Purple rain seat

My buddy that does upholstery completed my seat in 4 days! We had originally talked about doing the seat in old school diamond stitching and it came out beautiful. He did double stitching to give it more of the custom look.

I went with the lighter color to give it contrast. So many custom seats fall into the “darker” colors. I have a custom solo Corbin seat that very nice and wrapped in black leather. I can easily switch out with a couple bolts if I want to change it up.

Purple rain seat mod

I’ve been wanting to change up the color of my seat on the FatBoy. I thought about going his contrast with a very light material but couldn’t make the decision at the fabric shop. I ended buying two choice colors.

The fabric shop is called Morgans Fabrics and they have been at the same spot for as far as I can remember.

I spoke with my buddy who is the upholster and he mentioned that the seat would have to have line stitches or some type of diamond stitching done so there would be no wrinkles. The seat currently has wrinkles because whoever did the seat before probably didn’t know how to cut and sew.

For reference 1 square yard of marine grade material cost approximately $18.50. That is enough material to probably do two seats.

Fall is coming

When I leave for work it is still dark outside. It seems like summer came and went in a blink of an eye. We had stretches of super hot 100+ days but now that seems so long ago.

I don’t wear only a T-shirt on my ride home from work. I’m wearing the same upper body gear I left home with.

Goldwing inner trunk lid Part 3

Took the various screws off that secures the trunk inner lid. I’m going to need to find replacement screws that are a bit larger in diameter. EDIT: I picked up all the hardware I needed at the local ACE store. I made sure to locktite 8-32 bolts I used for the trunk lock hooks. I also used lock nuts, I learned from the past fails trying to fix the original problem.

The original lid had a lot of damage. I found it was missing other areas on the lid.

The lower corner section on both sides of the cover was completely gone.

One thing that was unexpected was having to reuse the rubber seal that goes around the lid. Mine was in good shape for reuse. I’ll probably use some sealant to keep in place, just a few tacks around lid to keep it in place.

Inner trunk lid Part 2

The part came in sooner than I expected. I need to source the original screws. I don’t want to use a mashup of spare hardware.

I noticed the replacement part does not come with the rubber seal. I’ll remove the original piece and reuse. It’s not in terrible shape.

Goldwing trunk inner lid Part 1

For the past couple of years I’ve messing with the trunk inner lid. The plastic area the loop latch attaches will become weak in time and eventually crack. I have tried repairing it with liquid cement, metal brackets and various bolts and screws each repair would eventually fail.

As it turns out the OEM replacement part is not expensive and readily available minus the shipment time. I went ahead and purchased one and it should be delivered by next weekend. I will need to source out the OEM screws as the current hardware is not Honda Factory issued and definitely looks like it was pieced together with bits and pieces laying around a garage.

Maintenance oil change

Saturday morning time maintenance. The sled is due for an oil change… okay way past due for an oil change. It is common practice to drain the oil and replace the filter. Just add 4 quarts of oil and your good, some don’t even bother measuring the dipstick.

EDIT: I could not get an odometer reading for the digital readout due to a trunk not closed flashing on the dashboard. The approximate mileage would be 69,200 miles.

I do the same but I will measure the dipstick and fill to the center line. I’ll run the motor for awhile check, add and restart the process. It seems I’m a little bit over 4 quarts each time. The recommended quantity amound is 3.9 quarts.

I believe the recommended Honda service manual maintenance section states changing the oil every 8,000 miles. If you’re running some type of synthetic oil you can hit up to 10,000 miles as long as the filter is decent quality.

With the amount of miles I do per year and the non-stop riding I can hit the miles limit very quickly. I’ve heard of some guys changing their oil when they hit 3-5k miles. That would be unreasonable for me to try and keep up with that type of schedule. At a minimum I ride 2500 miles a month back and forth commuting to work. This does not include all the places I ride during the weekends.

The local auto parts stores have the service that allows you to bring your used oil and fluids and they will discard it for you. It’s sometimes hit and miss as the recycle tubs are commonly filled and you have to come back another day. I was lucky and found one of the shops had space after leaving another parts store that had no room left in their tank.

Swap seat

I plan on changing up my seat but don’t want any down time while the upholstery person is working on it. I’ve been hunting around for any seat that would fit the mounting tabs of a 2002 FLSTB Fatboy. I scored a solo Corbin seat on Facebook Market Place. This seat is in such a great shape, fitment and style I’m planning on using this along with my custom seat when completed.

The challenge in finding a seat was to find one that has the mounting bolts on the side. Most of the seats being sold used are modern and the mounting tabs are at the rear and front. The bolt to secure it down is in the back end.

The Corbin Solo seat fits better than the stock seat that came with the bike. It may be even in the snug side, probably the best it can be fitted. Now that I have the backup seat I’ll be looking for material to used on my custom Fatboy seat. I’m thinking dark brown…

Wing Prep for the week

I washed up the sled in preparation for the workweek commute.

During the normal wash I check for anything that at be damaged. As luck would have it I found a nail dead center of the rear tire. I get so many flats throughout the year it’s not funny.

I’ll pop out the rear wheel when I have a chance and take it to the local tire shop for a plug and patch. Life of a ridah’.