How to Wire a Corbin Seat to a BMW R1200RT
Tomas Perez
This is more of a How To than a product review but I want to limit the number of categories in this blog. I wish the program would allow us to have sections or categories so that it would be easier to navigate.
Anyway, back on task. I purchased a BMW R1200RT to replace my 2003 ST1300ABS as soon as the 2010's hit the dealers. My last two bikes had Corbin seats (rider only) but since I paid $350 for heated seats on the RT I told myself that I would grow to love (or at least like) the stock seat on the RT. By the way, I got a normal RT i.e., not lowered and the "normal" seat. Well.... after about 15,000 miles I got a chance to purchase an almost new heated Corbin rider saddle. The stock seat would burn my butt on long tours and never was as good as the Corbin on my Hondas so I took the plunge.
I wanted a clean install without cutting any wires on the RT. Of course that meant that I had to cut the plugs supplied with the Corbin seat. Not a problem for me.
Short answer is that you need to purchased a BMW repair plug. There is a difference between the seat plug or any other plug on the bike and a repair plug. The replacement cable is the entire cable - end to end. The repair plug is only one end of any cable on the bike.
This is what you need for the heated seat connection:
I want to thank Rose from Max BMW for helping me in my search for this plug. The cost was $16.12 plus shipping.
Now for the long answer... for those new to making changes to their expensive motorcycles...
The Corbin came with these very unBMW pin connectors...
As you can see I cut them off the seat. If you don't want to cut the Corbin connectors you can buy these connectors at any auto parts store and connect them on the wires of the repair plug to connect to the seat but why do that? You simply end up have a wire with two different plugs on it. The repair kit came with 3 crimp type pins and 3 of what I think are clear heat shrink tubing (see photo above). I'm saying I think it's heat shrink tubing because I had to apply much direct heat from the soldering iron to get them to shrink.
And... not needed but I did it anyway (OCD impulse?). I soldered the crimp pins before I put the heat shrinking tubing on them. Warning: Be sure you slide these little tubes on the wires before you connect them to the seat.
You just need some very basic tools. This is what I used.
Like I said, you don't really have to solder the connections but you can't beat it for a good, reliable electrical contact.
This is a picture of the repair plug connected to the bike and wired to the seat. Sorry for the quality of the picture - it's from my phone camera. I put about two loops of electrical tape on the shrinkable tubing just to keep them together. I'm going to wrap the yellow wires with that black sticky cloth tape just to keep them tidy. You can also use a spiral wire sleeve that is small or buy a small sleeve and slide it on the yellow wires before making your connections.
Works great and it's a clean install. If you want - you can unplug the Corbin and connect the stock seat and then go back again whenever you want. If you sell the seat the new owner can only be happy that he or she simply plugs the seat in and away they ride.
If you have any questions - email me or post a comment. I'll follow up with a review of the Corbin saddle compared to stock after a winter ride.
I finally applied the cloth tape to the yellow wires. The above photo shows the final product.
Thanks for reading...
Anyway, back on task. I purchased a BMW R1200RT to replace my 2003 ST1300ABS as soon as the 2010's hit the dealers. My last two bikes had Corbin seats (rider only) but since I paid $350 for heated seats on the RT I told myself that I would grow to love (or at least like) the stock seat on the RT. By the way, I got a normal RT i.e., not lowered and the "normal" seat. Well.... after about 15,000 miles I got a chance to purchase an almost new heated Corbin rider saddle. The stock seat would burn my butt on long tours and never was as good as the Corbin on my Hondas so I took the plunge.
I wanted a clean install without cutting any wires on the RT. Of course that meant that I had to cut the plugs supplied with the Corbin seat. Not a problem for me.
Short answer is that you need to purchased a BMW repair plug. There is a difference between the seat plug or any other plug on the bike and a repair plug. The replacement cable is the entire cable - end to end. The repair plug is only one end of any cable on the bike.
This is what you need for the heated seat connection:
I want to thank Rose from Max BMW for helping me in my search for this plug. The cost was $16.12 plus shipping.
Now for the long answer... for those new to making changes to their expensive motorcycles...
The Corbin came with these very unBMW pin connectors...
As you can see I cut them off the seat. If you don't want to cut the Corbin connectors you can buy these connectors at any auto parts store and connect them on the wires of the repair plug to connect to the seat but why do that? You simply end up have a wire with two different plugs on it. The repair kit came with 3 crimp type pins and 3 of what I think are clear heat shrink tubing (see photo above). I'm saying I think it's heat shrink tubing because I had to apply much direct heat from the soldering iron to get them to shrink.
And... not needed but I did it anyway (OCD impulse?). I soldered the crimp pins before I put the heat shrinking tubing on them. Warning: Be sure you slide these little tubes on the wires before you connect them to the seat.
You just need some very basic tools. This is what I used.
Like I said, you don't really have to solder the connections but you can't beat it for a good, reliable electrical contact.
This is a picture of the repair plug connected to the bike and wired to the seat. Sorry for the quality of the picture - it's from my phone camera. I put about two loops of electrical tape on the shrinkable tubing just to keep them together. I'm going to wrap the yellow wires with that black sticky cloth tape just to keep them tidy. You can also use a spiral wire sleeve that is small or buy a small sleeve and slide it on the yellow wires before making your connections.
Works great and it's a clean install. If you want - you can unplug the Corbin and connect the stock seat and then go back again whenever you want. If you sell the seat the new owner can only be happy that he or she simply plugs the seat in and away they ride.
If you have any questions - email me or post a comment. I'll follow up with a review of the Corbin saddle compared to stock after a winter ride.
I finally applied the cloth tape to the yellow wires. The above photo shows the final product.
Thanks for reading...