Motorcycle MacGyvering pt. 2: Driver Backrest

For the second installment of the Motorcycle Mcgyvering series, I want to talk about the driver's backrest I built for my Majesty. Unfortunately, this one won't really translate to other models of bike since the seat design's won't be the same, but hopefully it'll at least give you an idea of what's possible with harvested parts and a little experimentation. 

My original backrest design used the Majesty's "butt pad", raised up on a metal bracket, to serve as a back rest. It worked alright, and looked good, but it lacked lower back support, and left two holes in the seat that were difficult to cover up. 

I settled for this set-up for a while, for lack of any better ideas. However, we had replaced the driver's seat in my family's RV, and the headrest from the original seat seemed like an ideal candidate for a new and improved backrest. If you don't have an extra headrest laying around, you could probably find one at an auto salvage yard. I'd imagine many of them would probably just let you have one for free, especially if the upholstery on it is in bad shape. As long the foam on the inside is ok, it will work fine for these purposes.

I reused the bracket from the first backrest. It basically consists of some flat steel from Home Depot, welded together in the shape of an uppercase "I". I asked a local welding shop to do the welds for me. It took them all of 30 seconds to do them, and they didn't even charge me. I bent the vertical portion of the "I" to match the curve of the seat as closely as I could, and drilled holes in the bottom of the "I" to match the holes in the seat. I then drilled holes in the back of the head rest to push a couple carriage bolts through, and fastened the headrest to the top of the bracket. 

I used a scroll saw to cut a notch out in the back of the butt pad, to allow room for the bracket. In retrospect, I should have been more careful to remove the vinyl material covering the butt pad before cutting it, then  reattached it, instead of trying to pull it out of the way and rewrapping it around the notch. Some electrical tape is currently doing a decent job of covering the edge and holding the cover in place. At some point down the road, I'd like to have both the headrest portion and the butt pad recovered by someone who knows what they're doing. 

The headrest originally had a blue fabric covering it. I removed the fabric, and spray painted the foam as a temporary solution until I can get it recovered.

I held the new backrest in place and sandwiched it between the seat and the butt pad, using the bolts built into the butt pad to hold everything in place. (The yellow line across the seat in this picture is evidence of how insane the tree pollen has been this spring) 

The new backrest is much more comfortable than the first version, providing both upper and lower back support, and placing me in the proper place on the seat. With the butt pad raised up, I felt like I was sitting too far back, as the padding in the seat gets a little thin towards the very back of the seat. Now the seat works as it was originally designed, plus the addition of the backrest. I think that the result looks professional enough, and it will look even better when I get around to getting everything recovered. 

Gearing up for the cold

On the few motorcycle forums I keep up with, I've noticed a lot of people talking about the cold, and more specifically, how to ride in it without turning into a popsicle. Today here in Oklahoma, the thermostat was reading in the teens. It's rare for it to get quite that cold, but it happens, and having a motorcycle as my only means of transportation has given me some insight into dealing with it. What follows is what I wear when the weather's at it's coldest.

Layer 1
The first layer consists of thermal underwear or tights. On the really cold days (or the ones when I'm feeling particularly wussy) I've actually worn a pair of tights over a pair of thermals. I also wear a thermal top or longsleeve cotton t-shirt and a pair of normal cotton/polyester socks.
Layer 2

Over the thermals, I'd normally wear a long or short sleeve cotton t-shirt, a pair of jeans or cargo pants, and a pair of wool socks. There are few things that make me more uncomfortable than cold feet. Most of what goes on after this layer will probably get removed whenever I'm not on the bike.


Layer 3

The third layer has, in my opinion, two of the most important elements in staying warm. The first is a pair of windproof vinyl pants. These came from wal-mart. They were only about $9.00 if I remember correctly. They have an elastic waist and zippers on the ankles so I can pull them on and off over my boots. I like to keep a pair of these rolled up in my trunk in case of rain as well. The top part of this layer is key to my entire cold weather survival. It's an electrically heated vest that plugs into the bike. Companies like Gerbing make heated vests, as well as jacket liners, gloves, pants, and other items for roughly $100-$200. Mine is homemade, and cost me about $20 (granted, I already had the fleece vest). The vest is not only useful in keeping my abdomen warm. When your body gets cold, it's natural instincts are to restrict circulation to the extremities (like the hands and feet) in order to keep the essential organs warm. Unfortunately, this causes the hands and feet to get colder. The heated vest serves to keep my chest and essential organs warm enough, so the body can focus on warming the hands and feet.

Layer 4
The boots are the only other part of my gear that I don't remove when I reach my destination. I put them in this layer because I like to tuck the bottoms of the vinyl pants inside them to keep wind from rushing up my legs. I also wear some type of insulated jacket, like a hoodie. On my hands, I wear a pair of 100% synthetic glove liners that wick moisture away from my hands and serve as an extra layer of insulation under my gloves. On my head, I wear a balaclava made of neoprene with a fleece lining. I bought it at a ski shop for about $40 but you could probably find something similar at a sporting goods store for a better price. It's windproof and covers my neck and nose, which is nice because nobody likes a runny nose under a helmet.

Layer 5

Layer 5 is as much for crash protection as it is for cold protection. I never go anywhere without my leather jacket (yeah I know, no armor. I'm poor and it's high on the list of things I want to buy) or my helmet. Full face helmets are much better in the cold than 3/4's or anything else, for obvious reasons. I also wear a pair of ski gloves over the glove liners. I know there are motorcycle intended gloves that would probably work better, but like I said above, I'm poor, and I have to work with what I've got. I've tried a lot of different glove combinations to keep my hands warm, and my current solution still isn't quite as warm as I'd like it to be. The gloves I wear are windproof, and have much thicker insulation on the back of the hand and tops of the fingers than they do on the palms and pads of the fingers so they don't feel too bulky while riding. They're also naturally slightly curved to grip the handlebars, but my hands do tend to go a little numb in temperatures below freezing. One of these days I'm going to invest in some heated grips.

Layer 6

The final layer is just a windproof, waterproof parka. I only wear this if it's raining or if it's really unusually cold, but it's always in my trunk in case I need it. It doesn't actually have much insulating value, if any, but it's windproof qualities help keep the leather jacket from getting too cold.


Now I know what you're thinking, and yes, under all those layers I do feel a bit like a spaceman. It does keep me warm though, and everything I'm wearing is easy to find, and reasonably inexpensive. The key, I think, is to keep the wind off of you, and wear layers. The layers, obviously can be added and removed depending how cold it actually is.

Danger! Danger!

Emergencies. They're never much fun, but they happen, and the best thing we can do to make them less hazardous is to be prepared. With that thought in mind, I've spent the evening preparing an emergency kit to keep in my bike. This is intended to help you out if you find yourself stranded, as well as give some tools to help any other people in distress you may happen to come upon.

Granted, I'm making this up as I go along, but I thought I'd share the contents so far with you, and let you in on my thought process. Anyway, here goes:

1. First Aid Kit- This is a fairly basic one. It's got bandaids, some antibotic ointment, a few sterile gauze patches. There's a good chance that I'll upgrade it one day, particularly if and when I start taking longer trips, but we'll save that for another entry.

2. Space blanket- There are few things that can make your life much harder than cold. Not only is it uncomfortable, but it can make simple tasks a lot harder pretty quickly. Basically, the $1.50 you'll probably spend on one of these will be well worth it if you ever need to use it.

3. Extra Batteries- These go in the flashlight that we'll get to later.

4. Tape- Seriously, what can't you do with tape. Duct tape would be just as useful here, if not more so, but it doesn't fit in my little case, so electrical tape it is.

5. Multi-tool- If anything in this kit reaches "never leave home without it" status, it's this. I won't get into the specific uses of the multi-tool, but trust me, they're almost limitless. I've even used the outer shell of this thing as a blunt object to hit nails in before. It wasn't the easiest way, but it got the job done at the time.

6. Extra Flashlight- I keep a LED headlamp in the bike at all times as well, and that's the one I'll use in most situations, but lights have a tendency to break at the most inconvenient times possible, and it never hurts to have a backup. This one and the headlamp use the same batteries, so they can serve as backups for eachother, and the extra set can go wherever it's needed.

7. Utility Knife- Honestly, this one's probably not a necessity. The multi-tool will cover most of the same jobs this one will. I think that, in many situations, a utility knife is just the best tool for the job, and it's small enough that it doesn't hurt to have it around.

8. Emergency Information- This is in case something happens that prevents you from being able to communicate with whoever happens to come along. Mine is typed up, and kept in a plastic baggy to protect it from moisture. I've made a pdf document that you can fill out with your information if you'd like. You can find it here.

9. Fuses- These could go in the toolkit, which I'll cover in another entry, but either way, you should have some. I had the signaling system fuse go out just a little while after I got my bike, due to an error I made in installing an accessory outlet. Let's just say I don't reccomend riding like that. They're small, inexpensive, and easy to change out. Better to fix the problem than drive with it.

10. Case- the one I used is actually a belly bag that I cut the straps off of for use somewhere else.

They're are a few other things that I'd like to add eventually, for example, a lighter. I just don't happen to have one right now. I'll update if I think of anything else as well. Does anyone else out there carry an emergency kit? If so, what do you keep in it?