Corbin Seat Mounting Question

I took my Corbin seat off of my 84 R8ORT at the beginning of winter as I am doing a restoration of the bike. As part of this, I am having paint done and so removed the seat from its cowling. When I removed the seat, I also found the hinges were bent as such I straightened them and forgot about them.

Now, I am ready to have the bike pinstriped and the painter has asked me about how to mark the gas tank pinstripe so it aligns with the seat cowl stripe. We were going to mount the seat in its cowling on the bike along with the tank and mark it up for the stripe.

I found to my horror the seat when the hinges are installed does NOT sit on its bumpers on the frame as does my stock seat on my RS but instead is held in place up off of the frame by the Corbin hinges. This would explain why I had to send the seat back a year ago for repair when a hinge pushed though. Too much weight on the wrong point.

So with the seat metal cowling on, this is not readily noticeable..

As it stands now, the seat is supported only by the two hinges which of course mount to the two small pivot points on the frame, and the locking stud. I find this suspect and not a good way to mount as there are bumpers on the seat and I feel they should bear the weight not the hinges and light pins.

If anyone has a Corbin seat on their bike, can you take a quick look to see if your seat is properly seated on the bumpers or if it is supported by the hinges only? I don't want to pinstripe with the seat obviously up higher on the bike then it should be.

Also, does anyone know if Corbin makes a different hinge? I will try to call them today. Mind you, after a major experience with them a few years ago, I am NOT a fan so dealing with them is the last thing I want to do. Thanks for the replies, St.

I can't answer your question directly, but I did want to ask if you ever considered doing away with the hinges. I did that on my '76 R90/6 and it works fine. I think seat hinges are a pain in the neck. I will probably do it also with the double seat on my RS project.

https://w6rec.com/bmw-6-motorcycle-seat-modification/

You just lift the seat off and put it aside instead of having it hanging there in the way. Maybe most people don't find it "in the way" but I like the modification better than the hinges.

Corbin's answer

Every Stock BMW seat I have looked at sits on the frame with the bumpers taking the weight. Only The Corbin sticks up in the air and bears the weight on the delicate frame hinge pins, hinges and plastic body.

Corbin's answer is they don't have any other hinges to send me, there is not much they can do as it is an old unit, perhaps I can make a gasket to fill in the gap?

So, no, I am not going to make a gasket, I bought a seat that was supposed to fit my bike, I am not going to modify my bike to make the seat fit. The Corbin is coming off and I will be buying a stock seat if I can find one.

See my other post for more grumping about Corbin. St.

Yeah but this modification removes the hinges, so they're not causing fitment issues. If you remove the hinges now, does the seat sit on the bike the way it should?

If so, renew the rubber bumpers and go to town.

The point

The point is, I bought a new seat, paid good money for it and it does not fit the bike as sold. Yes, I can do away with the hinges and ride, more again, the hinges should work as they are supposed to for a seat I was told would fit my bike. It is not like BMW changed the seat mount system from 77 to 84, I had two other Corbin seats before that were fine. When I pay for something to work the way it should, I expect it to do just what I pay to have it do.

I may be the only person this has happened too, no one else has replied yet, regardless if I am the only person with this problem, it was not caused by me or anything I did, I am just glad I caught it now before it did worse damage. St.

STEVENRANKIN said:

The point is, I bought a new seat, paid good money for it and it does not fit the bike as sold.

Click to expand...

That has been a problem with many Corbin seats for as far back as I remember. The seat portion - foam and cover - is usually OK but the execution of the fitment has long been a problem.

Well the Ausherman modification works on my /6 but it's not going to be so easy to remove the hinges from my RS Denfield seat....

It’s nice that someone, some company, is trying to supply parts for old motorcycles. Maybe the complaint when these motorcycles hit the 40 years old mark, the complaint will be “how come nobody makes parts for my bike”?
OM

Ok my last post about Corbin

Sorry to all you who are probably thinking I am making a mountain out of a mole hill about this issue.

I would not be so angry if in fact this was the only time I contacted Corbin regarding problems with the seat. I posted a long time back about my first episode with them, not the second. From day one, the seat has been a problem. I will hand it to them, they did fix it the second time I returned it but, now that I know why the seat failed the second time now they won't do anything.

I give a LOT of credit to companies such as Siebenrock and others who are bringing back parts for our old bikes, my bike would have been on the scrap heap a long time ago. We airhead riders may be a small market but we are passionate about our bikes. I get very touchy with poor customer service in any product I purchase, at the same time, I will give high regards to anyone giving good service and parts. St.