ok guys. some peple said it was alot easier to grip a trimed seat rather than a thick one and it takes of some weight. any of you that have done it… can you give me some tips on how to do it so i dont ruin my seat
and one more question. how do u get the cover back on and tightly on… it seems like it would be hard… thank you all
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If you want a nice. smooth cut, get a metal wire really hot (use a grill lighter to torch) and qith the the seat attached to something, slide it through the foam.
Use an electric turkey cutter or a handsaw. cut it in half(or how ever you want)then use the top half of foam were it is rounded, it feels much nicer than the bottom square of foam.
I just cut down a bicycle gel seat and put it into my miyata-style LX seat. I used some other soft shape-retaining foam to fill in the gaps, and it is definately the most comfortable seat that I have sat on.
This was the second time that I took my seat apart to modify it. I used a hobby knife/razor blade to cut the bike seat down to size, and I traced the shape of the original foam onto paper so that I could easily cut another piece of foam to be the right size.
I also taped the screws on the stiffening plate into place so that they won’t fall out if I ever take the seat apart again (they fall out if you turn the stiffener plate upside-down ).
And yes, it is pretty hard to get the cover back on and tight, but it stretches a little bit so I think you can manage. Just be sure that you don’t let any of the metal teeth - the things that hold the cover tight and kind of look like this:
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There isn’t much that you can do to a unicycle that can’t be fixed with a little effort.
An electric carving knife is the best way to cut the foam. It will make a nice clean straight smooth cut. Don’t try using a razor or utility knife. You’ll just end up making a mess of the foam and get a very jagged and uneven cut and end up ripping the foam more than cutting it.
A hacksaw with a metal cutting blade might also work, but I haven’t tried it. Or a metal cutting bandsaw if you have access to a metal shop. I haven’t tried either of those options so do a test cut in a throwaway part of the foam first to make sure you’ll get a good cut. I use an electric carving knife.
I used electrical tape to mark where I wanted to cut. The tape made a line that was easy to follow using the electric knife. Just tape around the edge of the seat like you pinstriping it. Then use the edge of the tape as a guide for the knife.
You’ll want to keep the top half of the foam and discard the bottom half. The contours on the top half will be much more comfortable to sit on than the squared off bottom half.
With the stock KH and Torker seats, you have to pull out staples to get it off, so you’ll need a heavy duty stapler. Im not sure how well it works to remove those non-removable seatcovers…
How many people have acctually taken those seatcovers off?
I tried using a hacksaw with a metal cutting blade on the foam, and it just shredded the foam. I used a knife like this one and it worked beautifully.
Just make sure you cut as deeply into the foam as you can, because the knife blade is only about 1.5" long.
I’m sure that an electric knife would be your best bet, but in case you don’t have one of those, know that a hobbyknife would work, too (and that even a fine-toothed hacksaw blade takes more effort)
I’ve taken the covers off two non-fusion KH seats and they’re pretty easy to put back on. I used loctite spray adhesive first, got the cover nice & tight and then used a staple gun (probably about $10 from a hardware place, they’re £5 in B&Q here) to hold it all in place. No issues yet, and the adhesive would probably hold the cover on its own.
ok so im going to have to take the padding competely off the seat and cut it in half and use the top half? what kinf od glue should i use. will a fusion cover fit torker velo? wil i have to traim the seat cover? thanks
The Velo seat cover should fit on well enough without gluing to the foam. The front handle and rear bumper should hold the seat cover on well enough. I would only glue the seat cover on the foam as a very last resort. Gluing the seat cover back on would be messy and problematic.