PURPOSE: To inform motorcycle restorers of the vast differences and variations in all aspects of restoring vintage motorcycle seats including seat cover kits and seat restoration services.

One of the most varied yet most elusive aspects of restoring any vintage motorcycle is obtaining a correct looking seat. The seat on any correctly restored vintage motorcycle is the FOCAL POINT more than any other part of the bike. Why? Everything else can be correct on the bike, but if your seat is WRONG, others will notice and be quick to point it out to you! Why? Simply because ANYONE can get a bike painted correctly, assuming you have a good painter who can either find OEM paint or reproduce colors with state of the art scanning techniques used by paint suppliers. ANYONE can get parts re-chromed to restore their bike. And ANYONE can buy NOS parts, when available, to replace old parts. ANYONE can track down even vintage tires, emblems, reproduction decals and other cosmetic and mechanical parts. Prices vary for all these items, but in the end these items are fairly 'black & white ' cut and dry in nature with few variables. Their is no 'true old world artisanship / old school craftsmanship' going into any of these parts or services. There is not NEAR the amount of variables involved in any one of these restoration aspects that there are in seat repair and restoration and seat cover reproduction. Not even CLOSE! Think about it in these terms. Paint is custom mixed to match an OEM color and 99% of the time the color is right on the money. Vinyl however is only available in certain shades of colors and grain patterns. There is no such thing as calling up the vinyl supplier and saying: “order me up a batch of vinyl in HONDA DREAM ‘Tomato Red’ and while you are at it make it without any grain pattern lines, like the original OEM vinyl, OK?” So those in the vintage motorcycle reproduction seat cover business have to sometimes settle for what is READILY available. However...NOT JUST ANYONE can painstakingly repair a seat or reproduce a seat cover as authentic as COOL RETRO BIKES ! We HAVE that OLD WORLD CRAFTSMANSHIP approach to vintage motorcycle seat covers! We have literally spent countless hours tracking down vinyls that are as close of a match as possible from all over the world. We don’t SETTLE for what is EASY or readily available. Some of these vinyls end up costing a PREMIUM and can easily cost TEN times the normal price (or MORE!) of readily available vinyls. Sure it would be simpler to take the 'EASY WAY OUT" and offer less accurate seat covers for less money, but that is NOT what COOL RETRO BIKES has ever been about! Check out 'THEIR' seat cover kit and , assuming you are KNOWLEDGABLE , you will realize 'their' details are all wrong! Take a look at any one of Cool Retro Bikes auction listings. We offer EXTREME CLOSE UP photos that are enlargeable to full screen so that the prospective buyer can actually see what he is getting in the way of matching vinyl grains, colors, logos, hardware etc. Have you ever wondered why 'they' offer only small photos with no extreme close up shots that won't show fine details like grain patterns, welt cord type, logo colors etc? It's because 'they' don’t want you to really see what you are getting for your money! The vinyl grain is INCORRECT on 'theirs', the welt cord / piping is often the WRONG SIZE &/or WRONG COLOR, and the bottom mounting skirt on 'THEIRS' is most likely a NON MATCHING material (unlike OEM). We go the extra distance to make certain a cover is as accurate and historically correct as possible. For instance, that HONDA Dream Tomato Red color vinyl we mentioned earlier is NOT AVAILABLE ANYWHERE AT ANY PRICE. So we start with a red vinyl and correct small size red welt cord / piping that is as close as possible to original OEM color, then we DYE brand new vinyl the correct shade of HONDA OEM Tomato Red so the seat color will be the exact museum quality correct OEM shade of red. This is just ONE example of how far we go to produce the highest quality seat cover kits available anywhere. Our kits are also CONSTRUCTED correctly. Some seat cover kits sold on ebay have welt cords that end in the front with a piece of vinyl over the joint where the welt cord / piping ends meet. This is NOT CORRECT. Most vintage seats have the welt cord ending under the belt where the piping joint will be hidden. It’s the EASY way out to end the piping in the front and center, but it is far from correct. Cool Retro Bikes offers the ONLY COMPLETE seat cover kit on the market. Just ask 'them' BEFORE YOU BUY! 'Their’ seat cover offers ONLY a cover and belt THATS ALL? That spells INCOMPLETE in OUR BOOK!

COOL RETRO BIKES kit includes all the hardware you need to restore your seat to OEM standards like belt re-enforcers, or in this case NEW BELT BUCKLES, or new hardware to re-install chrome trim strips moldings, or alternately, HIGH POLISHED CHROME BUTTON RIVETS that are the closest match available (no longer available from Honda) ..or even better, we offer the ONLY REPLACEMENT CHROME TRIM STRIP MOLDING as an option in our seat cover kits. Have you seen any one else going to these lengths to offer the BEST , MOST ACCURATE, MOST COMPLETE SEAT COVER KIT ON THE MARKET ...ANYWHERE? That’s what we thought..no you wont find this kind of quality anywhere else but thru COOL RETRO BIKES!

If you spend $50 on one of 'THEIR' seat cover kits for your fine restoration, plan on DEVALUEING the price of your bike by a few hundred dollars AT LEAST, (enough to PAY FOR OUR KIT !) because again, the seat is the most variable item and the focal point of any bike. Most any enthusiast that knows these bikes will recognize IMMEDIATELY a CHEAP INFERIOR reproduction seat cover because it wont look even close to original! Look...You put in hours and hours scouring ebay, the internet, and bone yards to find one single part. TIME = $$$MONEY$$$. You dont have to look far and wide to find the BEST SEAT COVER AVAILABLE ANYWHERE. ITS RIGHT HERE! So dont waste time AND $$$ buying theirs. We have already had customers that went thru this process, only to end up buying our cover &/or sending us their seat to be restored! Instead of DEVALUING your Bike, make the investment now and your bike will INCREASE IN VALUE to MORE THAN PAY for the price of COOL RETRO BIKES seat cover kit!

We also are possibly the only shop in the entire world that offers the unique hard to find  restoration services offered at CRB including:  vinyl and leather repairs, dye services, seat logo replacement using custom color matched to OEM color laquer based vinyl dyes, foam repairs, reproduction hardware to full pan up seat restoration services. Half of our business is repairing, and preserving original OEM seat covers that are impossible to replicate accurately (particularly seats with heat seam embossed patterned top panels) You will find our SEAT REPAIR and RESTORATION SERVICES listed on ebay. Don't forget to check one of these auctions out. The SLIDE SHOWS are entertaining as well as educational as to just what is possible in VINTAGE SEAT RESTORATION when done be the most experienced seat restorers in the world, Cool Retro Bikes ! Our Motto is: “If We Can’t Save Your Seat…NOBODY CAN!”