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Lumber support in seat

I contacted Utopia related to the need for addition support to prevent flexing and if the seat needs to be removed. This was their response:


David,

Thanks for your business! We have not heard of any issue like that . Would you be able to send me a link to his post about this concern? We had the seat removed when we design and installed the first couple of these (of course they were sent to our shop). There is a bolt that needs to be turned into the mounting bracket from underneath. I think it is possible to get to this without completely removing the seat.

Have a Blessed Day! Andy"

I doubt there is objection to my sending a link but I will wait until tomorrow just is case there is a concern.
 
Yes you can remove the back rest without removing the seat. You just removed the three Torx bolts located in the circles (they are already removed). Takes like 30 seconds. The Arrow is pointing to the location of the back rest bracket bolt you will need to drill and install.
IMG_3188.webp

Here is a picture with the back rest bracket installed.
IMG_3187.webp

Here is a video of the seat pan flexing.

This is only me pushing on the bracket with my hand. Once the back rest is installed and you press your back against it, the seat pan will flex even more and then add hitting bumps while riding and it will really be flexing. All I can see is the pan breaking down the road. This area of the seat was not designed to take those forces. So I came up with an upgrade.

This is the bracket I made for providing extra support. It spreads the load over a wide area. The flexing you see in the video is completely gone with this bracket installed. I get that the company says that it's OK, I am not comfortable with all that flexing. This bracket is simple and takes care of the issue with no detriment to the original design.
IMG_3190.webp

But I have to contact the company as something is not right. I cannot get the back rest to sit even close to the seat with the back rest bracket on. I can get my finger under the back rest.
IMG_3197.webp

The problem appears to be that the center attaching location and the plastic around the attaching location
IMG_3201.webp

Is supposed to go through this hole as there is a matching raised section on the seat pan that these two touch with just seat fabric between them. But the hole appears to be too far forward so it forces the back rest to sit on top of this plate instead of through it and that causes it to sit to high. There is only one place the bracket sits on the back rest as there is a tab with a groove that keeps it in one place.

IMG_3193.webp

If you just hold the back rest on the bracket it appears that its going to sit correctly but as soon as you attempt to tighten the bolts, it starts to pull away from the seat.

So I will email them over the weekend and explain my situation.
 
Nice Post. "Yes you can remove the back rest without removing the seat" I think you are implying this but does that mean you can also install the backrest without removing the seat? Andy seemed to think so but they never actually did. I think Andy is saying he was not aware of this problem more than he was saying it was fine. He seemed interested in learning more and will, I assume, develop something if needed. Your information is empirical so carries more weight. I am sure he has read everything you posted and will appreciate your last post. Mine arrives Monday but I am not going to move too fast. My reason for the back rest is related to lower back pain and having it wack me in the back on bumps will not be helpful. I mentioned in earlier posts I removed the back support completely, even after having it reshaped by removing a little over one inch, then covered the holes with an air-hawk which I typically use anyways. I now need to test the limits of that fix on a longer trip. I am setting up the bike for touring the California Coast, which I think is better than my previous K1600 related to weight with all the slower traffic and curves.
 
Reguam said:
Nice Post. "Yes you can remove the back rest without removing the seat" I think you are implying this but does that mean you can also install the backrest without removing the seat? Andy seemed to think so but they never actually did. I think Andy is saying he was not aware of this problem more than he was saying it was fine. He seemed interested in learning more and will, I assume, develop something if needed. Your information is empirical so carries more weight. I am sure he has read everything you posted and will appreciate your last post. Mine arrives Monday but I am not going to move too fast. My reason for the back rest is related to lower back pain and having it wack me in the back on bumps will not be helpful. I mentioned in earlier posts I removed the back support completely, even after having it reshaped by removing a little over one inch, then covered the holes with an air-hawk which I typically use anyways. I now need to test the limits of that fix on a longer trip. I am setting up the bike for touring the California Coast, which I think is better than my previous K1600 related to weight with all the slower traffic and curves.
Click to expand...
Yes, I installed the back rest and never removed my seat. The BMW was used by my wife and myself as a two up machine and we will continue to do that occasionally but I bought a Versys X300 as my ride and the BMW will now be my wife's ride and she is the one that needed the back rest as she has back problems too. I did have the back rest installed for a week or two until I could get my bracket made and my wife said it helped her a lot. We did one 50 mile ride and another 100 mile ride and she did not say her back hurt her. While I have no use for a back rest, I did take it on a ride or two around town and I will admit that it was comfortable. I don't recall getting whacked in the back when I hit bumps and remember asking my wife if that happened to her and she said it did not. The reason I was keen to getting whacked in the back that was I have a 1979 Vespa P125x and it has the BBQ rack which has a back rest that can be used for the passenger, and can be slid forward so the driver can use it and the time or two I tried it, it did exactly what you describe is wack you in the back when you hit a bump and it was uncomfortable.
 
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