Topic: Corbin Factory Picture tour

[TwoTired]

Back in January, I was given a little factory tour of Corbin and was allowed to take pictures and given a narrative tour by Greg Hurley, who works there.

Due to other business, the tour started about in the middle of the plant which is quite a large building.  Turned out to be 48 Pictures.  Which doesn't include the outside of the building.  But, you can see that here.
http://www.corbin.com/california.shtml

My apologies for the poor flash power on my little camera.  I just used what I had.
#133
This is a final assembly area for product sold by Corbin.
#134
Same area, products waiting to be packed/
#135
Above are seat pans for various bikes that Corbin has molded.  Below, are more product waiting for packaging.
#136
More molded seat pans above, and an assembly bench below.
#137
These are what the fixtures in which seat pans are molded at Corbin.  These are but a few of hundreds and hundreds.

[TwoTired]

#138
Here are seat pans popped out of the molds.  The pan base and foam are made in the same mold and bonded to each other.
#139
Here is Greg captured during his narrative.  Beyond him are a few more seat molds.
#140
Here is some of the build crew.  I was assured they were quite busy, but simply taking a break.
More seat molds on shelves and you can see the assembly line rollers, where the seat pan molds travel during their build process journey.
#141
Its a long assembly line.  Travel in a big U shape.  The far end in dim light is the beginning, if I recall correctly.
You can see yet more shelves holding seat molds in waiting.  (Clearly, I needed more than a 1 inch flash projector.)
#142
Just one of the paint booths.

[TwoTired]

#143
Another paint booth.  They make bags and fairings, too.
#144
This is a finishing/ polishing area adjacent to the paint booths.
#145
Work shelves with product in the finishing process.
#146
This is a vacuum molding machine, These are forms for making back rests.
#147
Another shot of the Vacuum former.
Flat plastic sheets are placed in the tray where you see the tubing.  The sheets are heated and then dropped and vacuum pulled onto the forms you see on the bottom.  I didn't get to see it work.  But, I got the impression that the heating panels retracted after heating the plastic sheet.

[TwoTired]

#148
This is a paint prep, sanding area.  The whole back wall is a dust collector. and the area has cross flow ventilation.
#150
CNC machine. Cuts, mold parts in complex shapes.
#151
I think these are parts out of the mold that make up a trunk, offered by Corbin.  I expect you can find it in their catalog.
#152
Entering the back of their metal shop.  Not very busy this day.  Though, there was some welding going on at the far end.
#153
See?  I told you!  We were brave, devil may care, this day, as we walked right through it turning around at the end to see the warning sign.

They do give regular tours.  Not seen (yet) are the foot steps painted on the floor used for normal tours.  They knew, I wasn't normal, I guess? 

[TwoTired]

#154
Here is the seat covering/ upholstery area.  I think it has more area than my house.  You can see some of the materials available.
#155
A different view angle of the Upholstery area.  ...And more material.  You can also see some women sewing seat panels together at the far end.
...and footsteps on the floor...
#156
These are stitching machines.  Where they can put just about any design in the covering material that's specified.
#157
Some stitching samples.
#158
More stitching samples.  Hartley Wings and Spider webs.

[TwoTired]

#159
This is the R&D area, where they make prototypes and experiment with design ideas.  It's a nicely equipped fabrication shop in it own wright.
#160
OK, I was gawking.  I hadn't seen one of these up close before.  I'm not sure what was planned for this.  I just wanted to crawl around it to see what it was all about. 
#161
Photo Booth, complete with turn table, large enough to fit whole bikes!  (And I STILL don't have enough flash!)
#162
What the?!
It was used at shows. It has a flat screen, I think.
#164
Well, they walked me through the IT department.  And my camera still showed 9999 pictures left in the memory card, so...Click.

[TwoTired]

#165
We've emerged back out in the upholstery area.  They have a pretty large stock of "Leathers in waiting" along with other fabrics, upholstery material.
#166
This area is used for one-off bike seats, re-upholstery, repairs, parts fittings, etc. on customer drive in bikes.
#167
Another angle of the same area as #166.  It's a long area, and the opposite side is all glass windows.  Where...
#168
...is a Cafeteria where customers can gather and watch their bike being worked on in the next bay over.
#170
It's not exactly a small Cafeteria.

[TwoTired]

#173
I finally, get descent light and get flash bloom from the near glass I'm shooting through.
#174
Stuck to the top of the Cafeteria is a past project by Corbin and electric car coupe.
#175
We're out in the Showroom, now.  Hanging up is the roadster version of the electric.
#176
Another angle of the Roadster.
#177
A display of a whole body set.  I don't recall if this is still offered, though.

[myhondas]

Pretty cool.....I just wish they made their seats a little less firm..... everything I have tried of theirs seems pretty stiff and my old butt could not take very long rides in them. But they do look sharp and fit nice.

[TwoTired]

#178
Thye took some bodywork to Bonneville on 2000, and this fairing went 208 MPH
#179
This Set went 212.
#180
I believe this one crashed at the salt.  But, I can't remember the back story.

Well, that's the slide show.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers,

[mrbreeze]

Hey Lloyd.....no pictures of the museum??? They have some cool bikes in there. I took my bike there 2/3 years ago to have my seat made. They wanted the whole bike there because they usually make a fiberglass pan for it. When I told them I still wanted to keep it a 2 up seat...they decided to use my stock pan. I trailered from Modesto to south San Jose the night before and stayed at my friends house. I had to be there at 8am in Hollister so that worked out great. I didn't tour the whole plant like you did but more or less stayed at a little waiting area close by where they carved the foam which was close to the restaraunt. I watched them do at least 5 Harleys while I was there.....my bike was the only non-Harley. They gave me free lunch at the restaraunt and I was done & outa there by 2 pm. I heard some gossip last week that they might be shuttin' their doors (hope not). Anyways....it was a cool experience and if you didn't see the museum....you otta go back & check it out if they don't shut down. One bike I remember that was way cool was a Harley XR750 racer that was owned by Steve McQueen.

[mick750F]

   Thanks for the tour Lloyd! It's always nice to see the process.

Mike

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Great show Lloyd. The only thing missing was TwoTired's mug shot