I like the smooth , it's easier to clean - your vinyl will have no stiching holes for the water to seep in and rot the thread - I however did put stitched flames on my seat as too plain is not very attractive - I originaly tried to glue the flames in but we did not have a pot gun at the time so it lifted and we re did them with stitching --
if you want to see my pics go to havasudougs.com readers ride Blown budget
ohh and don't look at any of the biki pic on that site -- they are just sooooo HOT