Corbin seat

[Junior]

Anyone with actual corbin seat to comment if it helped flat foot ride. I'm 5'7. 

[Freebird]

I had one on my '99.  I loved it and though I'm tall, I did notice that it sat me a little lower.  It's a hard seat and takes some getting used to.  Corbin seems to be a love it or hate it proposition. 

[Junior]

Thanks for your opinion. I'm looking at all lowering information.

[circa1968]

I'm 5'9"-ish, 31" inseam, and the corbin did help me sit a little lower, but the biggest difference was lowering the front end.  I only went 1/2" lower, could have probably gone just a touch lower to be 100% flat foot but its close enough for me.  That 1/2" also made a noticeable difference (positive) in how the bike handled.

[Junior]

Is this something easy to do or is there complications in other areas of handling ?

[Pasta Burner]

@circa1968 yeah what @Junior asked!?! What did you do to lower the front end?

@Junior I bought my 87 two years ago and it came with a Corbin seat, I find it’s comfortable but have only been on single day rides so far.  Can’t comment on if it lowered as I have nothing to compare to.  I’m 5’9” with a 30” inseam.  I can only flat foot if I stand and forget about it with extra air and a passenger.  My next method of hope was going to be trying to wear boots with a big sole.  I normally wear my sport bike shoes but that may be worsening the tall bike issue.

for note I can’t flat foot my sport bike either, but with 20+ years of experience/dealing with it and around 600lb lighter it’s a non issue.

[circa1968]

@Junior @Pasta Burner I'm a MMIT (Motorcycle Mechanic In Training), working on my youtube certification, 🙂 so with that in mind,  lowering the front end was not 'easy', as there are a # of steps involved but it was also not the most difficult thing I've done.  If I recall, it took me 3-4 hours from start to finish, with a lunch break thrown in and just being very methodical and intentionally slow.  If you are mechanically inclined, you can do it, just take your time and I recommend looking at the exploded view drawings first so you can pre-visualize what the process will be. 

You can read more about the steps required here: 

I would recommend removing the tank as the first step, having it out of the way gives a little more room to work and you won't risk any scratches.  You will have to remove the front fairing and then remove the nuts holding the inner fairing so you can pull it out of the way.  I took an extra step of removing the stereo head unit to make that easier and it probably added no more than 10-15 minutes total for removal and reinstallation - just made it easier to get the inner fairing pulled away.  With the inner fairing loose and pulled away, I used a ratchet tie down attached to garage rafters to hold it up and out of the way.  Ended up doing the same with the handlebars because they just wanted to flop around.  I recall the fork tubes did not want to move at first and it took some coaxing, but then it was easy.  Just make sure you make a mark for your starting point and ending point.  I'm pretty, uhm...anal..., so I used a set of calipers to get the final position of each side exactly the same, by measuring from top of now protruding tube, to the top of the triple tree.

As far as complications with other areas of handling, I will say I experienced the opposite of complications.  The handling improved, IMHO.  I went with only 1/2" as I did not want to make a drastic change without knowing what the end effect would be.  I was shocked at how noticeably better the handling was.  The steering was quicker and the bike felt more nimble.  This makes sense considering the change, albeit relatively small, was changing the overall bike's geometry in the direction of sport bike (vs. easy rider chopper at the other end of spectrum).  Coincidentally, you could install lowering links in the rear (a seemingly much simpler process) and that would move the bikes geometry in the other direction away from sport bike and towards chopper.

Lowering the front and going to 4-piston calipers on the front brakes have been the two mods that made me fall in love with my venture all over again.  I did a 5,500 mile trip last summer after those two mods and absolutely, positively would not go back to stock setup there.  When I come to a stop now, I am able to very gently slow to a stop, with both front & rear brake, then casually bring my left foot down in complete control.  Prior to the brake change, I never felt like I had a fine touch on the front brake, it was either not enough or stabbing it to stop, which coupled with not being able to flat foot, had me pulling my right foot off the rear brake so I could get both feet down as I came to a more abrupt stop, making matters worse.  Now I feel like a pro when I roll into a stop and if I need to make a more urgent stop, can do so with total confidence, on both braking and balance as it stops.

And I'm a big fan of the corbin seat on long days in the saddle.  I know some people do not like the firmness, but with some fine tuning of the backrest, I find it very comfortable on long 500 mile days. 

[Pasta Burner]

I just looked at y’all’s profiles and realized you are not talking about a Gen 1 like I have.  But I will do some digging as I think lowering the front on a Gen 1 has been done if I recall my readings.

[Junior]

Thanks for all the information. I don't think I want to get involved in that. Maybe seat modification . 

[circa1968]

6 hours ago, Junior said:

Thanks for all the information. I don't think I want to get involved in that. Maybe seat modification . 

Understandable.  I went through the same thought process and was looking for a used seat on ebay to try modifying and that's how I found my corbin.  It ultimately took me months of deliberation to build up the courage to do the front lowering.  In the end, I'm very glad I did it.

[circa1968]

7 hours ago, Pasta Burner said:

I just looked at y’all’s profiles and realized you are not talking about a Gen 1 like I have.  But I will do some digging as I think lowering the front on a Gen 1 has been done if I recall my readings.

Best of Luck!  Hope you can get the same results I did on mine.

[slowrollwv]

Junior have you found a seat yet? If not I have a Saddleman Road Soffa seat you could try. It does set a little lower and is not quite as hard as a Corbin.