Rear frame loop with cafe seat?

bennecc · Full Member Joined: May 31, 2009 Posts: 57

Finally I'm getting to that point in my build where I get to put things back on the bike, not take them off! I've got most of an '81 Special II that I'm building into a cafe. I've got a tank that I love on order, so now I'm starting to plan out the seat.

As this is my only bike, I need to be able to go 2 up. I considered having 2 seats and changing them out when I know I'll have a passenger, but I'm not crazy about that idea. Then I saw this $600 deal from benji's.

Seems perfect to me. First I'll glass up a simple seat pan. Order and cut some foam, making sure that the cowl portion is big enough and flat enough for the mrs. After the foam is covered I'll just fab a cowl cover out of fiberglass and paint it to match the tank. Perfect!

I'm wondering how the fiberglass cafe seats from omars/hotwing/etc. incorporate the tail hoop. Does the hoop fit up into the cowl, or does it require cutting the hoop off??? Since my cowl will be foam instead of hollow, I don't want to fool with incorporating the hoop. So I'm thinking I'll just cut it off. Another option might be to just run the pan along the hoop then cut the foam to fit. I'll attempt to cover the frame with the pan anyway so nobody would know.

Any welding will require me to pay someone to do it, so that's what I'm trying to keep in mind with the design. Anyone have any opinions and/or advice to offer?

benztech · Full Member Joined: Sep 01, 2009 Posts: 62

I have the OMARSDTR cafe seat. It is designed to work on a stock bike. I cut the rear hoop off cause I didn't want to run the rear fender,

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