I had a chance to ride 800+ miles road trip with my middle son and my new Firehouse Customs rider's backrest. Picture of my '07 Heritage with the backrest and a new Nelson-Riggs CT950 tour bag in the Valley of Fire state park (Nevada) below. For those interested both the backrest and the tour bag did well on the trip. If interested I'll add a couple comments about the backrest below ...



On past bikes I've always upgraded the seat with an Ultimate, but this time I thought I'd go a little different route. The Heritage seat is not bad (though far from a "touring seat") and I thought I'd try adding a rider's backrest before spending $700+ on a new seat system. This trip we rode just over 800 miles in 2 days, so I think I've given the backrest a good run to see how it will work.

First thing to note is the backrest puts you a bit farther forward on the seat. This took a few miles to get used to, but by mile 10 I think I had adjusted well. For taller riders (those over 6'1") you'll notice the biggest difference. The dang floorboards on the Heritage are too far inward (and way too small) to begin with, so this just makes the problem worse. But it's not something you can't live with, at least until you can replace the floorboards or put on some extenders to get them outward more. That's probably the next "must have" item on my list.

The backrest seems to be well made. The steel bracket is farily heavy and this means there is plenty of support to hold the pad in place. Installation is just about as easy as you can get (other than having someone do it for you). It took me no more than 5 minutes to put the backrest in place, so this is a good alternative for those that don't want to leave it on all the time. You can easily and quickly take it off in the same time.

Overall fit puts the backrest just above the back seat (see picture). This gives you decent support of the lower back. The pad is also big enough that it comes to just above the kidney line. The pad is also slightly reclined so you don't have that feeling you're sitting straight up and down.

The pad is soft enough to be comfortable but not so soft it gives way under pressure. On several occasions I pushed back against the rest as I adjusted my butt in the seat. My biggest fear was that it might not be heavy enough steel to hold a heavier rider (I weigh 250) when really pressured, but the backrest held up well.

The backrest does not fold forward, so getting on or off requires you to hike your leg high or cross over the seat. In this case I also had a new Nelson-Rigg CT950 bag that I used for the trip so going up and over was a little less easy. If you're not used to rider's backrest then you'll need to learn how to mount the bike with a straight on approach rather than a swing-over approach, but you'll catch on quickly.

Final word ... I highly recommend the backrest for those who want that type of comfort. This is my 4th bike with a backrest and I don't think I'll ever own one without one. The Firehouse is a good alternative if you're not replacing the whole seat system.

http://www.firehouse.com

 

thanks- was interesting to get that feed back
grzly

 

I've had my Firehouse back rest on my Heritage for about 4000 miles now. When I first put it on, I noticed immediately that I was sitting about 1-1/2" forward in the seat and the back rest pad madeit feel like someone had their knee in my back. After a couple hours of riding my a$$ was killing me because I was sitting forward on the "hump" of the seat. I immediately took the back rest off, thinking I'd rather deal with the back and shoulder pain. After a couple more rides without the back rest, I realized the benefit of a back rest and put it back on. I've gotten use to it now and I would never ride without it. I still get a soar a$$ after a couple hours, but I can live with it. I've got highway pegs on the engine gaurd to stretch my legs out and even so, I've gotten comfortable with the floor boards too.

I did just order the $700 Mustang combo w/back rest. I hope (now that I am use to the Firehouse) it's worth the money.

 

That sounds great, and looks good too.
I wish my original Fat Boy seat was more comfy,
I would havedone the Firehouse backrest too.

I agree after riding 3,500 miles with a backrest (Mustang thena Corbin)
I took mine out for a ride without the backrest in, after taking some pictures of it.
To make a long story short, I put it right back on when I got back to the garage.

From the first day I sat on a Harley with floorboards in the showroom,
I asked the salesman if they made any extentions to move them out and he said no.
I wearsize 12 EE boots (shoes) so I need more room.
I have nowinstalled the "Harley Goodies Floor Board Extentions". http://www.harleygoodies.com/
It started raining yesterdayright afterI got done, so I haven't riden with them yet, but they seem to be a big improvment.
It moves the boardsout 1 1/2 inches.

 

I put a FC backrest on my Fatboy seat. I was very comfortable for me. I did find myself pushing back against it a little to get my assto the back bucket area of the seat. I rode for thirty miles or so, then smacked a deer and crashed. I'm not blaming the backrest.

 

That's funny, sad, but funny.

 

Your backrest looks great..........thanks for the post. Now Im gonna have to drop some coin and get one, lol. The website looks like a really easy install.

 

Thanks, guys, glad the report could help some. For what it's worth, my Ultimate seats also pushed me forward when I used them in the past, so the Firehouse was not a surprise. The big difference is the Utlimate seat is more comfortable, but I think I can solve that on the Heritage seat with a simple gelpad for longer trips.

I've got the same problem with my big shoes. I put some rubber marks on my new pipes simply because the floorboards put my feet too dang close. I'll order the Harley Goodies floorboard later this week. I'll be interested to see what you think of yours.

 

I took her out for a 45 minute ride yesterday, those damn floor board extentions work great.
Much more room and foot positions, because my feet aren't blocked out because of the break pedal and front shifter peg.
I couldn't ride with my feet tucked under them. Now I can be bside them as far forward as I want.
My leg doesn't even hit (rub)the Air Cleaner anymore either.