Katana Owners Club U.K.

Hi all. Big thanks to stevea. Just done my kat seat. Well pleased. It's a new material, not alcantra or vinyl but looks and feels great. Recommended. will try to post a pic.

The blue material looks a lot lighter than the original darker blue, on the pic you posted on facebook ..........Ace job all the same!

I might have to get mine done!

Saw that seat on your ebay item. It looks excellent, except for the lightness of the blue. Does he have a darker blue fabric for the front bit?

Hi,
Don't get on here much now but thought I'd pop in and see if there was any feedback on the seat I recently did for John.

To recap on the situation with the fabric I used to use, It was manufactured by a German company with a sole importer here in the UK. Any info I have was supplied by the UK importer. Without warning the manufacturer dropped the light grey then, again without notification, dropped the dark blue. I was pretty pissed off as it took me a fair bit of time finding this fabric in the first place and I believe it was a good fabric which was a very good balance between originality and practicality.

I don't believe it's an exaggeration to say I must have put maybe 4 days effort into finding an alternative, I don't believe I will ever do enough Katana seats to recoup that time or money as I will always try and price the job fairly.

I agree the blue of the new fabric is a little light, however it is the only blue they do in their limited range of colours. The texture, I think, is a better match for the original Suzuki fabric.

At this time it appears to be the best I can offer, I will continue to look but in a more relaxed way.

To clarify on Alcantara, Alcantara is a fabric that is meant for interior use, I know people say it's used on boats and it is, in living accommodation areas. It is not water proof, and it has no real stretch so the complex curve on the front of Katana seats is almost impossible to follow, that's why you see a lot of Katana seats with an extra seam across the front.

Suede, real suede, could be used, however again its not waterproof and the light grey would get grubby very, very quickly .

This is the situation as it stands. it's a situation I am unhappy with. it was nice to be the go to guy for Katana seats, I have done seats for people all over the world. One guy even overnighted a seat from the states!

I am of course more than happy to do seats in the future and can still offer custom colours but as far as originality goes, at this time the fabric on Johns seat is the best I can offer.

If you've made it to here, sorry for the long post.

steve,

the quality of your work far outways the "originality" factor

when i need a seat i know where i'm heading

to those who disagree, find some one who can do better, you'll be really hard pushed

H

Hi SteveA.
johno,s seat looks great,i was speeking with him lastnite & he told me to join the site and speek to you about my seats,im doing 2 kats at the moment mine is a 1230 with big valve yoshi gsxr head,the other is a friends who is getting his motor built in the states by Nigel Patrick.Both bikes need the seats covering,it would be much appreciated if you would give me a price to do both.look forward to your reply. regards Moby

Thank you H and Blix for the positive comments.
Moby PM is on it's way.

Hi Steve

Clearly a labour of love, like most things involving these bikes, and the pride in your workmanship is evident. There must be some of that Dark Blue fabric somewhere, not saying you have not done enough or that it is actually your job to find it. I used to work in Textiles, it is a finicky business, and more complex than meets the eye.

I had a thought some time ago after paying for some parts from a dealer who shall remain nameless (and feeling a shooting pain in my fundament). simply put, I think it would be financially beneficial, and quite satisfying to send one of our more experienced members over to Japan with a long shopping list, and a lump of cash to pick up as many original bits as they could for our bikes. Anything not consumed by members could be then sold on ebay, and the profits split by the stakeholders.

I was thinking of doing this myself, and offering stuff at cost plus a bit to members before offloading the rest on the market. However, spare time (or lack thereof) is an issue.

What do you all think?

Is it worth involving Peda from Germany to help in contacting the original company?

It would definitely be classed as importing goods. I would intend it to be a sizeable package, basically hoovering up any NOS parts he could find that would move here. that would have to be factored into the thinking.