My home made $30.00 back rest

[thrasherfox]

Necessity is the mother of all inventions.... (or something like that)


So, out of the need to cut back as much as possible financially, one of the changes I have made is trying to ride the Busa to work as much as possible.

One of the other changes is pulling my 11 year old out of latch key to save us money. We can do this because I get off work early enough to pick him up from school.

However if I am riding the Busa I need to pick him up on the Busa.

I really don’t care for riding anyone on the back of my bike. I just don’t want to responsibility of someone getting hurt while I am in control of the bike.

But I figured the ride from school to home is pretty short, but I wanted a back rest.

Well, I am riding the Busa back back and forth to work, we are pulling our son out of latch key to save money, I just couldn’t see spending a few hundred dollars on purchasing a back rest, so I decided to build my own.

It sure isn’t a Corbin or anything like that, but it will serve its purpose and actually I don’t think it turned out too bad.

I used ½ inch ply wood for the back rest, picked up some foam from Wal-Mart. I had some scrap vinyl laying around.

I think it was roughly $30.00 “MAYBE†$50.00 (used stuff I had laying around)


I used my welder, some nuts and bolts and.. well here it is..

 

[kml]

Good job! I know how you feel, I just put together a homemade tool kit



cheers
ken

 

[DEMMYM]

Definatly looks like that will work.

 

[rubber2burn]

Looks decent but have you tested it out yet?

 

[thrasherfox]

Looks decent but have you tested it out yet?

Have not road with it yet. but it seems to be sturdy.

And I really did not intend for it to have constant pressure on it for long periods of time.

Its main intent is to assist in preventing my 11 year old from sliding off the back during our 8 mile ride home every day. And he knows how to ride without leaning on it anyway.

Just want to make sure if I have to get out of the way of a car he doesnt slide off the back

 

[Strife]

Might be smart to put a brace on it. You know how it looks like a triangle from side view. If it was to ever fail. It's going to be while pressure is applied to it,usually meaning they relaxed on it instead of holding on to something. A fall like that is probably going to be head fist into the ground + speed traveled.

Then again might be a solid brace as is. That's a hands on decision.

 

[emtspitz]

I agree with strife. If that was my buss and baby, I'd first get on the back myself and put m weight on it and see if I could move it. If after that it didn't feel sturdy, maybe add L brackets from the back of the seatback and run them to the bolts that hold the bar handle onto the frame. That way if the clamp let's loose then the L brackets will hold the weight. Just my two cents :-)
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[Apex]

Here's mine

 

[thrasherfox]

Here's mine

Looks great!!

 

[BA BUSA]

Looks like a winner Dude

 

[suzuki4life]

where are you guys sourcing the pads?

 

[thrasherfox]

where are you guys sourcing the pads?

The pads?

I cut an oval shape out of plywood. I then used padding material I got form walmart and some of that black vinyl stuff you get at walmart or other project stores (I had this stuff laying around for so long can remember where I got it)

Then a good ol staple gun...

Apex's pad looks like his is put together better

 

[suzuki4life]

did you glue the padding in place?

 

[Devil Dog]

You and Rich should test it out on the way down here......

 

[thrasherfox]

did you glue the padding in place?

Yes I used a hot glue gun (large one)

For the wood I soaked it in water and weighted the center to give it a little contour.

Then for the padding I glued a 2 inch strip of padding on each side to help the contour a little more. Then I placed a piece of padding over the whole front.

I used a large hot glue gun to glue all the pieces to the wood.

Once everything was glued down I turned it over, placed it on the vinyl and just stretched and stapled, stretched and stapled all the way around.

While it is nothing close to a "professional" job. I was actually pleased with the way it turned out.

It turned out better than I had expected, so I am happy with it.

 

[thrasherfox]

You and Rich should test it out on the way down here......

Yeah... I think not

 

[quizesilver]

u guys are great with ideas...
but wonder how my girl will hold up without leaning on me? not at high speed of course.

 

[thrasherfox]

u guys are great with ideas...
but wonder how my girl will hold up without leaning on me? not at high speed of course.

Dont know..


I know with my mount I have two points I can look at for cracking or fracture. I took it off tonight to finish it. (paint it etc)

Once it is painted then it is just a matter of pre and post ride inspections of the paint around the joining areas (looking for paint cracking, chipping etc that could indicated weld problems or weakening of the metal.

I am confident with my back rest that I would not experience a sudden catastrophic failure. It would be more of a slow failure due to metal fatigue over time which can easily be inspected for.

It looks like Apex’s would be pretty much the same. Easy to inspect pre and post rides for metal fatigue. Catastrophic failure unlikely.

 

[cipher5791]

I love to see us creative minds at work. Thanks for the idea man. It turned out great

 

[det45]

I like APEXS design, the sturdier the better. You can't put a price on a life so it's better to over-engineer a homemade backrest for safety. With that being said, the corbin company is on drugs for what they want for their seats and backrests thus the necessity for the adverage Joe to invent his own. Just be sure that what you come up with can support an adult under acceleration before attempting to placing your kid on the bike. I couldn't live with myself if my homemade backrest was to fail at my childs expense. Something to think about. I am going to attempt to copy Apexs design for my 2009 Busa. Ride safe and enjoy life.......det45