The making of a Corbin Seat

After the mounting hardware is installed into the mold, an operator hand installs the dyed fiberglass to form the seat base. The fiberglass is not sprayed into the mold. The glass fibers and resin are hand mixed and hand laid. Each seat base requires a level of craftsmanship to ensure the mix, thickness and orientation of fibers are going to be correct and meet the requirements of the customer.

OK, once the fiberglass seat base in done, the foam process begins. This is what a mold looks like before it is closed. You can see the shape the foam will take in the red area of the mold.



Next, a test shot is done to look at the foam to verify the chemical mixture is correct. This is done regularly for quality control purposes.

The foam starts as a multi-part liquid fed individually into a mixing nozzle, when combined through the mixing nozzle the resultant chemical mix foams (and grows) like mad! You can see the before and after in the following photos.





Each seat receives a specific foam "shot size". When the mold is opened, this is what a seat looks like:

I guess I got ahead of myself on how the seat is made...I should have started at the beginning of the process, how the seat is ordered and the order process is executed.

It starts with a visit to Corbin's web site: www.corbin.com/can-am/, or you can call to Corbin and talk to a sales rep, (Corbin Motorcycle Seats & Accessories | Can-Am Spyder | 800-538-7035) the sales people are right on the other side of the wall from the production shop.... pretty cool!

Every seat is custom made to an individuals order, no stock seats come out of Corbin! The entire operation is the picture of lean one piece flow, and it all starts with the order process.

Once on the site, you click on the order tab, and select the item you want, when you get to the seats you'll notice they have heated and unheated front and rear Spyder seats, and a back rest. You can select from eight standard color combination. But if you do not see a color you like.... hit the phone and Corbin will do a custom combo for you.... your imagination is the only limitation. They can even do custom textures too, I saw a gorgeous snake-skin pattern as an example.

Once the order is taken, a Bill of Materials hits the shop floor. This piece of paper contains all the information needed to make the seat:

While the seat base is being manufactured per the previous posts, all the remaining soft pieces are cut and sewed. This is what the leather and foam look like after begin cut and kitted for assembly:



You can see a piece of the neat snake-skin leather I was talking about.

Corbin gets all their leather from a single tanner in the San Francisco bay area. Mike Corbin said that the leather is the best quality they can find.

He likes to be able to call up and talk to, or easily visit, his suppliers...... so if at all possible, he works with people close to the facility, and smaller in size.

Corbin Sewing Pattern

OK, next up is the leather getting sewn. This is what a sewing pattern looks like it tells how each joint is to be sewn and if piping is to be installed.

Sewn Seat Leather

One impressive thing at Corbin is everyone signs their work. Here you can see the signature of the crafts-person that did this seat (it's signed on the underside too).

The beginning of the assembly process

One thing people love about Corbin seats is the electric heater option (Aka., "Bun-Warmer )

This is the heater sitting on a foamed base prior to assembly:

Corbin has an interesting queuing system, really quite elegant, they simply put everything in a big area on the floor where all three "lines" meet The sewn covers com from one direction, the seat bases/foam from another.... meeting at the assembly benches:



It seems really disorganized, but in reality, it is perfect, a base shows up.... and then a little later then when a sewn seat shows up (or visa-versa)......... it's assembly time!

Underside of a sewn seat

Here is a better shot of the underside of the sewn seat. It is amazing how much work goes into one of these assemblies:

Tharkun said:

Good to hear Mike is using your Spyder, I was there a week before you and was not able to leave mine for the them to use.

Just a clarification on the use of "custom" seats, well seats are made to the customers choices of fabrics, colors, and even special designs, these seats are not "custom" made as to fitting the rider.

If one lives with in traveling distance of Corbin in Hollister California, they can call ahead and make an appointment for the drive in service. Then Julio and his team will then custom fit the seat to you. This can take up most of a day, some have just stayed in a nearby motel if they have traveled from a far distance.

This is an option for having a custom Corbin seat produced, nice advantage, there is no additional charge for this service.

Just wanted to clarify the two meanings of "custom seats".

Click to expand...

You are exactly right, two levels... looks and fit.

There was a number of bikes in the drive-in service bays having the seats fitted to the drivers. It is a process Corbin tech's perform with an artists touch by hand forming and attaching different density foams in "just the right places". Here is a picture of the work bench with a "seat fitting" in process:

Here is a picture of a custom look Spyder seat..... your imagination is the only limit:

To get you a feel for how many leather types and colors Corbin has.... I took this picture:



I think the one on the right is an "Ostrich" pattern.

They had at least five industrial racks, 8 feet wide, with a have dozen shelves each filled with different leathers..... If you like the smell of leather..... standing in front of these racks would be heaven for you!