Backyard Bandit Homemade backrest

[Dezrae]

Hey Folks,
Today while cruzin the streets, i found a pile of rubbish on the street. there is plenty of it round as everyone in town is having a *MAJOR* cleanout and getting ready for the cyclone season (the council is taking all sorts of yard rubbish away for free,they dont care how much you put out cos they dont want it turning in to missiles when the cyclones hit). In the pile of rubbish there was an old car seat (out of what sort of car, i have no idea)
BUT... there was a dirty great big head rest on it and when i removed it from the seat the poles that extend from the headrest in to the seat are about 19 centimeters long, perfect length to slip on to the back of the riders seat inbetween the riders seat and the pillions seat with the riders seat in the low position.
I need to get it recovered and i will take it to a auto-trimmer for that.I will get it the same colour as the seats.
If i could just find my digital camera (looks like my wife has stolen it *again*) i will take pix and show you what im up to.

This afternoon i just slipped the headrest, um, backrest in to place and sat on the bike while it was on the centre stand... and lent backwards... aaaaaahhhhhh.... now thats comfortable... cant wait to get it finished... and with it along with the JB pegs when they turn up... should be touring round in *super* comfort!! :-))

[pcra]

That is a very good idea!!!

Incredible how little it takes and a bit of creativity to get a new way to do an improvement. One just needs to get over that bit of lazyness (have the money, buy a new one). Well done, good idea, thanx for shearing!

Cheers Pat

"going Matilda june06"

[DaveDragon]

BUT... there was a dirty great big head rest on it and when i removed it from the seat the poles that extend from the headrest in to the seat are about 19 centimeters long, perfect length to slip on to the back of the riders seat inbetween the riders seat and the pillions seat with the riders seat in the low position.
I need to get it recovered and i will take it to a auto-trimmer for that.I will get it the same colour as the seats.

I seem to remember another member finding inspiration in a car seat headrest?

I think it was Ron K Miller and it ended with him producing the Kontour Seat!

Am I remembering this correctly Ron?

[Dick]

Hey, Dave - I don't remember all the details, but several years ago, there wuz a feller in Europe somewhere that modified a headrest that he picked up from a trashed Opel car and fashioned it into an LT backrest. It may have been as long ago as the old eGroups list, so I'll never find it; butt I thought at the time that some folks in our community are really creative when it comes to building/selling/installing/mod'ing farkles. Still going strong, I see!!

[DaveDragon]

I found this one from Ron: Clicky Clicky (http://www.bmwlt.net/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=K1200LT&Number=136720&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=RonKMiller&Match=Username&Searchpage=32&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=136400)

I guess my CRS is kicking in and/or I got the events mixed up.

Any whoooo, Ron did do a "Ghetto Mod" backrest as well. :)

[Dezrae]

Guys,
Thanks for the info.
I did some reading and followed the links.
I dont plan to attach my backrest to the riders seat. i will just raise the seat and install it when required.
the rest of the time it can live in one of the panniers.
i get tomorrow till monday off work so i will dorp it in to a auto trimmer tomorrow and get it re-covered.
i saw my wife with the digital camera this evening when i got home from but, the camera has magically vanished again.
when i eventually get my hands to it i will show you what i have.

[Dezrae]

I have added the highway pegs this afternoon as well as the ram mount for my video camera,plus the new screen from Visual Screens in NZ, and i gave the headrest/backrest a good scrubbing and i dont think i will get it re-covered. i will only use it on long trips, rest of time it will be in a pannier.

[Dezrae]

I went for a ride this afternoon , about 300 kilometers in total. Went and had a walk over the Burdekin bridge.
http://www.burdekin.qld.gov.au/visitorinfo/livingintheburdekin.html#SILVERLINK

http://www.planbooktravel.com/aus/qld/home_hill

Any how...
I thought the BB highway pegs were great when used in conjunction with the backrest i have now got...

except..

the back rest moves a bit at the base. this does not suprise me as i have not got anything for the legs sticking out of the head rest to plug into on the bike to stop movement...

but...

while riding i came up with an idea. i will use 2 pieces of *square* tubing for the legs to plug in to and attach the square tube to the bike with my latest glueing toy, jb weld.
dont ask why im going to use square tube, its a long story, but after a few hours riding and thinking, i recon square is the go. once i get it done and put photos up it will make sense.i just got to find some and try and make sure it will fit under the seat.im pretty sure it will.

[pcra]

I checked out the links you supplied. . . . seems to be a beautiful place to have a walk. . . . .

I actually wanted to post the pic from the black backrest (VW car). It was the easiest thing on earth to do with the convertion of the headrest. Thanks again for posting the idea Dezrae.

Can't find the pics :( I have to look for it another time again.

But instead I attach you the picture from my handle at the trunk. Yes it is theme-based. I am a chef (as you know) and the handle is an old 1960 sharpening steel from Germany. The bloody steel was that hard, that the specialists (went to them after killing 5 drill bits, well they were old ones anyway) weren't able to drill a second hole for the screm !!!

Finally the blacksmith welded a screw on the sharpening-steel.

things don't need to be absloute perfect, they need to be good and to my liking ;)

http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/3007/aut24789wf.jpg

[Dezrae]

rather then drill holes in the steel, i would have just used a bit of JB weld and fastened some steel to it that was able to accept a thread put to it ;-)

[pcra]

good idea. . . . I'll keep it stored in the back of my mind ;)

[cws]

heh, heh...
you'll have to watch the cops in Qld dont think you're carrying a weapon when you bring that out, instead of just riding one!

[Dezrae]

Mean while...getting back to what this thread was about...

Today i bought some brass tube from a hobby shop and some brass flat sheet as well.

The reason i bought it is because i mentioned the fact that on the weekend when i went for a ride with the headrest inbetween the seats, the bottom of the headrest wiggled round cos it was held in place by fresh air.

so to help eliminate this, i will use the brass pipe for the legs of the headrest to poke into. this works fine on one side as there is plenty of metal on the bike to mount it to, but the other side there is not room, thats why i bought the brass plate. i need to mount the brass plate to the bike then mount the pipe to the plate.
at the moment i have made the flat plate in to a triangle and its getting stuck in to place with good old JB Weld (love this sutff)

I wont have any photos till my wife returns from Sydney with the digital camera. but when she does i will put pix up so you can understand what im going on about.

[pcra]

There is a guy on the german forum that actually used 2 fat garden-door hinges to fix the problem you mentioned. Many ways to do a thing. . . .

[onions]

I wont have any photos till my wife returns from Sydney with the digital camera. but when she does i will put pix up so you can understand what im going on about.

Hey Dez,
Your wife sure does love that camera...I think that me and the guys might have to each chip in and buy you a camera for your own...:D

[Dezrae]

Onions,
Yes your right, my wife uses the digital camera flat chat. on the bright side at least it doesnt cost a zillion bucks to get the film developed ;-)

Ya never know yer luck though, christmas isnt too far away and who knows what Santa might drop off under the tree for me this year!

[meese]

Yep, I found an electronics store that was going out of business and bought an upgraded version of our current digital camera and just put it on my wife's desk. Now I can just leave the old camera on the bike at all times. Much easier than the previous time-share plan we were attempting. That just never worked out well.

[Dezrae]

I was thinking the same kinda lines to. put the camera in a sturdy carry bag and leave it in one of the panniers.under lock and key... that way i might have a fighting chance of it being there without my wife knocking it off!

[RonKMiller]

I seem to remember another member finding inspiration in a car seat headrest?

I think it was Ron K Miller and it ended with him producing the Kontour Seat!

Am I remembering this correctly Ron?

Actually dreamed up the seat design long before the "Back EZ" which of we sold several dozen. It was a decent design, especially when incorporated INTO the seat.

Unfortunately it was just not adustable very much so we discontinued it.

The BakUp is the best design I have seen so far, and what we recommend and sell.

We keep tinkering with new ideas. ;)

[Dezrae]

We keep tinkering with new ideas. ;)


Nothing wrong with that, infact im all for it!:D


I just had a lookie at the tube that i jb welded to the bike last night.its well and truely set like a rock.i kinda hoped it would. i drowned the joints in jb weld.
i shut the riders seat and plugged in the backrest and extended the bb highway pegs with the bike on centre stand and i climbed on board and gently lent backwards....

it works!
no more wiggle from the base of the backrest.

WOO-HOO!!

custom sports recliner for highway.:)
as soon as i get my hands on a digital camera i will show you what i did.:cool:

[Dezrae]

Here is some photos of the brass tube i mounted to the bike with a boat load of jb weld.
the headrest plugs in to the brass tube and stops the base moving round.