New Seat For My VFR1200X

[betoney]

After suffering with a Corbin seat on my VFR1200X for over a year -(expensive, uncomfortable and HEAVY),   I decided to get a proper seat made at a local motorcycle seat shop https://www.richscustomseats.com/

Rich's seats have been discussed here before and is fairly well known to Northwest riders, I had one built for my FJ and have put about 70k miles on the seat.  The unique thing about a custom seat is it is done in person, it is measured and shaped with you sitting on the bike and you take it for a test ride (or 2 or 3) and they re-shape and tweak it to make sure it is perfect before they build you a personalized custom cover.

Not only is it hand built specifically for YOU but it is a lot cheaper than a Corbin, the Corbin was about $600 + shipping and this custom seat was $475 + tax.   The Corbin is built well and looks nice but feels like sitting on a bag of cement and weighs about the same.

It took me about an hour and a half to get there this morning but I took the long way back home, about 3 hours.

[Kenny A.]

That does look comfortable. 👍

[betoney]

1 hour ago, Kenny A. said:

That does look comfortable. 👍

I'm leaving for a trip to California in a few days so I will be able to give it a few thousand miles to break-in.  I did the same thing years ago on my FJ, procrastinated until right before leaving on a road trip before getting a seat built and then left on the trip 2-3 days later... 🙄

[TomTracer]

ABSOLUTELY worst seat I ever had was Corbin in late 90's. Zero help from Corbin.

[betoney]

10 minutes ago, TomTracer said:

Zero help from Corbin.

I had the same experience, they have a "support center" and claim that they can help if you aren't satisfied with the seat within a specific time period after purchase.  I tried contacting them, filling out the info and submitting it to support but they never responded, straight up ignored my correspondence.

[2and3cylinders]

Hate to say I told you so LOL

I used to build custom saddles for myself back in the day, but it's a whole different ball game with the covers now.

I've had one corbin and it was okay because I was young but I learned very quickly that it was heavy and hard as a rock.

It was an off the shelf saddle for my 88 Honda NT650 Hawk GT.

Fantastic bike, it had a cult following, but for racing Wantana be. Did it right, and so did 2 brothers back in the day again But the SV650 blew it out of the water sales wise.

Had the Proarm swing arm and adjusting the chain was just a piece of cake!

Like your gorilla interceptor.

Well the proof will be in the pudding on your tour.

Good luck with that too and keep us posted

 

 

[betoney]

6 minutes ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Hate to say I told you so LOL

Oh well, live and learn.  It's not the first time Ive taken a chance and wasted money. 

For any future bike I may buy, a custom built seat will be the ONLY option for me.

[TomTracer]

A fruend sold me his Russell Day Long. It was.much better but still not for my arse. I suggested on a forum members who wanted to try something different could trade for a trial. Honor system. Of course naysayers said what a dumb idea. Well, screw 'em, it worked and nobody got screwed. Naysayers are big pita's!

I sent my Corbin to Omaha and the guy bought it for a good price. A coupe others did similarly. CBailey was starting to make seats. They emailed me wanting my Russell to dissect in exchange for a custom made Bailey. They sent a form for ht/wt and instructions for photos. They paid shipping for the Russell and in 3 days I had my new seat. It was not quite right, we talked, they made another front and i kept the pillion. Overnight I had the new seat. That Bailey was super for about 160000 mi on my BMW. Didn't cost me a dime. Bailey quit the seat business. 

FYI