Bandit Alley
MODEL SPECIFIC => BIG BANDIT BANTER => Topic started by: Sven on October 13, 2007, 12:25:51 PM
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I am very close to ordering a Corbin seat.
They offer a leather that has been bonded with vinyl to give it a shiny carbon-fiber appearance...the picture at their site looks great. Unfortunately, the only offer leather for the area where the rider's butt sits...the sides of the seat, and the area where a passenger would sit are both only available in a matching vinyl.
On the plus side for choosing leather for the area where it is available: Leather should breathe well on hot and sweaty days, and be warmer on cold days.
On the down side for mixing leather and vinyl: There is no way the two materials will match perfectly. Leather on the main seat area will not be entirely waterproof, as vinyl has been. The leather color will fade somewhat over time.
BTW: You cannot compare the carbon-fiber leather and the carbon-fiber vinyl from the samples at the website. After close inspection, I have detected that they used the same picture for both samples. @ssholes.
So, should I just go ahead and order an entirely vinyl seat? Or do a leather/vinyl combo?
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Mine has the CF leather on the seating areas of both the rider & pillion, with the black vinyl along the sides. It's holding up well, with ~40K miles on it so far. My son's bike has about the same miles on plain leather and it is showing a lot of wear near the edges of the rider's seat where your legs come down. Some of this may be attributed to the different shape of his 1G seat though.
While the leather isn't waterproof, it hasn't been a big problem for me when I've been caught in downpours. It usually dries out fine overnight if kept out of the weather.
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Mine has the CF leather on the seating areas of both the rider & pillion...
They "recommend" vinyl for the side panels, but the drop-down choices don't seem to offer leather for the "tail section" (pillion seat).
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I'm pretty sure the leather seats still get vinyl on the sides, and that strip between driver and passenger. I'm positive I read it on their site too.
I've got a used gunfighter and lady, black leather, and the drivers seat is looking pretty worn. It seems to be showing the pattern of glue underneath too, kind of like raised areas.
I'm going to need at least that section recovered sooner than later. I have no knowlege of what kind of care, or lack of care it got before I had it.
I basically bought the seat for the passenger backrest, which works fine. When I have a passenger I put it on, and don't worry so much about dumping anyone.
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vinyl
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Two years ago I spent $1,000 on a Corbin seat for my GL 1800. Standard black, non heated. The passenger and drivers sitting areas were leather. The sides were vinyl. It was a hard booger to ride on. Even after 25,000 miles and much Mequires leather conditioner it was a brick hard seat. Check with Mayer or Russel Day Long before you spend the cash on a Corbin. Corbin is a high quality seat, no doubt, and enhances resale for sure. Comfort is very subjective. I personally am going with Russel for my next seat. Good luck.
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- Leather and vinyl match perfectly. No discoloration on my Gunfighter&lady after 30,000Km.
- With proper care leather will not get wet. Mine has been out in the pouting rain all night once and all it took was a towel to dry it in the morning.
- Although more comfortable than stock, the seat is hard and forces one to sit far back if he wants to fit his ass in the cup of the seat.
- It's very heavy, roughly 2-3 times heavier than stock.
- It doesn't come with a bracket. You'll have to remove it from your stock seat, so you can forget about the quick swap.
Bottom line: Considerably more comfortable than stock (although this is a very subjective assessment), but also more maintenance sensitive. Definitely not good enough to justify the price, unless it's custom tailored for your butt. I got mine second hand but unused for $150 and that's about as much as I think it's worth.
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I have corbin saddles for both the G1 B12 and my G1 FZ1. The B12 saddle is all vinyl and the FZ1 is the combination leather/vinyl. I like the leather combo saddle better, it has lasted very well with the minor maitenance of applying leather conditioner a couple of times a year.
In the end (pun intended) I reshapped both stock saddles and added the old timey bead solution. Here's an example, I made mine from an automobile seat cover...
(http://sampson-sporttouring.com/bead/seats.jpg)
This set-up works so well for me that riding several all day rides in a row is no longer a pain in the butt.