What are the chances of a Corbin Saddle for the Ninja 650 R
fitting the Versys.

My wife isn't crazy about riding w/out some support - we could add the
backrest when she wanted to ride.

Just a thought.

According to Mike himself, Corbin should have a Versys seat available very soon, as in possibly next week. They are working on it right now.

I got an e-mail from Corbin say that the mold is done. Sending it out to photographers and then they will post it. Seemed like they were saying a few days and it will be on their site. They sent me these pics of the molded shape. I think they look good. They seem to have addressed the sliding forward issue, amongst others.

danomar & StonedGP,

Thanks for the update, I'll keep an eye out for the Corbin.:thumb:

They seem to have addressed the sliding forward issue, amongst others.

Ah, good. I emailed Corbin a week ago and provided my feedback on what most Versys owners seem to like and dislike about the standard seat. I mentioned the forward incline of the seat as something most folks do not like. Glad to see they responded.
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They haven't been in the business for as long as they have, to not listen to their customers. I had a corbin seat on a 1983 Gpz750, back in the day. Very comfortable and high quality. I will buy the V seat as soon as they come out.

I cant wait for this seat!!

i cut the stock seat on my 1150rt bmw down, and it was great, went ahead and bought a corbin for it and hated it, it was hard as hell, so i went back to the stock one, I didn't like the way it mounted, moved around alot, my preference would be a seat by seargant or Bill myer saddles, over the corbin... maybe it was just that one seat... my plan is to rework my stock one first, before i move on to something else for my V

My KLR corbin was hard as a rock too.. but it eventually broke in and is now very comfortable. I like the looks of the new shape.. but don't know if I can justify another $400 saddle. I will most likely attempt to add some foam to my stock saddle as well.. or buy a used saddle and hack it up.

The Corbin saddle for the Versys is up and online, looking at shelling out $439. It looks as though they have addressed all of our concerns with sliding and comfort.

Has anybody posted a corbin seat pic. I'm ready to buy one after a 300 mile day. Would love to see a pic of one installed sitting in the driveway under real conditions.

My ship date is Aug 8th. Can't wait!

When did you place your order?

Ed

I think it was about June 26th or so. Patience is a virtue. Keep in mind, they make these as a semi-custom piece.

I guess since Sargent is out of the running I'll look into a Corbin.

I just bought my new Versys the day before yesterday, and this is my very first post. I've put 130 miles on the bike in the last two days, and I have to say that the stock seat is an absolute torture rack! I was driving the last 30 miles home last night, and I briefly considered stopping to buy a bag of frozen peas to place between my walnuts and the fuel tank. I came home from work today and ordered the Corbin.

I talked with a guy from Sargent earlier today, and he said he didn't think he could dish out my front seat platform and move the rise back an inch without adding 1-2 inches of Supercell foam to the seat. I'm 6'-1", and the distance to the ground is perfect with the stock seat. I couldn't stand the thought of having a seat 1"-2" higher than stock, so that swayed me over to the Corbin.

BTW, I had a Corbin on my '01 Kawasaki ZR-7S, and it was much, much more comfortable than the stock seat. The only drawback to a Corbin in my humble opinion, is the increased weight over a stock seat.

New saddle is in. Yeah!!
http://forums.kawasakiversys.com/showthread.php?t=367&page=4
goin to try it now, I'll post findings later.

Well , this is of course my own humble opinion . Although I do have a Corbin on my KLR and it is far better than the KLR stock seat , I had rather sit on a roll of barbed wire than to ever be found as much as on the phone with Corbin .
They have a cocky attitude as if your purchase doesn't matter to them . Their turn around time will have you winterizing your bike before you get it . I would bet you lunch that there estimated six week waiting period will turn into at least eight weeks , if you see it at all . I know several people who have prepaid Corbin for seats and a year later had to raise sand with Corbin to get a seat at all . They will not return your money of you cancell the order , even if they have not yet started to make your seat .
With any luck at all , your seat will not fall apart within minutes of recieving it . In the event you need warranty work done on the seat , you are up for some real mistreatment if you get it fixed at all .
I have a friend that waited 6 months to get his prepaid seat . Took it out of the box and threads were dangling form the seat . He trimmed the threads and after 100 miles . the thing was falling apart . He called Corbin only to be told that they had no way of knowing how poorly he treated the seat , but if he would send it in they would evaluate it . He sent it to them and finally got a response 6 months after he shipped it . Corbins response was that it had normal wear and tear for a seat one year old .
They counted his ownership from his order date , not the date of recieving it . He told them if he did not get a new seat in one week , he would ride from Virginia to California and stick it up their a*** . Well , two weeks later , he mounted his steed and rode from Va to California . You see , they didn't know this guy . A retired Navy Seal with time on his hands and loved a long tour .
As the story goes , they repaired is seat while he waited . Wouldn't you ???? When the brought his freshly repaired seat out to him , he promptly walked out into the parking lot and poured lighter fluid all over it , lit it on fire and rode off siting on the frame . Of course he was already thinking ahead and had his Sargent seat waiting for him back at his hotel .
But , if you kew this guy , ( a super nice guy not to be harassed let me tell you ) you would have given him his way to start with .
All that to say >>>>> Corbin only deserves one thing . That we all simply forget they exist and let's push Sargent a little harder to make us a seat for the Versys .
I was looking at micro-fiche today for OEM seats . The Ninja 650r seat part number is the same as the Versys . I am hoping I can find a custom seat builder that is salready building seats for the 650R and go that route .
So , if a pissed off Navy Seal needs a seat , I am offering him mine .

Corbin should be boycotted across the WWW in order to get them pushed out of business and or start appreciating the business we have to offer them " IF " they behave . I dont know about you , but I work hard for my money and I am insistant on who I give it to , show me some respect and service on a fair basis .

Hey Golfmuch , PO-SLOKE here from KLRWORLD.com
Corbin has a photo of a Versys seat on the website as of now . BUT , I painfully report that I did call them out of curiosity . Those fools want $439.00 + shipping for that thing .
I so hate their attitude and of course I made that clear to them . I have a Corbin on my 07 KLR that I painted over the Corbin logo a really cool logo . It says , " WAL-MART " . It looks great on the KLR with that new logo . I rarely admit it is a Corbin . When people ask me if my seat is a Corbin , I don't ever say yes . I just say " I wish I had bought a Sargent " . PRICKS THEY ARE AT CORBIN . . . . . . . . .

I dont like corbin either. I seem to like their seats. I got home to day and put a set of beads on my seat. My wife has had a set on her zrx for 49000 miles. She is on her second one already. She says it lets her butt breathe. And if air can get to your butt it wont sweat as bad.( Alabama 95degree 95 percent humidity). And I swear you cannot feel the beads under your butt. I've got a 400 mile day coming up sat. I'll comment later. I also saw a old set of buell pegs in the garage I tried on my zrx years ago. They are about 1 1/2" lower. I did'nt like them that much on the ZRX. They were low and the shifter did not adjust. I tried them on the Versys today. They went right on, felt great and I could adjust the shifter. The Versys is so much Higher I dont think I will have a problem Scraping the pegs. Ill test it more tomorrow. Its raining as hard as it can right now. I have been riding to work everyday for 2 1/2 weeks. Sorry for hijacking the thread.

I got home to day and put a set of beads on my seat.

I want to try that out...I have a buddy that has them on his GS and loves them...where did you get them?

Well for what it worth heres my two cents worth. I have a Corbin Seat on my Guzzi and i have to say its happy trails now.:) allthough its a little on the harder side my ass is sore NO MORE! In Canada we deal with a distributer on the west coast and dealings were good and time to receive was earlier than promised. I would not hesitate to buy anothert Corbin for my V

My wife completely wore a set out and I had to buy her a new one. Winter and summer. She says it even helps when it rains because you are not sitting in a puddle of water. I think they work as good as they do because they are sitting on a firm corbin seat. I have got her worn ones on my versys now. They are still in good shape, They are just worn down to the wood. The black paint is fadded alot. Here is the link. And I must say, this is one thing I did'nt waste money on.

http://www.beadrider.com/

http://www.beadrider.com/

Thanks! :thumb:

I have wondered how those beads would work. A lot of people use them in their cars. Everything is a gamble.

In my personal opinion do not ever buy a Bill Mayer seat. I own an BMW 1100RT. I read nothing but great things about BMS. I sent my stock seat out to them and 7 weeks later i was very dissapointed. The seat was as hard as a rock. In 20 minutes it felt like plywood. At highway speeds i could feel all vibrations which i did not have on the stock seat. It was so much worse than stock. Now it gets worse. I call them and they were great. They said, send it back and we will fix it. Now they have it another 5 weeks. $800 later more money in s+h and the seat is shaped strange has no padding and is even worse than the first try. Now i call back and i talk to Bill Mayer himself. The king a**hole. I tell him he needs to fix this or i want my money back. He said we don't do that we will re-do the seat as many times as needed to get it right. Now if i send it back 20 times i have no bike to ride and big money in s+h. I tell this to the owner of a company that should stand behind his product. He tells me to sell the bike because it can't be fixed unless you ride it in the mid position. I like it in the low position. I sent it back , and i am still not happy with it. It was better than the 2nd try but still like wood. He did take care of the s+h though. THIS COMPANY SUCKS!!! I hear Rick Mayer is better than his brother, cheaper too. I wish i had the Navy Seal go after that "SOB". Just my personal warning. Good luck!

I'm new to this forum but have read most of it and it has been very informative. Thanks to everyone for their contributions.
I've just bought my Versys and am loving everything about it but the seat. This seems to be the most common complaint. I just heard back from Corbin and the wait on a new seat is 30 - 45 days. I can't wait that long to improve the seat. Has anyone re-sculpted the factory seat and had success?

I got my corbin in about 3 weeks, or so, even though they originally told me 5 weeks. It is a very nice saddle. Solidly built, comfortable, and no more of "my boys" being crushed along with a major wedgie. I highly recommend it.

+1 to what StonedGP said. Mine arrived on Friday about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I guess they sandbag a bit on the projected timing to avoid disappointed customers. Not a bad strategy I'd say.

This is my second Corbin and I'm very pleased with it. Very firm as expected. Heavier than my last one, but not ridiculously so. I'm very pleased with it.

The new Corbin looks to of done very little for passenger comfort? IMO

The new Corbin looks to of done very little for passenger comfort? IMO

Actually, my wife speaks quite highly of the improved comfort of the new seat. Part of that is influenced, I'm sure, by the Corbin backrest that I also go for her. She feels more planted and secure.

As for the seat part of the equation, though, it is definitely better for the passenger as well as the operator. My wife has been having a bit of nerve trouble in her lower back/hip lately and we considered not taking the bike on our date Friday night. When the Corbin showed up, we decided to give it a shot. She said she felt better on the seat than off of it.

My overall verdict of the seat is that that if you like Corbins in general, then you will really like this seat. If you are not a fan of the firm Corbin approach, then I'd hold out for a Sargent or mod the stocker.

Thanks for the reply Chris. picture don't always tell all. I could not see that they gave any added width. ( I didn't say say she had a Big....)
We ride in N. Ga.

Thanks for the reply Chris. picture don't always tell all. I could not see that they gave any added width. ( I didn't say say she had a Big....)
We ride in N. Ga.

As I've thought about it, I think the improvement for the passenger might be in the the extra height. They added quite a bit there. I think it is enough that it changes the leg position on the pegs. Adds a decent amount of extra room so they are not quite as cramped.

Whatever they did, the wifey likes it.

BTW, I'm tellin' her what you said. ;)

Looks like I'll just modify my stock seat and be happy with that. I wanted the Sargent, but they aren't making one and the Corbin wont work with my Givi mounts.

Why wouldn't the Corbin work with the Givi mounts? I am installing my Givi V35s next week.

I have tried the stock and lower gel seat for the Versys and neither are nearly as comfortable as my Corbin seat on my Vulcan. However, Corbin jacked me around for 6 months before replacing the defective Corbin trunk, side bags and saddle for my Vulcan, even though they admitted each defect was due to their error. They clear coated over chips in the bags, and the saddle was not received as ordered. The only item that was delivered defect free was the fairing. The worst part was the extremely poor customer service. Mr. Corbin never bothered to respond to my very tactful suggestions to consider an improvement in quality control, and better customer service. I guess he must have so much business he does not care to make needed changes. If I supported my customers as Corbin did me, I would not be able to afford the gasoline to ride! It would be nice if someone purchased the company and turned it into one many of us would like to do business with. I am glad to learn that some of you have had great experiences with Corbin; mine was not.

Why wouldn't the Corbin work with the Givi mounts? I am installing my Givi V35s next week.

There are some brackets that bolt on at the grab rail that the Corbin hits. I don't remember if the brackets were for the side or top mounts, I installed them at the same time. Someone posted a picture, but I don't remember who.