards the rear lights.

I also obviously need to add the number plate light and reflector I have ready to go on.

Nasher.