Mini Bike Seat Restoration

M

Manco Chopper

New Member
#1
#1
Hey, if anybody out there knows of someone who can do a great job of restoring mini bike seats to their original new condition please contact me. I had a guy start this project for me over a year ago and never finished what he started !! ;-( Needless to say I won't be doing anymore business with him !! Anyway, any referals will be greatly appreciated !! Thanks !!

Manco Chopper
 
bayareaburrito

bayareaburrito

Active Member
#5
#5
Manco Chopper said:
Hey, if anybody out there knows of someone who can do a great job of restoring mini bike seats to their original new condition please contact me. I had a guy start this project for me over a year ago and never finished what he started !! ;-( Needless to say I won't be doing anymore business with him !! Anyway, any referals will be greatly appreciated !! Thanks !!

Manco Chopper
Click to expand...
I'll have to ring in on this one! 8ball is the man :thumbsup::thumbsup: 2 thumbs up.
Check out this post scroll down and check out the seat

http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/general-minibike-talk/2226-manco-stars-stripes.html
 
delray

delray

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
hey i was just speaking to a guy last night about minibike seats and he new of a ladie that was going to purchase a machine that would melt the pleats into the vinyl just like the vintage bikes use to have. so i am hoping in the future she does get it. my number one seat i like to have made would my manco chopper bike.

and yes i do have the rest of the bike that go's with the seat:thumbsup:...............:scooter:
 
kbs8ball

kbs8ball

Active Member
#9
#9
NICE seat Delray !! Ive thought of doing the same thing I actually work in the plastic sealing industry for my day job...We sell used packaging machinery....I have plenty of machines available to do this but the tooling would require a little cash up front. and the time to set it up and lay everyting out would just be to much for me to invest to only sell a few seats. got a close up of one of those heat pleats?
 
mardyn

mardyn

Member
#11
#11
I've got one of kbs8's seats on my Bonanza as well... he does a very nice job on 'em. I'm hoping to get another one for my current project (hint hint).

mardyn
 
delray

delray

Well-Known Member
#12
#12
seat is in ok condition guys. i don't think i would want to try seating on it. think the vinyl would crack:doah: it would be nice if this ladie gets this machine someday:thumbsup:because right now this seat is kind of like the Holy Grail minibike seat for manco choppers. it would be a good seat to make a pattern off of.
kbs8ball, you really think you wouldn't make any money making repro seat for vintage minibikes that came with melted pleats. i think if you had the tooling right now you could get your money back in couple years or sooner.
for example if you where to make seats for scat cats,mtd/columbia,manco chopper...etc... anything with pleats and thats alot of bikes. in time you would do ok. you would have to start now before someone else got the Monopoly on all the vintage seat patterns.:thumbsup:
kbs8ball i do have a better picture of the pleats. here you go:thumbsup:
 
kbs8ball

kbs8ball

Active Member
#13
#13
It would be way easier for me to make a seat with heat pleated material. I hate doing the pleats on my sewing machine. Delray are those stars painted on or what Ive always wondered about that...... looks like I need a heat pleating machine. whats the exact width on the heat pleat? 1/8"
 
kbs8ball

kbs8ball

Active Member
#14
#14
I have experimented with doing 1 heat pleat at a time on various machines at my shop. Ideally I think you need a machine that can do a bunch of pleats at one time. I have talked to a CNC buddy of mine and to make the tooling required is pretty pricey. then theres different styles of heat pleats.... different widths....yada yada....
 
delray

delray

Well-Known Member
#16
#16
yes the melted pleats are just under 1/8 ,thats if you just measure the melted area. 1/8 right on the lines and yes the stars are spray on. pleats have 1inch on center from each other . i have seen rolls of vinyl material with 1inch melted pleats in the pass for rupp seats and some vintage snowmobiles for sale,but only in black. so you would think that vender also could make any color? i also have been to a store that sells stoles/chairs and they have a chair with 1 1/2 melted pleats. 1 1/2 pleats where on alot of vintage bikes. so there has to be someone out there that is making it? the white lace material that go's around the seat is a 1/8inch extruded plastic and also have seen that on new chairs.
i did see a manco for sale last fall on ebay. the weird thing about it:eek:ut: it had the same 5 spoke mags as my bike did? was this a option? i thought they only came with one kind of wheel. just like the manco chopper picture posted here. ???????? am keeping the 5 spokes on:thumbsup: they still look cool:thumbsup:.....:scooter:
 
kbs8ball

kbs8ball

Active Member
#17
#17
I can get the white piping...and the 1 1/2 pleated vinyl...not a problem...the 1 inch stuff is hard to find and the 1/2" and 5/8" even harder....is that vinyl metal flake or just solid color?
 
delray

delray

Well-Known Member
#18
#18
solid color, to bad they didn't make it metal flake. it would have look just little cooler:thumbsup:
1 1/2inch vinyl material is it flat or raise in between the pleats?
 
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