Modern Vespa

Hey guys, I thought I would share a couple of photos of my new seat from Pirate Upholstery. And yes, I highly recommend Jay at Pirate.

Enjoy!

Very Nice !!!

That's very nice! I like the piping, kinda like the cool piping on the orange S seat.

Jay did a great job on a plain black leather seat with a gel insert for me right before the Cannonball.

What material did you get? Think the piping will hold up? Did you ask for a flat seat...or semi-flat? How much detail did you go into with what "style" you wanted, or did you give Jay generalities and left the design up to him, or did he take your idea, draw a sketch, and run it past you first? Sorry for so many questions. I'm getting ready to jump, but want to come up with a design that minimizes that front drooping huge black bulge.

Basically I sent Jay a photo of a seat on his website, told him I wanted it to look like that with some modifications. I wanted the rider's area extended with the gel insert. He suggested a vinyl material for it's non-slip and long wear properties and I took his suggestion.

Dare we ask a ball park figure for the entire process??

Wow, looks great. Like how the yellow matches your scooter.

Classy Seat!!

When I saw the title of this post I thought, "Rrrr, this Rrrt to be a mighty fine looking seat, Rrrrrr. And, matey, it sure is.

I bought a seat from a member here on MV for something like $170 and had the seat shipped directly to Pirate. My cost for the new seat, including shipping was $457. So, my total cost is $627.

I have my original leather seat for sale on MV for $400. So hopefully I can sell my original seat to offset the cost somewhat.

Well done

How much did that cost you?

Uhhh................two posts before yours.

Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for the seat?

It must be halloween or something... look a few posts up....

DesiB.

Come on now, the last one was a joke

Hmm, that seems a bit pricey when compared to the Corbin (gold standard of motorcycle seats, solid reputation blah blah).
I thought Pirate would be more of a bargain.

Nice seat though

Wow that seems a bit much. I was quoted under 3 bills for a seat...

Ya just never know around here!!

Desi B.

Corbin, the gold standard of motorcycle seats? There are thousands of motorcycle owners who will not agree with you about that. (I'm one of them). Corbin has a terrible reputation with the BMW crowd of which I was a member for over 35 years. I have met many a person and read many a negative post re. Corbin Seats from dissatisfied owners. They also have terrible customer service. The Corbin seat does not come anywhere near the quality and comfort of the Russell Day-Long Saddle. I bought a couple of Corbin's on bikes I owned in the early 80's and then I discovered the Day-Long saddle which at that time was owned by a gentleman named Mayer. Since then, I've owned five of the Day-Long saddles and they were extremely comfortable and of extremely high quality. They're still built the same way that they always have been and they're very pricey but you get what you pay for. I have never met anyone who owned an owner of a Day-Long saddle who had anything negative to say about it.
Re. Pirate: From the many positive comments that I've read on this forum, it appears that they also make a very high quality product for the Vespa owner and the price that the OP paid for his seat is right in line for a high quality saddle with the features that he ordered when you consider that he paid an additional $170 for a seat to build his new Pirate on. If you deduct the $170, he got his money's worth.

I've had three Corbin saddles on three different Vespa scooters, never paid over $325, and each one was excellent for quality and comfort.

It's true that their customer service (i.e. returning phone calls, etc.) could be better, but once I have the saddle I forget all about how long it took them to get back to me.

I know Pirate makes a good saddle, and people enjoy his quality as well, I just personally don't care for the way the Pirate GTS saddles look , they seem to be kind of shapeless...but that could be what his customers are asking him for too, since many have mentioned making it more of a bench seat so they can slide back.

piracy!

I contacted Corbin in July. Im still waiting on a response from them. My Pirate seat was in my hands 1 week after I ordered it. Plus since the LX150 has no electric seat release like the 250 the bike would have had 3 keys. Ignition, trunk and seat. Corbin also puts the seat lock on the wrong side of the scooter for some reason.

If you do the seat swap thing with pirate it is WAY less than that.
I have a great seat made by pirate that cost me under 300 even with shipping when all was said and done with the seat swap.
Then I kept my old seat, so I just ate the full charge for the new pan and the old seat, but the invoice was a very, very good deal.
The quality is amazing for the price, and that is rare.