Denim hand grips/seat?

[mickey85]

So, I was thinking yesterday...

I've got this ratty pair of bluejeans, and my girlfriend's bike (well, the one I'm building for her) has a crappy handlebar (North Road) and seat... However, the seat itself is INSANELY comfy. Here's my thinking...


Take strips of denim and wrap the handlebars (just the places where normal grips would go), then coat it with something (shellac?) to keep it from falling apart or moving around.

Then, get lots of foam padding and stuff it under the denim and glue it up all around the corners.

What do you think? Would shellac or varnish work OK for this, or would there be something else better? Scrap the whole idea completely?


BTW, it's an unknown Western Flyer (I'm guessing) three speed, desperately in need of at least a rear wheel/hub. Painted it semi-gloss black with maroon fenders, and I'm using antique white to offset flames on the backs of both fenders. Fun stuff.

 

[blackchop1]

i have used bluejeans to cover motorcycle seats before- you dont really need anythiung else on the material.

itll hold up bedtter than what you think.

as far as the grip idea goes- just glue the material on. itll hold.

 

[ExtraBlaze]

I just did this with burlap and leather on the bike I am currently working on.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=11316
Covering the seat is pretty easy (depending on the seat) and I glue the grips just wrapped them tight and bar ended them.
I'm sure glue ing them would work.There was also a thread here about using twine as grips that involved drilling small holes in your bars.
I'll see if I can find it but you have quite a few options. :mrgreen:

 

[BrigmasterA]

There's a bike on here, that I can't find right now that the guy used leather horse saddle bags on a front rack. It's a ldies frame painted flat black... Anyways, they used strips of brown grocery bag and shellaced it to make grips, and rolled up some strips and covered with shellac to make bar end plugs. I'll look again for it and try to post the link. But I would go with shellac on the grips. And post up a pic when you're done!
Found it! http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11209