Dear Sir,
I’m writing to you today to tell you about the experience I have had with Corbin.
This summer I ordered a seat for my 2006 CBR 600RR (July 16th). After getting no follow up email after my order I emailed and used the online contact form several times to find out the status on my order. On August first I called the number listed on your website and found out there was a problem processing my credit card and the order had been put into whatever limbo your computer system has. Your ordering people corrected the issue and put the order in. Problem number one: after an issue with the initial order I received no contact from customer service to right the order. Problem two: nobody answers e-mails or the contact form on the website.
Already after this I was a little leary of Corbin, but I waited anxiously for my new seat. My seat finally arrived on August 22nd. The leather work was beautiful and I couldn’t wait to install it. When I went to install it I found that the seat pan shape and bolt holes were completely wrong for my bike. After contacting your customer service twice I finally got in touch with someone who looked at the shipping system and realized I had been shipped the wrong seat, a 2004 seat. They blamed me for ordering the wrong seat (despite my initial order email showing in two places that I had ordered a 2006 seat).
I assumed this was going to be par for the course and ate the shipping cost ($25) and re-work fee ($35, which your CS did not tell me I’d be charged for) to get the correct seat sent to me. I waited almost a month for the correct seat to arrive. On September 18th the new seat arrived. Once again I giddily ran to my garage to install it. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that the seat pan was just wrong.
On the CBR and most other Japanese sportbikes the seat pan is a piece of shaped fiberglass with a tongue in the front that locks under a bracket in the subframe, and two tabs in the rear for bolts to go through. On the Corbin seat there was no tongue, just an L-shaped bracket that didn’t do anything to stabilize the front of the seat (I could feel it move while riding). I should note that the 2004 seat that you initially sent me did have a tongue. The rear bolt tabs really didn’t line up very well and needed some coxing to mate with the subframe.
I got it mounted up and went for a test ride. There were three major issues with the seat. First it felt like there was less padding in it than in the stock seat. I could feel every imperfection in the road through my sit-bones and it felt like I was sitting right on fiber-glass with just a little bit of low density foam in between. Second it was too wide. When at a stop light or when changing to a leaning off position in a corner the sides of the seat pan get in the way or cut into my thighs. Third it felt like there was a ridge down the center, which got quite uncomfortable after a few miles.
Once again I called customer service. The surly fellow informed me there was no return policy but arranged for an RMA. I sketched out how the seat should be built including a description of how the seat pan needed a real tongue and how to shape the foam, and FedEx picked it up.
I waited until mid-October again with no word from your company. I called customer service to check the order and found it was on-hold. The nice woman on the phone, Jessica, was the only person I’ve talked to at Corbin that was friendly on the phone. She said she would move the order ahead since I had been waiting so long.
Fast forward to October 24th. Once again I was excited to try it out, and once again I was disappointed. The seat pan still lacked a proper tongue to stabilize the front. The back of the seat had been beefed up with extra foam with no regard to shaping, but the front (nose) of the seat had not. The effect this has when riding is that I’m higher than I should be and thus tiring out my arms and core trying to maintain good body position. Without a beefed up nose, the tendency is to slide forward constantly, so I tire out my legs and arms trying to stay in place. I’ve spent 50 miles on this seat and its almost entirely useless to me.
Corbin customer service offered to let me ship it back again (at my cost) for re-work, but at this point I’m done wasting time and money on this.
Please allow me to describe what elements a good sportbike seat should have. It should be low and thin, like the OEM seat. It should have a pronounced nose to reduce forward slide, and a slightly raised rear lip to rest against during acceleration.. It should have a cupped out area where the sit bones go during most riding, with very high density foam or gel under the hips. The seat pan should mimic the OEM seat pan almost identically. Remember, we’re building a seat for someone who likes to carve the twisty roads for 6+ hours a day, not a cruiser that is riding down the freeway. When I ride I need to be able to move side to side, but the seat needs to help me stay in position front to back. I don’t need a cushy seat, but my sit bones need to be insulated from the road.
At this point you might consider throwing my letter in the trash and going on with your day, assuming that I’m just one unsatisfied customer. A search of sportbike related forums and social media groups reveals that this is not an isolated incident. For every satisfied customer there are several quite vocal customers that have had a similar experience to me. Remember the lawsuit with the gentleman on the BMW with the Corbin seat? As you recall he said that a ridge down the center of the seat caused damage to his man-parts. I had the same feeling of a ridge with my seat. This isn’t an isolated event. We are in the information age. No company is insulated from what vocal dissatisfied customers can do to their reputation.
At this point I’m done trying to work with this Corbin seat. A full refund of the cost of the seat, shipping, and re-work fees would make me happy ($259 + $25 + $35 = $319). Otherwise I will try to re-sell it on e-bay and recoup some of my loss, then look for a competent custom seat-builder.
Best Regards,
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