Cannondale Seat Cover Replacement

First, go assemble your goodies. Staple gun, Seat Cover by Guts, Screwdriver for prying staples, pliers for pulling them, instructions from the 'Guts' guys, Allen head wrenches for removing the seat latch. Check your stapler, it may well have long staples in it. That would be a bad thing. Get short ones as shown so you don't staple the seat to your leg.  Go ahead and pull the seat latch now, you don't have to wait and do it last like I did. Learn from my mistakes!!

Don't just sit there, start pulling staples. The screwdriver will get them out or at least get them started, and the pliers will finish off any balky ones.

So you rip the old skin off and get the new one started on the seat foam and base. Start at the front of the seat, and make sure that it is all squared up. I left a little extra cover at the very front because my seat has 'shrunk' somehow, not filling in the cutout in the gas tank completely. I just guessed on how much, and guessed right.

Staple, align, stretch, staple. It's a pain, but rather easy to get it all square and smooth. You want to get it even down the middle and keep it tight over the seat so you don't get wrinkles now, or later. I staple it every 4 inches or so at this point, just to hold everything in place.

When you have the front sides done down to the bottom of the front of the seat, pull the cover tight across the back of the seat and put a few staples in the back to keep it in place. This helps keep the whole thing tight while you finish stretching and stapling.

At the left you see the secret method of getting every staple to go all the way. You come after the loose ones with the pliers, gripping right through the seat cover, seat base, and on to the staple. Squeeze it good, and the staple is fully set. Next you get out the utility knife and trim away all that excess seat cover material. Make sure you leave an inch or so past the staples so they don't pull out later on.

I didn't show putting in the rest of the staples; you should have one every inch or so on the ends and at least a staple every two inches down the sides. Make sure they are all tight (use the pliers when required) and final trim the cover. Replace the seat latch and Ta-Daaa! Gripper seat cover!!

Guts Seat Cover Review

When I rode my Cannondale, I was always aware of the seat cover. The stock seat cover has a very attractive color coordinated panel down both sides that looks great on the showroom floor. When you take the thing to the track you find out how incredibly slick those side panels are. I never really felt connected to the bike. Impressions from my first ride with the Guts 'All Gripper' seat cover: I was completely unaware of the seat cover, but felt perfectly connected to my scooter. My confidence was raised a level or two, and I was tossing the bike around without difficulty. This seat cover rocks, and looks great besides. Only time will tell how it holds up, but it seems to be of the highest quality. Besides all that, the seams don't run under your behind where you sit on the bike. I expect my rear end to survive the next distance race I do in much better shape! And that's a good thing...