Homemade pillion backrest

[MZ5]

My wife wants to ride with me more, but also really wants a backrest. So, yesterday evening we went to the folks' house and made one.

Parts list:

-- 1 old SAAB 9000 headrest
-- 1 piece of 2" flat iron (steel), about 2 feet long
-- 1 or 2 pins or bolts (w/nuts), depending upon whether you have a press or brake or vise to help you bend the steel (we didn't until I went to work today)
-- 1 carriage bolt (w/nut) to fit the slot in the SAAB's headrest

Tools list:
-- Hacksaw
-- Electric drill
-- Drill bit (I used 5/16")
-- Gate in a block wall (what we used), or a vise, to hold the steel to help you bend it
-- Honda NC700X with the Honda mount plate/carrier for rear top box

Here's the result, after an hour or less of work:

 

[MZ5]

The headrest came from a junkyard, and Dad was using it for quite a while as the rider backrest on his VTX. But, it's too thick now that he made a good seat for Mom to ride with him. He had a local shop make that black cover; the SAAB leather cover is tan.

The headrest's mount bar is cut off short, and it has a vertical slot in it from the factory, which makes small height adjustments very quick and easy with an end wrench to loosen and tighten the carriage bolt that attaches it to the flat iron 'mount.'

Once I got to work today, I used a hydraulic press to bend that lip down over the tail end of the plate. By doing that, I can remove the rear bolt. At the moment, that bolt goes through the large square opening in the rear of the mount plate, and then through a piece of the flat iron we cut off (used as a backing plate against which to tighten that bolt). Once I take it out, I will also replace the front bolt with a pin. That will make the whole thing quick-detach, and I can put the top box back on quickly and easily.

Why are 2 bolts (or else the tab bent tightly to the back edge of the carrier) used? So that the rest doesn't pivot around sideways.

Why is one bolt hole off-center? Because I didn't want to drill through any of the 'ribs' on the underside of the carrier/plate.

 

[rippin209]

Looks good I would like to do that