Backrest Post

[Lucasind]

Up early and out in the shop "stoking" up the wood stove ....very cold out this morning, I got a "care package" in the mail from Gene Kap ...I bought his used rider back rest that he had installed briefly on his XII...it is gonna get re-vamped this morning and adapted to fit my 85' 1300/6 .
It is of a different design than the "Utopia" and some brackets will have to be fabbed and some cutting/alterations must be made ! pictures to follow !................Tony

[trikebldr]

YES! Definitely lots of detail pics of what you whittle up!

Here's what I had on my first Voyager years ago, and I fortunately found another one on eBay last year. I love these. They flip forward out of the way for the passenger to mount, then upright for the driver. Very comfortable, too. Now, if I can just find one more!

[trikebldr]

Up early and out in the shop "stoking" up the wood stove ....very cold out this morning.

And I HAVE to work out in the driveway! No room in the garage, and not enough height in the garage anyway to lift the bike very high! I guess I'll just have to bring everything into the living room! (Yeah, RIGHT!)

[Lucasind]

.....Ha Ha ...there Bruce ....LOVE the graphic ......So anyway,Just like a kid on Christmas morning ,I got a box delivered to the house from Gene Kap......containing one used (maker unknown) rider back rest ,but it does resemble the one in your picture.I look it over and know it is gonna be WAY better than the one I made out of a office chair....and a 1970's sissy bar back rest
I wish that I would NOT have elected to put a "slit" in my seat cover during the "total boredom" and freezing temps last February when I decided to make my own ! oh well ....I have messed up WAY worse before
I was surprised at how close the structure of the XII bracketry came to lining up with the 13, first thing that I had to do was open up the hole to the top shock,the 13 's top shock mount is bigger.
Then some brackets had to be fabbed to get the desired 4 point mounting. Also had to cut equal lengths off of the slider rails so that they didn;t interfere with the opening and closing of my newly fitted saddle bags.



Then the end plugs were re-installed, after the measurements were taken,I painted the newly made brackets with rattle can black rust-o-leum,....good thing I had gotten out in the shop and got a fire going in the wood stove at 6:45 a.m. cause the inside was 38 degrees this morning....and outside was about 29....even though I had the temp inside the shop at a comfy 70 the last work session



Here you see the fabbed brackets....and the "patch" I am temporarily putting over the slit I made in the seat cover that I made last winter till I figure out something better You also see the two prong battery tender plug there that keeps the battery fresh ....cause the 1300/6 pops off "right now" and runs perfect as opposed to not keeping a tender on it, have only about 1000 miles on it since I got it last year,mostly cause the P.O cut the windshield down too short......And I love me tall C. Bailey windshield on my XII.

[Lucasind]

....Perhaps a bit "spoiled" by the C. Bailey windshield,....and LOVING my 1300/6 Voyager ,I got to looking at the stock XII Voyager windshield hanging on the wall for a few years ,and decided to "adapt" it to the 1300...To make things quick and simple, I just layed it over the existing "shorty" windshield...
put some heat to it and screwed it down ......After ONE ride I know it was the right thing to do, cause I am NOT getting wind blasted anymore !



Here in this last picture you see the garage creature in it's natural habitat, that wears the same shop clothes every day ! This raps up my weekend of FUN in the shop ...working on my Kawasaki's....Back to work in the morning ,to fix other people's stuff Proving Gene Kap's statement "A busy man...is a happy man"......Tony

[trikebldr]

Once again, Tony, you have inspired me! been wondering whether or not to change the colors on my '85 when I repaint it, and I will eventually make up an all-aluminum sidecar for it, so maybe it will be done up in a Darth Vader motif, with everything blacked out, even the motor! Mostly flat black, with some gloss black and a smattering of small parts done in bright red!

That seat back seems to be the current popular style available. I do love the larger padded section! Maybe I could adapt a larger pad to my flip-frame. Again, inspiration from your pics! Thanks!

[Lucasind]

.Well, Thanks for those kind words Bruce !....and as always......the inspiration is free ! ...Tony

[Me Again]

Not sure that blacking out a 1300 engine is a prime idea.
They tend to run pretty hot anyways.
Not saying you shouldn't , but if you have one that gets up to 7 bars regularly it may tend to get pretty warm .

[trikebldr]

Not sure that blacking out a 1300 engine is a prime idea.
They tend to run pretty hot anyways.
Not saying you shouldn't , but if you have one that gets up to 7 bars regularly it may tend to get pretty warm .

Ah, I see you're from that era when guys used to debate about whether or not painting a radiator black made a difference in how well it dissipated heat!

[Me Again]

Not sure that blacking out a 1300 engine is a prime idea.
They tend to run pretty hot anyways.
Not saying you shouldn't , but if you have one that gets up to 7 bars regularly it may tend to get pretty warm .

Ah, I see you're from that era when guys used to debate about whether or not painting a radiator black made a difference in how well it dissipated heat!

Yea.I'm an old fart.
I know it's not a big difference ,but on a 1300 sometimes a little difference has a big impact.
The one I have now seldom runs over 6 bars but my previous one was constantly running 7 or 8 bars and the last thing you would have wanted was absorbing a little extra heat.

[Lucasind]

Jim...How on earth you were able to find this "lost series of posts" from cyber space, will remain your secret ! thanks for taking on the JOB of webmaster since Ron's passing.......Not a position I could do ...or want !................Tony