Rider backrest modification

I'm a tall bloke and find short/medium runs with the rider backrest pushed fully back to be fine but a recent 250 miler showed that I need more leg space for long runs.

If I remove the backrest I have plenty of room but end up sitting on the slide guides. Any easy ideas for dealing with that?

cheers

Drammer, I am 6'3",280 lbs. I extended my backrest up about 4" & found that made a world of difference.I just used shelving wall brackets ( u-shaped ones with the little slots in them) to raise b-rest.Also,u can replace b-rest with a skinnier one from an office chair for a little more room.Higher b-rest is an invaluable addition...on acceleration u no longer have to hang onto handlebars for dear life...b-rest absorbs all g-force. Enjoy, Big Train

http://www.leroybeal.net/motorcycles/silverwing/articles/backrest/backrest.html

Thank you both for the info. I think raising it would help, I'd just be concerned it would interfere with pillion comfort when I carry my wife or daughter.

U are correct about the comfort factor.That's a good reason to get that smaller desk chair back.It will save passengers mucho pain...trust me...I know.Unless u don't want passengers! 

or,I'm sure an upholsterer could fab something for u.

"Dramhunter",
    I don't envy you having to find more leg room on the SWing.  Personally, I'm a shorty... (well, yeah, legs too...    ) and don't have that problem.  Still, I have found that using the "leroybeal" setup is not a good thing for passengers.  I even "kludged" one up on my SWing by using one inch spacers between the 'slot' brackets and the back-of-buttrest brackets to get it at "just" the right height and angle.  Worked real good for 'me' but I still plan on talking the wife into being my pillion(?) and I know for a fact that what I had made up wasn't going to work... so I returned it to stock.

    By the way, I do believe there is a "Givi" backrest that you might want to check into if that's what you might be interested in.  Like the one on the 'site' picture at top of page(?).  Good Luck.

A Corbin seat might be your solution. The back rest of the Corbin can be moved to be used by the passenger or the driver as it has a receiver for both built into the seat. Use your passenger as the back rest! The Corbin added leg room for me but not a lot of extra length.

For the absolute solution, I would look at a custom seat build for you personally and give up on having a passenger seat. Turning that long space into a solo seat for you would be the ultimate, but if you must haul passengers, then perhaps the Corbin would be the best "off the shelf" solution.

Have a motorcycle seat upholstery guy use the factory seat pan, and incorporating some gel pads where your butt will end up would make a big difference.

My backrest mod.Simple wall shelving brackets for extensions.2 years old & dead solid,couldn't b happier.I'm a bit of a scrounger,so I use what's available.Hope pics come thru..if not I'll figure it out.Not pretty,but effective...back part is out of plain sight when mounted,front part u could wrap with your preference to spiffy it up...I just split black faux leather golf grips & wrapped mine.Passenger definitely suffers with this mod...oh well.

Nice job bigtrain.    My opinion on most member modifications is: " If it makes you happy".    I enjoy seeing what others have done. Especially the cheapskates. Er, I mean scroungers.    Isn't that why they invented winter?

Yes, the buttrest to backrest mod is very comfortable for the driver, but the passenger will have no room. I ended up buying a spare buttrest and swapped between the two when doing any riding 2 up.

10-4 & thanx. "If there's a will, there's a cheap way"! Now that I'm going to b snowed in for 2 days,need to find a back rest from an office chair & do some more modding..... 

bigtrain,

Nice mod and thanks for posting this. Is that Baron Von Rashke (?) in your avatar? I'm originally from Illinois and used to watch Baron and Cowboy Bob Ellis. But back to the post...nice job and thanks for contributing to the site.

That is Herr Baron....all those rasslers used to come thru my hometown as a kid....Sailor Art,Yukon Moose,Dick da Bruiser,etc......aaah memories.And I found a desk chair backrest in my garage( shocker!).Hope to mod within a week.

Started on b-rest modification with desk chair back swap.After about an hour of cyphering out the swap,I got a brainstorm...  DUH! I'm just going to cut down stock backrest & re-wrap it with stock foam, vinyl.This way I can use stock mounts, no mods.Once I unwrapped it,it was just a big hunk of molded plastic.Will keep u posted.....

D Hunter, Finished my b.rest mod...basically cut stock plastic skeleton down to a much smaller rectangle with a circular saw...then repadded it.Tried to re-wrap with leftover vinyl,but just couldn't get it to look decent.Test drove today & felt great...supports spine just right & plenty of room for passenger.Also gave me about 2" extra room inbetween my spine/ b.rest. Will post pics shortly...will need to find a pro to vinyl it for me  . Regards, Big Train

Pictures please

patience.........have to find a 9 yr. old to post for me............  

backrest cut down & re-covered.

Looks like that backrest will soak and hold water/moisture should it rain on your bike.

Wayne, Looks are deceiving.Underneath cover, the foam was re-wrapped with duct tape for more structure, then with factory plastic liner(kinda looked like a shower cap).Like I said in earlier post, will eventually get covered in vinyl by a pro.Cover now is microfiber & dries quickly,so I think on a super hot day it wouldn't hurt to wet it down some.You Island guys,always worrying about the rain.....I avoid it like The Plague.In Illinois,we worry more about the corn moths/bugs than the weather....Thanx 4 looking, Big Train

forgot this one.....

It is your bike and you can do whatever mods you wish.  As long as it suites you, you are good to go.

I am a little hesitant to say this as I try not to be negative, but you are really taking a nicely designed motorcycle and making it a hill billy bike.  If you are going for that look, you are doing a fine job of it.  Nothing wrong with hill billies.  

I bet you get "Did that urself did ya?" quite a bit of the time.  

Your avatar gave me cause for concern due to "first impression" but I would ride with you, as long as I didn't follow behind you!  I wouldn't want any of those mods to get loose and attache themselves to my bike!  

I can tell by your previous responses that you can take it as well as dish it out.  You add some flavor to our group.  I hope you stick around and continue to contribute to the forum.  

Might want to change that Avatar.  

lalee wrote:

<edit> Your avatar gave me cause for concern due to "first impression"<edit>Might want to change that Avatar.

Your contributions to the forum are helpful and much appreciated. But +1 regarding your avatar. I find it to be very off putting.

Tim

A tight budget is the mother of adventure

Guys,

    My scooter (not a motorcycle) is strictly a gas sipping conveyance to get me & my gear from point 'A' to point 'B',which are usually less than 20 miles apart..Why get a $30,000 SUV out of the garage that gets 18 MPG when I can hop on a $2,000 scoot & do the same task? I rank it 1 step above my lawnmower in importance in my life.If you 'experts' haven't noticed from my previous posts,my objective is:' Why buy it when I can build it?' I am a re-purposer & always will be,which is my choice.Everything on my SWing is safe & rock solid....that's pretty much all that matters.Seems the majority of people on this site are so quick to judge....yet you have never ridden my scooter.Can u judge a movie before u have seen it?I've been to several movies that people have dissed that I enjoyed thoroughly.And the next time u 'hesitate to say something negative'....try it.I could say several things about a guy that's up at 2am posting stuff with a non-scooter avatar....but I won't. As for  my avatar,it's not going anyplace. If you would have read previous posts with site mgr. JeffR above, it was explained.Here's a helpful hint in decorum....instead of immediately judging something at 1st glance,why don't u try this: "Hey Buddy,could u explain your avatar...it's kinda scary!" Sincerely, Big Train

That's where your problem is mate, you rate your Silver Wing one step higher than your lawnmower, and you joined a forum for Silver Wing enthusiasts. If you don't like the responses to posts about your golf club carrier and other mods why keep posting updates, I don't think anyone else sees their scooter as a motorised golf trolley. If you've got a gas guzzling SUV you might think do you need one, and why did you buy one!

bigtrain wrote:

I could say several things about a guy that's up at 2am posting stuff with a non-scooter avatar....but I won't.

Followed by a signature that includes:

"A sincere apology should never be immediately followed by the word 'but'........"   

I find that funny.

This link might be broken https://www.silverwing600.com/f1-introductions, but...

Dramhunter wrote:

Thank you both for the info. I think raising it would help, I'd just be concerned it would interfere with pillion comfort when I carry my wife or daughter.

There is a somewhat more elegant solution to this problem and while it costs a bit more than a roll of duct tape it will give you a result that is pleasing to look at and extremely functional.  Also solves the pillion question / comfort problem: http://www.utpr.com/silverwingnew.html

Again,read previous posts......and it is extremely functional.

Meldrew, I expected no less from you.SUV is an absolute must for our family,required for shuttling kids/their teammates to & fro to their ball games/events.And 18 MPG is above average for a 4WD SUV...it was constantly in 4WD recently for a week during recent blizzards.Again, please gather facts before commenting,it's just not becoming......

bigtrain wrote:

Again,read previous posts......and it is extremely functional.

You have embedded your introduction sporadically inside of this thread.  So if someone were interested in your background - the way they would find out about you is to go to the Introduction section and look for your intro.  No, wait, they can't do that.  They would have to know how you operate and find the thread amongst all of the threads in all of the sections that includes your dribs and drabs of introduction.  Very nice of you to comply with the expectation of forum decorum. That by the way is also not becoming.

I am quite certain I was replying to the original poster, unless you are also Dramhunter.  Sometimes it is not about you.  And I did not question the functionality of your backrest.

My attempt was to take some of the heat off of you. You seem to relish being the focus of drama.  Take a deep breath and realize there was a forum before you arrived and there will be one long after you tire of drawing attention to yourself.

I think some of the comments are off base here. Bigtrain and I used to live in the same city and we aren't hillbillies there. It has the largest University in the state and is also a top Engineering and Chemistry university in world rankings, with 1 of the 4 National Supercomputing Centers. Also, the avatar is Baron Van Raske (spelling could be wrong). He was a wrestler with many other wrestlers where some of us, when we were younger, would go see them. It was just a fun time and Baron was a favorite.

Also Meldrew, where Bigtrain lives there are times when it really snows hard there and an SUV is needed. I have had cars that couldn't be used because the snow got so high at times and the plows may take a day or two to clear a path. Many in Europe, unless it is the very northern parts, don't understand this since it doesn't snow much.

I hope you continue to be active here Bigtrain and continue to enjoy the site.

JeffR wrote:

I hope you continue to be active here Bigtrain and continue to enjoy the site.  

Likewise ... but PLEASE learn how to spell "you"!!!

  

Txt spk drives me mad   

JeffR wrote:

Also Meldrew, where Bigtrain lives there are times when it really snows hard there and an SUV is needed.  I have had cars that couldn't be used because the snow got so high at times and the plows may take a day or two to clear a path.  Many in Europe, unless it is the very northern parts, don't understand this since it doesn't snow much.  

I think you don't know that much about winter driving in Europe, the vast majority of cars aren't large American type SUV's or 4x4's,  just ordinary front or rear wheel drive cars. Winter driving regulations vary in each country, in some countries changing from normal ’summer' tyres to cold weather or winter tyres is mandatory. These tyres have a softer high silica content compound that works better in snow and ice. Studded tyres are permitted in some countries too, and snow chains only in extreme conditions.

In Germany where cold weather tyres are mandatory,  it has a nationwide scheme where you can take your car to a depot at the start of winter and your normal tyres are removed and stored, and your set of winter tyres fitted. In the spring you drive back and have your 'summer' tyres fitted again, and the winter tyres are stored.

Meldrew,

I have been to Europe many times and in winter as well, and the midwest of the usa gets more snowfall  then Europe, other than the northern parts.  My Dutch wife even has said it doesn't get as cold or the snowfall in Holland or Germany as it does in the midwest.  She gets very surprised by the cold temps and the amount of snowfall that can happen in the midwest.  So I do know and the kind of tires you have to have has nothing to do with the amount of snow you get.  I had a snow removal business in Illinois and sometimes would wake up to days of 5-6" of snow and even up to 10" of snow.  

When I hear of some of the weather that europe gets I am surprised at how it shuts europe down with such mild winters.  It was just -50F below in the midwest.

It is a perspective thing.  It is hard for me to speak to a Germany winter since I have not experienced it...  But I have lived in lots of locations in the US and have seen temps of nearly 130F and 35 below zero (with wind chill), from zero snow to several feet in the course of a winter.  Even people in the US that have not moved about can not speak to the differences...

Wow, are we off-topic or what???   

It's winter with cold temperatures for most of us ( I saw the Aussie Open results Kurt) with a lot more computer than scooter riding being done. Enjoy the ride. With the "Herr Baron" avatar I'm not worried about bigtrain being scared off.   

Hillbilly is a condition, not a region in the USA.  Those mods are hillbilly.  

hill·bil·ly: a person who lives in the country far away from cities and who is often regarded as someone who lacks education.

I am not saying that train is stupid, but those mods from a motorcyclists perspective are HILLBILLY STUPID.  Train is a good guy, I can tell.  He ain't nobody's fool, but those mods are Hllbilly.  Not quite as extreme as these:

Train,

I live in a different time zone than you do. I post at midnight, at your place it is 2:00 am. Also, my Avatar is a picture of me on my Goldwing riding through Oregon on my way to California.

Oh, and I have two Silverwings and my current ride is:

All outspoken new comers get this treatment here. One is supposed to lurk for a long time, never ever mention car tires and always grin it and bare it. I look forward to your next mod. I really do. Not to laugh, but good ideas come from guys such as yourself.

So far, if I was a baseball ref, you would have two strikes against your mods. Great inventors fail often. Alex Rodriquez only bats .295 and they paid him millions and he is constantly running his mouth.

No, one is not supposed to lurk for a long time but follow conventional rules of good manners.
If, by default, one is rude to established members one can only expect to be admonished for it.....and will be.

[/quote]
Wow, how do you cope   ! We usually have to sweep that much out of the kitchen in the mornings   ! Also for the record a 4x4 suv is not required for survival here where it actually snows, but adjusting your driving according to the conditions at hand is a must! An suv at 18mpg is not required to get the kids to hockey/soccer either! Are minivans not available in the U.S.?

JeffR wrote:

 I had a snow removal business in Illinois and sometimes would wake up to days of 5-6" of snow and even up to 10" of snow.  

When I hear of some of the weather that europe gets I am surprised at how it shuts europe down with such mild winters.  It was just -50F below in the midwest.

Isn't waking up to days of 5”-6" deep snow exactly what you want when you have a snow removal business?  I also believe the Midwest was originally settled by Scandinavian and German immigrants who found it ideal there because they were used to harsh European winters. I've seen 'Fargo' at the cinema too!  

Wow, how do you cope   ! We usually have to sweep that much out of the kitchen in the mornings   ! Also for the record a 4x4 suv is not required for survival here where it actually snows, but adjusting your driving according to the conditions at hand is a must! An suv at 18mpg is not required to get the kids to hockey/soccer either! Are minivans not available in the U.S.?

[/quote]

hotwings,

I was reading the post and I think I hit the wrong button and it deleted your post.  Sorry about that.  I don't want you to think I, or other mods, are censoring your posts.

Thanks for letting me know. No problem. I thought my iphone had gone crazy again by not "quoting the quote". The iphone seems to be a little finicky here since the ios7 update!!

JeffR wrote:

I don't want you to think ... mods, are censoring your posts.

 

Re-purposed forkbag into backrest cover......now it's done....about $4 invested.

oops, pic coming.

Error message for pic,will keep trying. 

Lalee, Much appreciated. Big Train