They must be next to Screwfix! They obviously don't have much in the way of street presence as I was there yesterday...
Got to book the car in for its MoT opposite so will check them out.
MoT successfully booked and so popped over the road to Cool Covers for a quick chat with John Small, the owner of the business. The business has been going for over four years and it turns out they have been located at their current site for the last 3 ½ years and make all their own covers on site here in deepest, darkest Ledbury. Who knew?
John was still recovering from the Motor Show, having just got back in the early hours, but still took the time to have a chat and to show me the material, which is the weirdest stuff I have ever seen and I should point out that these are slip-on covers, not a seat recovering measure, with each one being tailored for a perfect fit, unlike the 'warp round and tuck-under' flubber sheets sold by some bike outlets.
What isn't obvious from the pictures on the website, (where it looks like a cross between that non-slip perforated flubber you use to stop things flying around the car and a string vest) is just how complex this material is. It is specially made for Cool Covers and they are just beginning to branch out into car seats and office chairs with an eye on the temperature and pressure relieving benefits to the medical world to boot.
The whole 'knitted' material is 8mm thick and consists of two grids, gratings or matrixes (matrices?) held apart by an abundance of coiled filaments which allow the two grids to compress together whilst still being something like 85% fresh air. I sat on a sheet of this stuff while we were chatting on the office sofa and it was undetectable through my chinos, so hardly likely be obtrusive in use. No matter how much I squeezed the material between finger and thumb, I could still blow air between them, so I can see the air- and water-flow part of the material being very effective. It does, however, feel very grippy which would solve the problem for those of us who find their saddles too slippery, but might not suit the 'hang off the side' merchants among you. I have only ever taken a pillion passenger once on the Sargent pillion pad and he was sliding all over the place from start to finish.
It is worth mentioning that the covers are already available for the K12/13 S and GT, both high and low versions and the covers are in the KTM catalogue as an official accessory and they also feature in the Wunderlich catalogue, so obviously good quality kit.
I have arranged to pop back with the component parts of my Sargent seat for them to take a look at to see what they can do with it once John has recovered from the deluge of orders from the bike show and will report back with more information and details of a discount voucher scheme for members.
More anon...
