Gregory Bender

Seat cover adhesive

Moto Guzzi V700, V7 Special, Ambassador, 850 GT, 850 GT California, Eldorado, and 850 California Police models

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Thanks to Marvin Mayo and John Prusnek who posted this information on the old Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group (which has now moved to Groups.io) in reply to a post from Charlie Mullendore of Antietam Classic Cycle. In Charlie and Marv's and John's own words:

Post from Charlie Mullendore of Antietam Classic Cycle

I'll be recovering the ‘71 Ambo's seat with the nice cover from Harper's and wondered if anyone had something better than what I've been using in the past to attach it. I've tried regular old contact cement and 3M Weatherstrip Cement and neither does much of a permanent job. The cover always seems to come loose eventually and needs to be stuck back on. Don't want to resort to riveting it on as I've seen done.

Any magic stickum that's worked for you?

Reply from Marvin Mayo

About 15 yrs ago I sewed a new cover for may son's V50 II & installed it with an adhesive. I used lots of clothespins to clamp the cover to the seat pan ‘til it dried. I'm almost certain that the adhesive was Pliobond. The adhesive still holds but his dog ate the top of the seat a couple of years ago. IIRC Pliobond's most common usage is in shoe making & shoe repair. Don't buy a lot of it, ‘cause it will set up on you while stored on the shelf.

Ashland Pliobond 25 LV Adhesive (P-612-LV) (also available and local hardware stores such as Ace)

Reply from John Prusnek

As a hippie I had a leather shop and made lots of sandals, glued them together with Barge contact cement. If you can find a shoe repair shop they should have a tube. The trick is to coat both surfaces, let them dry well, and clamp them together very well and evenly, maybe fixture up a couple of thin metal or wood strips and lots of c-clamps.

You also may consider using some quilt batting between the seat and cover, glued on with spray adhesive, helps to even out the seat if the foam's funky.

I haven't had the pleasure of recovering a Guzzi seat, but some honda seats I've done are made of plastic thick enough to drive short staples into, others had sharp V notches on the inside pointing up, just stretch the cover over and hook it on, which was a simple and elegant way to attach the cover.

Barge All Purpose Cement manufactured by the Quabaug Corporation (also available and local hardware stores such as Ace)

A later follow-up from Ian Francisco:

On another note, Mr. Bender had asked for a status report regarding my use of a glue called E-6000 to seal the carburetor boot to the original air box. I had used something heavy to set on top of the boot while the glue set and ensure a seal all the way around then after 24 hours of curing time I added a small bead to one spot that looked like it may not have sealed and let that cure another 24 hours. So far I have not had any issues with the air box and have had the carbs off at least three times since then.

I recovered a seat using Pliobond Adhesive and also used on carb boot rubber.

No issues yet on seat or boot.

The vinyl repair shop said it was far superior to the adhesive she was using and has since changed to it too.