Corbin Classic Solo Review

[DaveAlvarado]

I got a new Classic Solo last week in anticipation of the Lake o' the Pines rally this weekend. I figured I'd go ahead and post up my thoughts in case it helps out somebody else.

Purchase
I got the seat from OneidaSuzuki.com for a bit less than direct from Corbin. The purchase was trouble-free and it shipped to me with no issues. The seat they sell is a plain black with (I think) a leather seating panel and vinyl side panels. It's pretty basic, which what exactly what I wanted and looks pretty good on the M50.

Installation
I wasn't sure how easy or difficult installation would be, but it turned out to be a snap. One important note--the seat doesn't come with the tools you'll need to install it, and you can't use the tools in your tool kit. If you don't have a variety of wrenches or sockets and allen wrenches, be prepared to go find what you'll need before you try to do the install.

To remove the old seat you undo the hex bolt from behind the pillion then slide the pillion backward out of the clip it's on. Then you'll see that clip (with the vinyl loop that was over the pillion seat) has two more hex bolts on it. Take those out and the stock seat comes right off.

The Corbin seat should come with a little bracket that you screw into the same 2 bolt holes that were holding the stock seat in place. The bracket goes in with the screw part facing up and toward the back of the bike. Then you just set the Corbin seat in place, put the washer and nice-looking little acorn nut onto the bracket, and tighten it up. I had the tools I needed in the toolkit in my apartment, so installation took maybe 15 minutes total.

First Impressions
I did the install Wednesday night then took the bike for a spin to try out the new seat. My first impressions:
- Holy crap the seat is firm.
- You're sitting on a bucket, not a lump.
- It's really hard to slide your butt around in a leather bucket.
- There's less ground reach. Because you're scooted forward an inch or so and you can't slide your butt around, it seems like you lose about an inch of ground reach to the fact that you're straddling more of the tank.
- The bike feels a lot more like a part of you. It's like a sport bike, you can grip the tank better and really lock the bike into your lower body.
- Did I mention that the seat was firm?

Long Distance Impressions
Friday morning bright and early we set out for the rally. It was about 180 miles each way, and with the riding we did while we were there I clocked 597.6 miles for the whole trip. The ride back I especially got to see what the seat was like, since we basically blew straight through from the lake to home with one 10-minute stop in the middle for gas.

While the seat starts out firm, Corbin's advertising is true and it stays firm. What that means is that the amount of cushioning you get never gets less while you're riding. It feels kind of like a padded bar stool--it's not the most comfortable seat, but you can sit on one for hours. On the stock seat, I had a real problem with my tailbone going numb after a while. With the Corbin, my butt gets tired at the same rate as everything else. I found myself more concerned with stretching my legs while riding than I was with finding some way to get the pressure off my butt. Not that my butt didn't get tired after a while, it certainly did. But it got tired about the same as everything else, instead of being the first thing I noticed that was bothering me.

Also, after 600 miles the seat seems to be breaking in some. At first it was stiff all around the edges. I've got kind of a big butt that hangs off the sides of the seat (it's narrower than stock) so I could feel the edges of the seat kind of pressing on me. After 600 miles, that feeling is pretty much gone. I'm looking forward to doing the rest of the 1500 miles that Corbin recommends to get your seat totally broken in.

My only complaint about the seat is that there's really no lower back support at all. I guess if you want some, you have to go with the Dual Tour or maybe the Stinger or else get a back rest. The whole ride home I was wishing I'd gotten a back rest with the seat so I could just kick back like a recliner and totally enjoy the ride. I think that if I was going for straight touring conversion on my M50 I'd rather have the Dual Tour seat. But since I basically use it for cruising around town with longer rides on the weekends, I think I got the right seat. It looks good and is at least twice as comfy as stock.

[Petcop]

Thanks for the review

I'm worried about the seating position with a new seat too because of long legs. I guess I could tackle installing forward controls if I had to though!

[DaveAlvarado]

Originally Posted by Petcop

Thanks for the review

I'm worried about the seating position with a new seat too because of long legs. I guess I could tackle installing forward controls if I had to though!

I should probably address this too.

I've got a 30" inseam. With the new seat, I can still flat-foot the bike on both sides, but it seems like just barely instead of it being a solid flat-foot. Also, the controls don't feel really forward at all. It's only about an inch lost, but even I could probably go for some forward controls now. If you've got long legs, you'll almost certainly be wanting forward controls.