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Corbin dual tourer vs. pillow top seats

gunkylump

By gunkylump
in Watering Hole

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gunkylump

gunkylump

Posted
Posted

To those who have had both the corbin dual tourer seat and the Yamaha pillow top seats....how they compare?

 

I realize seat choice is all kind of/sort of a personal preference.....just wondering how many pillow top users have switched to the corbin and really prefer it that way?

 

gunk:smile5:

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Freebird

Freebird

Posted
Posted

They are polar opposites of each other. I tried the pillow top and it was WAY to soft for me. It felt good at first but after a long day in the saddle, it is just too soft and offers very little support.

 

The Corbin is hard as a rock. It feels terrible at first but I've never had a seat that allowed me to put more miles on in a day than it does. It is by far the best feeling seat I have ever used.

 

You are right though, seats are very subjective. There are many on this site who love the pillow top and will give you the exact opposite opinion than I just did. People seem to either love the Corbin or HATE it. The bad part is, you can't really just sit on somebody's bike that has a Corbin and know if you would like it or not. I think I ended up putting about 5,000 miles on mine before it broke in to me and I started liking it.

 

That means that you are basically going to have to spend a good deal of money and then wait 1,000 - 5,000 miles before you know if you spent your money wisely. Not the best of situations.

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Oldslow

Oldslow

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I have to weigh in on this as I spent a lot of money and time working out seat comfort this year in particular.

The pillow top feels great to me at first and for an hour or so. After that it gets uncomfortable. The Corbin while it feels like it has no give...doesn't really feel all that much worse after riding for a couple hours.

I had even ordered up the new Mustang seat for the RSV. After a couple hours I decided I had to return it. It looks awesome and I wanted to keep it but feared it would not suit me.

I also developed some sort of tail bone issue this season. I ended up with that Canadian Tire seat cushion (not really a gel) I cut the tailbone relief and modified the area around the thighs and threw it on the Corbin. Very Comfy for quite a few hours. Especially if you stop much at all while traveling, which I generally don't.

 

My single biggest issue on a motorbike now is neck and shoulder pain which this year, and maybe RSV specific, is awful. I tried adjusting height of the bars and I tried risers, both are not helpful.

 

Considering a whole new bike next year, If I can afford it....

 

As an aside, best comfort I ever had was a Corbin Dual Tour on a Nomad...3 years , 60,000 kms before the thing gave up a tranny.

That was a bummer!:95:

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Monty

Monty

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Posted

It took about 1000 miles for my Corbin to mold to my butt. It's a very comfortable seat. The longest we've rode with it, is about 550 miles in a day, and we were both comfortable, with no soreness at the end of the day. We're very happy with it.

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stvmaier

stvmaier

Posted
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Hey Warrior, I was in the same situation as you. The pillow top didn't work for me but the wife LOVED it. First I had the driver's seat redone several times by a buddy that owns a Auto trim shop... no good, Then I had Rick Butler do his Mod on my seat... a lot better, but still wasn't happy (no offence to Rick, a LOT of people LOVE his seat mod and it's well worth the money to see if it'll work for YOU). Next, I tried the saddlemen Road Sofa... worked for me, but the wife HATED it!!! So... I ordered a Russel Day Long seat. Had them build the front seat custom for me, and they just recovered the wifes seat, with NO change to the cushion, to match my NEW rider's seat.... now, FINNALLY, we are BOTH happy!!!! And if I recall... it was less than 600 bucks.

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cecdoo

cecdoo

Posted
Posted

I had the pillow tops on my 06, was always very comfortable, we could easily do 500 mile days, never had a problem with that seat, but since I am vertically challenged I am always looking for ways to get my @ss closer to the ground. Found a corbin seat in Chicago that the guy had padding taken out of drivers area to lower it and padding put in riders area to make more comfortable, perfect setup for me as I knew my wife wouldnt like a hard corbin seat! So I gave it a shot, we are both very happy with it, I have done an 850 mile day with no discomfort at all, and it is hard as a rock, and she is good for 500-600 miles. I do have the backrest, first time I ever had a backrest in 40 yrs of riding and I do like it. I disagree with the others tho, everyone claims you need 1000-1500 miles to break in the seat, I think the seat breaks in your @ss:think: Too bad ya dont live closer I would let you borrow mine for a week to try it out. Look around for a cheap used one, if ya dont like it you can sell it and get most of your $$$ back, I am still looking for a deal on the corbin passenger backrest, anybody have one???? Craig

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petekadish

petekadish

Posted
Posted

When I bought my '07 Venture, one of my first goals was to figure out a way to make the seat more like the one I had on my old '96 Royal. What I really wanted to do, was to put my old factory Corbins from off my '96 royal on to the new Venture. Unfortunately, the seat brackets were different and it just wouldn't mount correctly without some custom fabricating which I couldn't figure out how to do. It's too bad too, because the driver's pan seat fit just right in that space and I think it also looks a lot better than the Duel-tourer seat.

 

Another issue I had with the Venture pillow-top seats, is that they are made out of vinyl and I found that they seemed much hotter and stickier than leather because vinyl doesn't breath like leather. So, I knew that I needed to replace them with a Corbin.

 

Shortly after buying my Venture, my wife and I took a trip down to California and I figured that since we would be reasonably close to the Corbin factory in Hollister, CA, that we should make a visit and get our new seat custom fit. What I really wanted, was a split-seat set up like I had on the Royal. Unfortunately, Corbin only offered the duel-tourer option for the Venture. My wife wasn't too happy about that since she actually liked her cushy new pillow-top seat. But, she agreed to the switch after she found out that the nice folks at Corbin could put softer foam in the rear section of the seat for her.

 

So, after nearly 47,000 miles of riding on this Corbin, I'm still very happy with it. I do however use a ProPad gell seat cushion with it (http://www.thepropad.com/6404-SuprCruzr-Real-Sheepskin-Pro-Pad-Prodview.html). I have found this to be the perfect set-up for me.

 

The perfect combination of motorcycle seats and each individual's butts are never an easy match. Different bikes introduce different variables and considerations, and of course we all have different sizes and degrees of padding in each of our backsides. Sometimes, it takes a lot of experimenting to find just the right set-up. And, I'm sure that some people wonder if it's worth all of the trouble and expense. Well ..., if you ride a lot and being comfortable is important to you, then yes ..., it's entirely worth it.

 

Be Safe & comfortable!

Pete.

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Kirby

Kirby

Posted
Posted

Well, as usual I'm gonna be different. I love the pillow top seat! My wife and I rode in an Iron Butt last year and the seats never gave the least bit of a problem. I also rode up to Don's Md in Ohio from south Georgia (920 miles in fifteen hours) and my backside wasn't hurting at all. I ride the bike all the time, every day, rain or shine(33,000 miles in 16 months) so maybe my backside is a little tempered from being in it!! I also have the Diamond R pillow top backrest and the only thing I don't like about it is, it gets hot on warm days.

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Guest tx2sturgis

Guest tx2sturgis

Posted
Posted
I have a Corbin in my attic that I won't ever use again. I replaced it with a Russell Day Long. Wish I had done it 80000 miles ago.

 

That Corbin in the attic....is it for sale?

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midnightventure

midnightventure

Posted
Posted
That Corbin in the attic....is it for sale?

In a futile effort to make it comfortable I took the cover off and modified the foam. After that the cover was a little loose and wore a small hole in a wrinkle where I slide my leg over. I also modified the backrest to work with the Russell Day Long. It was a very good looking seat originally but I would hesitate to sell it because I would worry about somebody being unsatisfied. If somebody was coming through this area and wanted to look at it and make an offer I would do that but I don't think I would want to ship it to anybody.

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Mariner Fan

Mariner Fan

Posted
Posted

I used to fuss around on my pillow top trying to get comfortable. I had the Butler Mod done to it and now it's much better. The only little nag I had with it was that it was a bit soft and I felt like I was pushing down on it too much. Could be the fact that I'm fat! Anyway, I put my sheep skin cover on it and now it's perfect!

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Guest tx2sturgis

Guest tx2sturgis

Posted
Posted
If somebody was coming through this area and wanted to look at it and make an offer I would do that but I don't think I would want to ship it to anybody.

 

 

Ok...well thanks for your honesty. My stock seat is needing to be rebuilt or replaced...I'm considering a new Corbin, but cant easily turn loose of $500 right now.

 

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Bobby G

Bobby G

Posted
Posted

I loved my Mustang seat on the VTX (never had a Corbin seat), but hated the stock seat on my older RSV. I sat on a few newer RSV's with the pillow tops and really loved the feel, so I got hooked up with a buddy of mine at the factory and snaked a set for cheap, and both me and Skid love them. I was prepared to go back to the Mustang seats if needed, but we have never tired of the new pillow top seats, even in the extreme heat of summer, including a recent 1,600 trip to south Florida and back.

 

As important as the seat is, is having a good backrest. The leather gets hot in the summer and you sweat pretty good leaning against it, but I cured that with a black padded knee brace from Walgreens that I slip over the backrest on real hot days. Looks a little goofy, but it works, and is washable. The padding provides a nice lower lumbar support as well.

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petekadish

petekadish

Posted
Posted

Thanks Bobby!

 

I have been trying to figure-out a solution for this very issue for a few years now. The knee brace (if it fits over my Corbin-covered Utopia backrest), should be just what I have been looking for. I have been thinking that a low-pile, black sheepskin might work well, but I wanted to be able to slip it on and off easily, and I didn't want it to look like I was using a Persian cat as my backrest.

 

Be Safe!

Pete.

:snow:

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Wolf

Wolf

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Posted

I have the Corbin as well. The pillow top would lose its luster afetr an hour or so and caused me extreme pain. The Corbin is as hard as a rock though, but is still comfortable. On the plus side, I was adding some accessories yesterday and had to remove the tank to run some wires, and realized that the 2 bolts on the bottom of the seat had broke loose from the seat pan. Corbin has sent me a UPS prepaid shipping label and will fix it iunder their life time warranty. It was a pleasure talking to them this morning without all the hassels.

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