Ariel Rider X-class Passenger Seat With Backrest

The long seat for the xclass was out of stock and it seemed like a waste to throw out the existing seat so I decided to make my own using a little bit of sewing and some cutting and stapling. I even reused the polyurethane packaging that came with the bike for the pad.

This was my first upholstery project. My only experience sewing has been sewing a mask for covid. You don’t have to use a machine but it will make the job easier.

- jigsaw
- drill
- drill bits
- bread knife
- upholstery stapler
- wood base, could be plywood or solid wood
- cardboard
- packing foam that came with the xclass
- vinyl leather
- sewing machine
- scissors
- 4 carriage bolts with nuts and washers
- 3 t-nuts with bolts
- socket set for bolts
- backrest
- passenger pegs

You’ll need to cut out the cardboard template using spare cardboard. I used a box. The shape I used was crescent shaped because I wanted the new seat to conform to the single passenger seat. I followed the rear curve of the rack as well. The 4 inch foam that comes with the bike packaging makes an excellent cushion because it doesn’t absorb water. You could probably use the foam with zip ties if you don’t mind it looking ugly.

I used spare wood shelving that I had around. I think it was 1x8. You won’t need much. Maybe a 9 inch section of that. I chose solid wood in order to give some weight to it because I knew I’d drill a backrest into the wood and not the rack of the bike. The tricky part was giving the wood a slope and a curve. The interior crescent shape was tricky since it has to overhang the single seat foam. You’ll need to match the curvature. If you use thinner plywood, then it will be much easier.

This part was tricky. I had to make sure that the foam had the right curvature, slope, and height relative to the single seat. I used a bread knife to cut the foam. I used the wood to form the bottom cut pattern for the foam and guesstimated for the top pattern by adding a few inches to get the right slope since the single seat slopes downward. I also had to remove two layers of foam so that the single seat height is about the same as the passenger seat. This is because my board was one inch. If you use thin plywood, then you may not need to do this step. Luckily, the foam peels off easily.

I purchased the fake leather vinyl from JoAnns in their remnants section. It cost about $7. You don’t need much material for this project. I also bought a walking foot and some stronger needles. The needles are a must when working with vinyl as it does not behave like regular fabric. I broke all 5 needles.

Your fabric will have a top portion that is crescent and convex shaped on the ends. You’ll have to cut a vinyl price slightly larger than the foam to account for the seam allowance.

The sides will be about 6-8 inches tall and wrap around the perimeter of the top part of the foam and tuck under the bottom of the wood. This could be one large rectangle but I’d advise making it into three pieces so that it can conform nicely.

Since I was installing a backrest, I decided to use three sections to make an opening so that the wood doesn’t show. The opening was the same size as the bracket for the backrest. I used a French seam for strength and appearance.

The technique really mattered. For some reason, the fabric length around the perimeter was not the right size and it didn’t fold right. I tried to cut it but it made the crescent look worse. Again, multiple pieces with different angles would have solved this.

Since I wanted to use a backrest and install it into the wood, I had to use t nuts which are nuts that dig into the wood and lie flush. This avoids pesky nuts that protrude. I also considered elevator bolts which have flat heads. This took a little drilling. Luckily, the thick wood had enough to catch on. You could also use wood screws but I worried about the backrest coming undone.

Lining up the holes on the rack was a big problem. My drill technique sucks and my holes came out crooked. A drill press would solve this. I had to redrill a few holes. This caused the carriage bolt to spin, which is bad.

This was into the final stretch. I used a pneumatic stapler to staple the vinyl onto the wood and made sure to stretch it. The sewing wasn’t too great due to the curve but it turned out ok for the first attempt. I hope this inspires you to improve on what I did. Thanks for letting me share.