Valkyrie

There seems to be a company on eBay that makes affordable knockoffs of Mugen, Bride, and Spoon seats, including some made of carbon fiber.

I'm curious if anyone has tried them.

The only thing I don't like is that they only sell the seats in pairs...

AzEKnightz

iTrader: (24)

Sorry I dont really understand what "knockoff" means, but if ur talkin about some replicas or NOT authentic ones, then u really consider on the safety side of those seats before buying.

Valkyrie

Replica doesn't instantly mean bad...

That's why I'm asking if anyone has used them.

owen is fat

I bought a single Spoon replica from them on ebay, I was surprised to see one single seat so I jumped on it.
the seat is WIDE! much wider than I expected... much wider than a real deal Spoon seat, like its almost 2 wider in front and 1.5" at leasty in the butt. the seat is only 13 pounds so it is lightweight, the materials are quality but the only thing I do not like is the plastic rings around the harness holes... they are cheap and do not keep the proper shape, so I can see them bending inwards along the long straight portion, I can just imagine them popping out or the fabric coming out from underneath them. not nearly as nice as the Sparco Ultras Ive had before or the Momo seats my friends both have, all are barely more money than the F1Spec seats.

I think it will fit in my FC, I have made some mounts to bolt their sliders and rails to the floor but I havent drilled and tapped the holes in my mounts yet. soon, very soon.

I like the plain black seat I bought... dont care for the Mugen replica colors. the red Bride/Recaro replicas are nice but I dont like how wide they are.

Valkyrie

Barely more money? You mean compared to the price of a pair of SHIPPED cheapo seats?

I just wish one of the big brands would make a quality affordable seat that actually looked as good as their high-dollar models.

How big are you though? Real Bride seats are pretty damn narrow (meant for Japanese guys) from what I've heard.

Corbic

Considering a Bride seat is only rated for a driver weighting less then 220lbs, and your paying over a $1,000 for just one, I'd be worried about thier safety. A lot of this "JDM" stuff is nothing but hype and image. You really going to tell me a $600 5-way Takata harness is going to protect you better then a $150 6-way Simpson harness? Yeah.........right.

Valkyrie

Turns out they'll list singles on auction if you ask for them...

The only bad part about that is they get more bids so the price goes up :p

Valkyrie

And as soon as they did, some idiot paid 250 bucks for ONE seat...

BTW, their diagram says the seat is only 46.5 CM wide, which is only half a CM wider than the real Bride seat is supposed to be... so shouldn't Bride rails fit too? (although they're expensive as hell)

I wonder why Nagisa hasn't made any FC rails yet...

f1spec

hi,
My name is Ming and i'm a representative of f1spec. the goal of f1spec was to provide a quality seat for the average joe without paying for those outrageous jdm marked up prices. our seats are good in quality and no one on the market can beat our prices. we are a growing company and we are always changing little thngs of our products from customer feedback. if youguys have any questions feel free to contact me
via AIM: F1spec
via email: misu@f1spec.com

ming

DaiOni

what kind of safety testing do you do ming? I know all the major players such as recaro do crash testing (a requirement so that they can comply to regulations in various countries and for race regulations).

owen is fat

hey did you just call me an idiot?

I bought the one seat for $250 shipped and I'm happy with it, but I would get a Momo Start if I had it to do over and just modify stock sliders like RxBen did.

to compare to other seats....
I had bought a pair of sparco ultras (13# seats!) and they were stiff as hell but the bottom design made the seat higher than I wanted it to be, they have flat bottom rails kind of, in the design so you cant really sink the seat butt down low between sidemount rails like other race seats can. but for an FIA spec seat, thats stiff and lightweight, yet very comfy, the Ultra is a nice seat. it was perfect in my Honda Civic but just cant be low enough in an RX7 unless you modify the floor sheetmetal.

two friends of mine have Momo Start seats, these are online for under $300 shipped each and thats a NICE seat... very similar to the F1spec seats, but the Mmo seat is FIA approved, much stiffer and has better mounting points (stronger and they are threaded inserts, not studs sticking out like on the F1spec seats).

I finally mounted the F1spec seat on my FC driver side and its awesome. well sort of... the seat flexes a lot more than I expected... the seat sliders only lock on one side so when you slam the brakes you can feel the seat tilt to one side as the unlocked slider moves forward a bit. I'm used to it now but I'm sure at a track day it would be a major issue and you might even break the rails, sliders or the seat or the mounting studs because of the stresses and movement. I will readdress the sliders and design my own off stock sliders if possible to prevent the movement. BUT the seat sits DAMN low and I love that. I modified their sidemounts to get the seat 1/4" lower (just had to trim the portion of the metal sidemount bracket under the butt of the seat) and I used 1/4"x1"x4" pieces of aluminum, bent and drilled/tapped for mounting holes so it could be bolted to the stock seat floor holes and the F1spec sliders can be bolted to these aluminum brackets. the seat is moved to the driver door maybe 1/4" but it feels centerd to the wheel. the seat is fricken HUGE, I have a 36" waist and this seat could be 2" slimmer and I would still squeeze in it. but being so wide the seat is damn comfy for daily driving and makes getting in and out much easier on the seat fabric.

if you cant find the Momo Start seat for under $300 shipped, or cant find a Sparco Ultra or Speed for under $300 shipped, then maybe you should get an F1 spec seat, the benefit is the F1spec seats come with sliders and sidemounts but you need to fab a floor mount, the bar aluminum is easy stuff to make with a saw, two drills and a tap.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

If they aren't FIA certified, I wouldn't use them.

Valkyrie

At the time, it seemed like the seats were going for MUCh cheaper (like, 300 for a pair, shipped), so no, I'm not really calling you an idiot

Now 250 is the normal single seat cost.

f1spec

thanx for your write up but we are still a growing company so with all the customer feedback we chaged the mounting bolts on the seats and we have changed the sidemounts.

f1spec

here some info on our seats

We currently have 3 styles

-----Type I-----

Type 1 - Mugen S1 Style. The cloth only come in the same color scheme as the Mugen S1. We have either the fiberglass, which is the same exact grey color as Mugen, or the silver carbon.

f1spec

-----Type II-----
Type 2 - Spoon Style. I'd say it is more of a Mugen S1 style in plain color cloth. Cloth either come in Black or Red. The reason why I say it is more of a Mugen S1 rather than Spoon is because our Type 2 is not really a eggshell type. The Type II comes in FRP (Fiberglass) or BCF (Black Carbon fiber)

f1spec

-----Type III-----
Type 3 - Recaro SPG Style - The fiberglass versions are Recaro SPG Style (Red or Black cloth). The Type III comes in FRP (fiberglass) or BCF (Black Carbon Fiber)

f1spec

----------Free--------
With every purchase of our seats F1spec will throw in Sparco type side mounts and dual sliders


From all the customer feed back we have changed the sidemounts so they can fit various brackets. as you can see the picture below has the difference from the left one(old version) to the right one(new version)



-----MEASUREMENTs-----
F1Spec Type I & II Seat Measurements
From our customer feedback we have had some cutomers with 40" waists use these seats.

F1Spec Type III Seat Measurements
Can fit up to a 34"waist

f1spec

Our prototype F1Spec carbon kevlar racing seat was featured in the march issue of honda tuning magazine.




No one has more seats in stock than F1Spec :thumbup: :P , we always hold full container shipment from our factory direct.

owen is fat

as long as I can remember they were never less than $500 shipped per pair and whenever they were sellign a single seat it was $300 shipped, so... $250 shipped for a single was a good deal.

I think you got the $300 for a single confused with the sellign price of $500 for a pair.

oh well.

hey I'm glad F1spec will revise their stuff based on customer concerns.

and yeah since theyre not FIA approved, probably not the safest seat out there.

Valkyrie

Meh. It seemed like they were cheaper on eBay.

Also, a few pictures in a Honda magazine does not constitute as an unbiased product review.

BTW, are they FIA or not? I don't see why one customer would have a seat with an FIA tag on it, but not the rest of them.

The only one I have any interest is type 3 though... the basic design of the Mugen seats looks silly to me.

fritts

iTrader: (5)

From the email I received the FIA approved seats cost twice as much as the non-FIA seats. Which puts them close to name brand area.

f1spec

yes our seats are not fia approved yet. we are in the process of getting them f1a, but once they are approved the prices will go up. but even certain other company seats are not f1a approved. for ex mugen, spoon, bride, vision, and sparco, recaro. most of these companies have none fia approved seats. even if they are approved you have some that are way up there in price.

owen is fat

or like I said, the Momo Start and Sparco Ultra are both FIA approved and similarly priced to the F1spec seats and even similar in construction and size.

I have the all black TypeII in my FC.