Corbin Gunfighter installation

[hallse]

I just bought a 1990 K75.  It came with what I assume is a Dual Canyon seat installed which is in rough shape.   As an extra, the seller threw in a brand new Corbin Gunfighter.   Since I will be solo riding and it looks much better I went to install the Gunfighter.   During subsequent fitting and research,  I've come to two conclusions.   Please correct me if I'm wrong.

1.  I have a low seat K75 because the seat releases via a pull rod and is not, nor does it look like ever, hinged.

2.  The Gunfighter seat was made to install on standard height K75s with the seat hinge.

Does anyone know of a way to install this seat on a K75 without a seat hinge?  I could probably figure out a way to do it, but why try to reinvent the wheel.  I've searched the threads and most speak to the hardness of Corbin seats.

Thanks in advance to anyone that takes the time to respond.

[johnny]

greetings hallse...

welcome to motorbrick.com...

without photos i gotts to assume sombody did a standard seat to low seat conversion...

to getts your gunfighter to fitts you are gonna have to take all the low seat stuff off the moto and install new standard seat hardware...

i would make sure that gunfighter will sit on your frame rails properly before doing anything... corbins unlike stock have  some whackness to them which may prevent it from fitting...

you will getts better replies after you post up photos of whats you gotts...

j o

[Motorhobo]

Is the beat up dual canyon a low seat? If it is I'd consider selling the high seat gunfighter on ebay -- you'll get a good price for it -- and then having the existing low seat redone by a custom seat professional. Nothing beats a custom seat. And like Johnny said the low to high conversion takes work and hardware...it if you want the high seat I don't think you have other options.

I'm 5 8 and prefer the low seat...lower center of gravity.

[hallse]

Johnny,
thanks for the warm welcome! I'll post pics tonight.   I was kind of afraid I'd have to get the standard seat hardware.  Good to know.  I test fitted the gunfighter and it seems to make good contact with the frame.  There are obvious attachment points for the hinge.

Motorhobo,
I don't know if the dual canyon is a low seat.  I assume it is.  PO removed the side covers (and lost them) because they interfered with the dual canyon.  I like your idea about selling the gunfighter and putting the money towards a custom seat.

I am 6' tall with a 34" inseam.

[Motorhobo]

Low seat is no good for you...even at 5 ft 8in I can flatfoot the low seat. I had Rich in Seattle make me a seat that added two inches of padding to the saddle to give me some lift. The difference between it and stock low seat are noticeable...I have a stock low seat on one of my bricks and compared to the custom seat the stock seems very low. Rich still makes custom seats in the Seattle area...PM me for contact info.

Expect to pay good money for a custom seat but if you plan to keep your brick it's worth very penny and having an star seat to sell would pay a large portion of it.

[hallse]

Obviously the tan colored seat is the gunfighter and the red and black seat is the dual canyon.  The dual canyon attaches to the bike relatively securely.

[hallse]

And here is the mounting mechanism and points of attachment.

On a side note, I'm taking it to Mortons BMW tomorrow to have it inspected.  I've talked with Stuart, their service manager, a couple times.  Seems like a good guy willing to share his knowledge.

[johnny]

countryside bmw...

parts fiche...

i thinks you needs 03 to 14... butts doo your doo dillergence...

j o

[Motorhobo]

That's the funkiest low seat I've ever seen. Looks like that's a custom seat that either modified an existing low seat base or built a new low seat base to compensate for the missing plastic tank protector. This is what the stock low-seat installation looks like:



The tank protector clips on to the tank with the clips shown here, which appear to be epoxied to the tank.



So when doing the conversion, I guess the PO chose not to modify the tank with the clips to accommodate the tank protector, probably thinking it would affect resale value to have those clips on there, which I assume aren't necessary for the high-seat model (although I don't really know, never having owned a high-seat). Instead, he had a custom seat built up in the front to cover the front of the tank. Bottom line is that the low seat you have won't fit a stock K75 low-seat installation with the plastic tank protector.  So it's probably not going to have much resale value unless the buyer wants to do a similar conversion without adding the tank protector. That's a pretty small target market for the seat....but if you DO find a buyer who wants exactly that (including the red strips...not everybody's bag), he or she will pay for it.

You could also sell the low seat with all the low seat hardware -- that might get you some more prospective buyers. There are lots of height-challenged riders out there for whom the low K75 is the perfect match.

You could then take the Gunfighter base and have a seat custom made for you, giving you also the choice of color. I personally am not a big fan of the brown - prefer black leather.

Or you could sell the Gunfighter, keep the low seat and take it to a custom bike seat pro and ask how much lift you can get with gel packs and padding while creating a seat molded to you body type. That seems worth exploring -- saves going through all the hassle of making the low-high conversion and allows you to sell the Gunfighter as is.

I'll post a pic later of my custom low seat -- which is finally busting seams after 12 years.

Anyway -- hope this helps -- Van

[richarddacat]

I have a low seat Gunfighter on my K75 that came with a low seat when we bought it.
Might look at both seat pans and see if the tabs will swap out.

My tank clips were attached with double sided tape and could have been a dealer conversion to a low seat as far as I know. I removed them without issue.
Your best bet may be to let your dealer check it out and do what's needed to install the Gunfighter, take both seats.
GL

[Motorhobo]

My tank clips were attached with double sided tape and could have been a dealer conversion to a low seat as far as I know. I removed them without issue.

That's good to know...I don't know how mine are attached ... I painted around them recently figuring better to leave well enough alone. That's gotta be some pretty sticky tape to keep those things on the tank after 20 years.

[TaosBob101]

 Wow...did I just learn some things!

[Motorhobo]

I have a low seat Gunfighter on my K75 that came with a low seat when we bought it.
Might look at both seat pans and see if the tabs will swap out.

My tank clips were attached with double sided tape and could have been a dealer conversion to a low seat as far as I know. I removed them without issue.
Your best bet may be to let your dealer check it out and do what's needed to install the Gunfighter, take both seats.
GL

So you're saying that the low-seat Gunfighter requires you to remove the tank protector? Did your low seat K have the tank protector on it before you got the Gunfighter? The custom seat I have was made by Rich using the stock low-seat pan. He stripped the original vinyl and completely useless stock padding off, cut new padding to fit my ass, lifted the passenger section to prevent the passenger from sliding forward when braking, then cut the leather and sewed.

I like the tank protector, so I was happy to be able to reuse the stock low seat pan rather than buy a whole new seat that isn't compatible with the protector. If you look at the above pic, you'll see that the tank protector does provide a little extra coverage to the battery and other innards under the seat, and visually covers the top frame rail. It attaches with a single 5mm screw and the clips, so it's easy to get on and off, all you have to do it take the seat off. I usually just hand-tighten the screw. I like the look and it does keep the knees off the tank so I'd prefer to have it on there than not.

BTW for anyone with a stock low seat -- that is the dumbest design ever...the passenger section slopes downward causing the passenger to slide forward into the rider's back every time the bike decelerates. Just wanted to point out that repurposing the stock pan is a perfectly valid option -- there are people who will redesign it to be passenger-friendly and reupholster it. Your local dealer can probably point you in the right direction -- I know Bob's BMW near Baltimore has a motorcycle upholstery specialist they work with regularly.

Hope this helps someone...Van

[richarddacat]

When I tried to install the GF the stock tank protector did get in the way. I did have the stock low seat on before the Corbin.
The Corbin fits closer against the tank and the tank protector is in the way.

It does look funky by exposing the bikes innards. I may try to fab some side covers this winter to hide its guts.