Mike Corbin – 50 Years in the Saddle
Congratulations to Mike Corbin celebrating 50 years in the motorcycle saddle making business this year, and still turning out 20,000 seats a year from his 82,000 sq ft factory at Hollister( no less!), California. Corbin was born in 1943 in Gardner, Mass. As a young man, he was interested in all things mechanical. He worked with his uncle repairing bowling alley pinsetters and pinball machines and won first place in his high school science fair with a servomotor and memory circuit – driven robot. After high school, Corbin joined the Navy and worked diligently while training as a ship’ s electrician. During his training he arranged to buy a 1959 Triumph Bonneville, which was waiting for him when he returned home on leave. Upon completing electrician school, he was assigned to the San Francisco-based aircraft carrier USS Ranger. He rode the Triumph across the country and reported for duty. Corbin’ s knowledge of electricity grew as he worked aboard the Ranger, which traveled throughout the Pacific. After completing his Navy tour in 1964, he returned home to Gardner and found electrical work in a nearby paper mill, and then at Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut. Pratt & Whitney built jet engines for the Vietnam War effort, and the demand for good electricians to service the factory allowed Corbin to start his own electrical subcontracting company, Camtron, Ltd. The company serviced heavy equipment for a variety of New England defense contractors. But as public opinion started to turn against the war in the late 1960s, Corbin realized that his electrical business would dry up when the war ended. About this time, Corbin began customizing a 1964 Norton Atlas. He had seen custom choppers in California during his tour with the Navy and wanted one of his own. He removed and remade various parts of the bike. Unhappy with the comfort and look of the seat, he reshaped and recovered it with the help of a neighbor who had an industrial sewing machine. While attending a rally, another Norton rider offered Corbin $ 40 for his custom seat. He sold it, then went home and began work on another. Soon friends were asking Corbin to build seats for them. A Harley- Davidson dealer in nearby Hartford, Conn., saw one of the seats and contacted Corbin. The dealer ordered
Mike Corbin, seen here on the left, with receiving his“ Class Ring” from the AMA’ s Steve Gotoski. Mike was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000
‘ focus solely on making seats in 1968’
five at $ 25 each and sold them all in one weekend. He then ordered 10 more. At that time, Corbin was trying to balance his electrical service business with making seats as a sideline hobby. In 1968, he decided to focus solely on making seats. He rented a small shop in East Hartford, Conn., and asked some of his electrical subcontracting employees to join him in the new
Fire & Ice dual Touring saddle
business, which he named Corbin Manufacturing.“ Corbin [ Manufacturing ] turned into a full-time business in 1968, the year of the Honda 750 K and the year before the Easy Rider movie came out,” Corbin said.“ Probably the best possible time ever to enter our beloved motorcycle industry. I wasn`t marketsmart enough to have planned this timely entry, but I worked hard to hold
on to the tiger`s tail.” In 1970, Corbin learned that branding was an important part of his new business. He renamed the company Corbin Gentry, after Southern singer Bobbie Gentry, to give the company name a more rebellious ring and national appeal. By 1971 the company was selling a large line of seats and accessories, including handlebars and frames for virtually every American, Japanese and British motorcycle. The company continued to grow and moved into a 1,200 square-foot building in Ellington, Conn. By 1974 the company had outgrown that facility and moved into a 225,000 square-foot former woollen mill in Somersville, Conn. It was now selling a wide range of parts, including fuel tanks and fiberglass fender kits. Corbin sold directly to dealers and consumers through catalogs and warehouse locations in Dallas and San Francisco. The energy crisis of 1974 led Corbin to return to his electrician roots. He
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20 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER- JULY 2018