If you check out the spec sheets for custom bikes in any mag, when you come across the seat section, chances are you'll find LePera listed as the manufacturer. Motorcycle seat = LePera. It's one of those synonymous things. There's a reason its Silhouette, Bare Bones, Daytona, and countless other seats have set the industry standard over the years. LePera can be summed up in two words: style and quality. Of course, the pleasure/pain principle is also involved.
There are three places where the human anatomy interfaces with a motorcycle: hands on the grips, feet on the controls, and butt on the seat. As to which area of body/bike intersection is most important, ask that question after about 400 miles nonstop in the saddle. To smooth out that connection, for more than 30 years people have been resting their posteriors on bike seats by LePera, the family-operated business still located on Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, California
We said family operated, and that tradition continued when in 1985, and just out of high school, Bob Jr. began working side by side with his father who launched LePera Enterprises back in 1972. Bob Jr. quickly found a satisfying outlet for his own design talents, and has been conjuring up saddle designs now for 20 years, an anniversary that he was reminded of when we recently spoke with him about LePera's newest line of retro-metalflake seats.
Bob Jr. was inspired to re-introduce classic design elements after purchasing a pair of Schwinn Stingray bicycles, replicas of the original '70s cruiser bikes. You might remember images from Big Daddy Roth and Mopar musclecar colors like Plum Crazy Purple. Well, metalflake is back big-time from LePera. What's cool is you can have any of its existing seats given the metalflake treatment. At last count, it had something close to 500 different seat options. Now you can add to the mix a list of metalflake colors that make rainbows look pale.
"We also offer a variety of stitching, threads, graphics, studs, and inlays, as well as color-matching or contrasting piping to go with the metalflake," says Bob.
Yes, you can have a red metalflake seat to go with your red metalflake paintjob, or about any other color you can imagine. If someone really wanted to go totally bling-bling, they could add metalflake grips, boots, and jackets. Remember, you heard it here first.
Seriously though, keeping with that old-school theme, LePera offers both double and solo seat configurations (and passenger pillions), including vintage sprung seats in both small and large sizes, not to mention a choice of materials that include cost-effective vinyl, vinyl and leather combinations, upscale all-leather, and a list of exotics, like alligator, shark, ostrich, stingray, and lizard. And if you're not gellin' like a felon, LePera can add some of its special gel inserts to smooth out the long hours in the saddle, a case of style meeting ergonomics with the rider benefiting from both.
In retrospect, if you happen to check out a LePera catalog circa 1996, you might notice some metalflake seats offered therein, the brainstorm of Bob Jr. almost 10 years ago.
"I even found some NOS metalflake material from the '70s and made up the seats. We didn't make that many, and I think there's a few still around here someplace," says Bob Jr.
You could say he was ahead of his time, with public realization that metalflake was cool again not hitting its stride until recently when he reintroduced it. The time was right, and at the recent industry tradeshow in Cincinnati, metalflake was going like gangbusters with the LePera seats now squarely in the spotlight. This time the Force was with LePera and metalflake has taken off. Call it retro-vintage, gnarly nostalgia, old-school remix, or just plain styling, the LePera metalflake designs offers a whole new look, whether you're planning a complete custom buildup or if you just want to give your ride a pedal to the metal(flake) makeover.
While LePera is focused primarily on saddling up Harley-Davidsons (Deuce, Softail, Dyna, FXR, Sportster, FLH, Road King, rigid), they are offering a metric bike option. Send in your seat pan and LePera will make you up a custom saddle based on any of its many designs, including the metalflake treatment. Turnaround for a new seat is about three weeks. You can check out the tasty options, including some new concho and Maltese-cross-design elements, by logging onto its website, www.lepera.com, and ordering a catalog online, or by calling LePera Enterprises at (818) 767-5110 where you'll find Bob Sr., Bob Jr., and sister Christine ready to answer your questions.