Suzuki RG500 GAMMA

Hi Richard
Sorry, don't have an extra solo seat cap, though I do have one on my stock
bike.  Note that these can be painted to nicely match the stock tank scheme.
This improves the looks of the whole thing by about 1000%.

re: fibrelass solo seat which replaces side panels and rear seat
>How much does it cost.  Do you sell
>it?  Where'd you get the RG500 stickers?  Who
>painted it?  Will it work with Jolly Moto pipes?  

I'm surprised that more people have not used this seat.  It is one of the 
pieces that I'm the most proud of, since I guess it required a lot of work to 
finish.Basically, I ordered the piece from Brutune in Ontario, for about 
$200  Cdn.(5 years ago).  Decals were stock side panel decals from Suz.
and paint was done locally.  All in, almost $500 Cdn.
Brutune can be reached in Ontario, Canada at (416)664-5514
I was a bit dissapointed when it showed up with 
absolutely no instructions or tips on how to mount the thing.  It is just the 
shell, with decent thickness and gel coat.  There are some molded-in areas
to work with though.  I'll walk you through what I did:
1) the width of the rear cut-outs for the pipes will fit stock pipes, and I 
presume Jolly Motos as well. You have some leeway with the final mounting, 
as to how high you want the seat to sit up (by how you configure the base of 
the seat).
2) obviously you can't just set it on the frame as is, or jury-rig something 
quick and expect it to be secure.  First off, get a used stock seat 
(hopefully off a wreck) and take the cover and foam off.  Clip the bare base 
onto the bike.  Now take off the front retaining bar that holds the gas tank 
tabs down and receives the front lip of the seat base - its too high.  Make 
up another one out of mild steel or alum. bar, that simply goes straight 
across but has a rise in the middle so that the seat tab will just fit under 
it (and the tank tabs - these have to be bent down a bit and shortened too). 
You also have to trim an amount off those rubber
bumpers that sit on the frame rails, since they are a bit high. I 
shortened the top of the oil tank filler also.  That tab sticking up that 
holds the tool kit rubber also has to be cut down. You can fine tune all this 
though as you go along in the next step. 
3) Position the glass seat so that the front edges under the tank are 
reasonably well lined up and the pipes in the back match the cut-out.  I 
recall that I raised my pipes up a fair bit and actually trimmed a small 
amount from the underside of the sub-frame so the Nikkon chambers would come 
up to where I wanted them.  You might also have to trim the new glass 
where it wants to contact the front of the tank (knacker area).
Once you have everything lined up to where you want the thing to sit, and the 
glass is contacting the seat base, you want to tack glue the seat base to the
glass from the underside (I used a lot of that 'Goop' which is strong as 
hell, but has just a bit of flex to it).
Oh, and you also have to relocate your set key assembly since it would other
wise get covered up.  They only place that I found would fit was just behind 
where the tool kit used to sit.  Make a hole in the rear fender to stick the
key opening through and with some tall spacers you can bolt the bracket right
onto the fender as well.  Now the key has to be put in from under the fender
but so what.  I rivented a stiff rubber flap which sits over the opening to 
prevent wheel crap from hitting the opening, and it works perfect.
4) Take the seat off and add a bunch more Goop in areas that are reasonably 
close between the seat base and the glass.  Test it again and let it harden 
up.  By now, you should be able to take the seat on and off with the key 
lock, the seat should slide nicely into the front tang, and the bumpers 
should be trimmed just the right amount so that they (and the locking point) 
are all mated securely with no wobbles.  Sit on it and check that everything 
is reasonably rigid (although you will fill in and add more glue to the base 
later)
5) Now you want to add support to the rear section.  There are great 
recesseses along the rear sides which nicely accomodate any Dzus fasteners 
you can lay your hands on.  Mine had a right angle backing plate that can be 
riveted to a home-made bracket.  Again, line up the back and raise it just a 
couple of millimeters so that the seat will be resting a bit on the fastener 
area.  Drill you holes big enough for the Dzus pin, but also for a grooved 
rubber grommet that fits around the pin. You can go to a good hardware store 
and source some that will fit the width of the glass as well as the diameter 
of you pin.  Install the rubber, the Dzus, and the plate on the back and you 
will then see from the underside where you have to put in a bracket to 
attach the plate.  Rivet the bracket on once you've got it right.
6) Now if you happy with the overall fit, glue the hell out of the base with 
more Goop and for the large gaps, just spray in some polyurethane foam
7) There are two 'shark gill' molded areas on either side to direct cooling 
air.  Cut these out carefully and then epoxy in some mild perforated steel 
or mesh from the back side to make it look finished.
8) You're ready for paint!  I put on number plate areas in read that matched 
the red in my side fairings and the remainder in white.  Install stock RG 
side-panel decal on either side and the proper angle that goes with  the seat 
piece, the lower pipe angles  and the side fairing decals. Clear coat over 
the decals.
9) You get some cheesy rubber pad material with the seat that you have to cut 
yourself and glue on (I used simple contact cement).  It is thin but 
surprisingly comfortable.  You can source some better foam from the 
aftermarket guys that is denser and can actually be worked with a 
rotary sander to have nice rounded factory looking edges.
10) Get some of that stick on heat shielding and line the underside of the 
seat wherever it is fairly close to the chamber or silencer
11) For looks, I attached pieces of my original windshield edging (that black 
stuff) along the seat edges that come up under the tank.  Extend it along the 
top until you get the point where your seat foam is. 

12) Go riding and enjoy the lower seat height, wider pad area and ease 
of moving from side to side.  You've also lost weight, since the rear foot
pegs and brackets which must be off a touring bike, are now history.

I might be talked into doing up another one of these seats if a person's not 
'handy'.  

Bob T.
Gamma Performance
(Rob K., please this put on your site, since I don't ever want to repeat it)

Rob Koopman ( Rob.Koopman@inter.NL.net ) ^{RG500 Index}