corbin factory tour

[Conall O'Brien]

Hello Folks, I scheduled a ride in appt. to Corbin in Hollister several weeks ago. Yesterday was the day I was scheduled. Before I discovered this list and all the good info I purchased the Corbin KLR seat with the dip from the Corbin catalog. I used the seat as is for several years, liked it but was always sliding forward into the tank. So the purpose of the visit was to take out the dip. By paying to have the seat recovered the people at Corbin would modify the seat for no additional charge. Vinyl is $150 and leather was $200. I left home bright and early and got to Corbin right at 8 o'clock in the morning,so far so good, I'm the first person here. I was greeted by Art who would be doing the work on the saddle. I told him I wanted a flat top all the way, with an area cut away near the Rear rack grab handles for my hands to grab a hold of. Art showed me a KLR seat that was flat in the front and a step-up area for the passenger.Looks good, let's go for it. So I wound up with a good looking seat that is designed for 2 up riding. The step up area provides a little lower back support for the driver, almost like a back rest. I went for a classic leather seating area with carbon fiber leather on the side panels and yellow welt. The yellow welt will complement the yellow skid plate, hwy pegs, and rad guards that are on order with Tim. I was there about 4 hours altogether. Very nice facility. You have complete access to the plant, can see all the processes. I went in the top secret Skunkworks Design room. Saw my first F650 GS Dakar. Sweet... They also had a seldom scene in Calif ZRX1100. I assume both had products being developed for them. Saw the electric Sparrow and Merlin cars,etc. Sat in one of those sofas that looks like a back of a corvette, very comfy. Everything they had in the showroom looked way better than in the catalog. All in all I was impressed with the service and people. If you live close enough to go I recommend the drive in service to get you fitted to your seat. Side note: There used to be a seat pan manufacturer by the name of Fibertech(sp?) in Southern California. They had molds for all bikes and were the only US seat pan producer that we knew of. Corbin owns the technology now, that is how they are able to provide thier customers with a seat, pan included. I saw it myself. So for you old timers who wondering what happened to Fibertech, now you know. Corbin uses Fibertech seat pans. 2 thumbs up to Art, sales and customer service at Corbin. YMMV, Conall KLR650 _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com