IN ADDITION! I live in a former ranch town in Northern California called Livermore. A rodeo town. A cobbler business is here, very reputable, cash only. I've been using a guy in a neighboring town for my seat stuff, because...well I've mentioned I hate sanding and seat fitment? Yeah I've no patience for seats.

So I've been using this guy in the neighboring town for years. His quality has slipped, and then he way overcharged me for the last seat I had him do. So, he's bookmarked, but I thought why not try something different?

I took my semi-rusted seat pan for this AT2, and KDI's foam and cover to the Cobbler, to see if dude was interested in installing. He was skeptical, not used to fold over sharp triangles to retain the cover, stretching said cover over foam to fit, and the dreaded welt that goes over the rim of the seat pan. He wasn't confident, but was willing to give it a shot. This place is FILLED with cowboy boots, horse riding boots, riatas, motocross pants...you name it. I was sure he could handle it.

Today, he called said seat was done! I drove over, and we had a nice conversation about old bikes, saving them, why would people leave them outside to rot? He rides the commuter train over to the Central CA Valley, and the train passes a ranch with motorcycles scattered on the property, with other yard art like alot of Central Valley properties. One bike he said is an old Honda CB450. He thought he should stop and see if they want to sell it, but, the location is near a prison. Probably not smart. Right?

Anyway, he did nice work on the seat. Wish he had been faithful to the arch of the Yamaha letters for this AT2, but this was his first M/C seat! I'm not going to sweat that detail, this bike is lucky to be alive, and getting more attention than I thought I would pay it.

Rick, T-Bone, what you think'???

Holy smokes! We considered that bike a parts bike.
Very nice. Paint job is awesome! Strong work brother.

A FINE job, Evan. of course you sir, have always did Stellar work !
Love it !!!



Going to the ," Quail " with it?

Looks really good, especially the paint. And I'm with you on the seats. I did three several years ago, and they all turned out very fine. This time around I have three pans prepped, painted , and ready to go, but It must be the arthritis in my fingers or something. I have no desire at all to get down there and wrestle with the foam and the covers, now. I'd rather dismount a couple 40-YO knobbies and mount a coupla new tires than do these seats.
Maybe I should ask you...you mention seat fitment. Should I have to trim the KDI foams at all? It just seems even when I re-use the old edge moulding that I just can't get the covers over the foams and get them secured well on those 'sharp triangles,' as you call them. Maybe I need my 160-lb son to stand on the foams while I hog-tie the cover in place on the said triangles?
And sanding. On these seats, I have been wire brushing or wire wheeling the pans and then doing an acid wash and a stop bath for the remaining rust. Then I've been using a gloss black on the under side but Rustoleum Hammered black on the foam side of the seat. Says you can spray it right over rust, so I figure if I do my best to remove most of the rust and then never leave the bike out in the rain and snow again, it shouldn't rust again...theoretically, anyway.

I don't know if the guy needed to trim the foam, but I know when he was testing the install the cover was a really tight fit. All the more reason I have no business installing the foam & cover.

Installed all the painted parts yesterday. Also, a new 3.50-18 Shinko SR241 and a 17 tooth front sprocket, need to get some more top speed out this thing, as 40 MPH is not going to cut it. The original Yamaha color is on the oil tank, I didn't spray it hoping the color I used would match. It didn't, it's way off, so I'll be spraying the bike's old oi tank and put this one on the shelf.

It's certainly looking good.
The tank cleaning was great, noted for future projects.

Here is another baby picture and a back story..

T-bone and I found " Thing 1 and Thing 2 " online but it was in New Mexico. Santa Fe I think.
The PO said that he would deliver it to Phoenix and we could meet him there for the transfer. So we left early one morn and he showed up. With this..



Then we went to Bob's used motorcycle parts out there. Cool place !



and brought the bits back to see what we had.

I just showed Shane the progression of this AT2. He's so stoked!! Thank you for posting "post" Thing pics!!

As you all know, as soon as something shiny goes on a bike, something else looks not shiny. Off with the back fender!!

Painted up rear fender & lamp bracket on! Took spare front and rear hubs to my vapor blaster. Out Of Control!!