Passenger hip pain

[Whopper Stopper]

My wife has joined me on several longer rides on my 1500 SE with the Roadsmith conversion. She absolutely loves coming along but has the same complaint every trip, her hips get sore from riding. The wing has passenger foot rests that raise and lower. She says that at it's lowest setting it is still too high. The trike has the weight bearing foot fairing so lowering the rest isn't really an option due to clearance. If I removed the rests and had her put her feet directly onto the fairing due to the curvature I don't think she would find that comfortable, and she would only gain about an inch. I like the fact she wants to come with, but unless we keep stopping every 50 miles, she gets so stiff she can hardly get off.

Anyone have any ideas on what I could do to make it more enjoyable for her?

WS

 

[stinger608]

Maybe put some kind of pillow under her? That may give the added height to help.

 

[mhgoldwing]

If you can find one to try out, get hold of an Airhawk R cushion and have her try that. It will eliminate the pressure points.

 

[CrystalPistol]

How tall is your wife? I just wonder if maybe she's got her feet so low that it's leveraging her rear up and putting pressure on the hip that way? My wife is 5-5 and sometimes likes to raise the rear rests on our 1500SE ..... and sometimes she will extend her feet up onto these little heel rests I have on my frt floor boards when my feets are up on the forward engine protector mounted foot boards. She "changes" as the miles pass.

If you can find one to try out, get hold of an Airhawk R cushion and have her try that. It will eliminate the pressure points.

Or maybe a buddy has a gel pad to try out ..... or just make a pad of a towel folded a few times and sewn as an experiment? Raising her rear might take some pressure off her thighs where they lay over on the seat sides .... reducing that leveraging effect as the legs drop.

Also .... have you ever looked at moving the travel trunk backwards some? If you have the oem seat with maybe a Utopia back rest, just remove the rain cover from the pouch and she'll be pretty comfortable and moving that trunk backwards is like extending leg room as it'll move her rearwards.

Year or so ago I got a deal on a Corbin, I had to remove the rear cover part and saw the seat pan down to make it work with my rearward travel trunk but it's good now. I like the Corbin better for me, "Wife Unit" likes modified Corbin about same as OEM stock seat (which was brand new itself as it had been boxed since 1998).

On moving trunk .... this was the info given me at a rally in Ohio in 2005, it was a "primer" for me. I actually made a one piece bracket for each side but the author did his with 4 smaller pieces, each moving a hole. I used steel and I redid my holes from metric to 1/4-20. Gave "Wife Unit" back the space she lost with my back rest but it also gives her more leg room. I did move mine 2-1/4" back.

Moving trunk on 1500

There is no bracket or kit to move the trunk back. The first one I did (mine) took me about 6 hrs to figure out with help from a motorcycle internet bulletin board. I disconnected and removed trunk and saddlebags completely. It now takes me about 2 hrs. without removing them.
You will need to remove the seat and the trunk bottom cover. Then have someone hold the trunk tilted while you cut off the plastic ribs underneath. You also have to make a couple mods to bike, but they are not noticeable afterwards. I learned on the GWRRA BB that it was possible to move the trunk either 2 ¼" or 1 ½" back. I thought that 2 ¼" was stretching the cables too far, so IMHO, 1 ½" was the way to go.
You need to either make 2 long or 4 short pieces for brackets. I used 4 pieces of ¼" thick aluminum (1 ¾"X 2 ½") and drilled two holes in ea, 1 ½" apart and 9/16" from one side. One I tapped 6mm X 1.0 for factory bolt to thread into and the next was ¼" to allow new longer 6mm bolt to go through to attach piece to framework. By using the 4 pieces, I did not have to worry about aligning the holes in the brackets perfectly (while doing this by myself).You have to cut away the ribs that are used for aligning the frt mounting holes of the trunk at the factory to allow the aluminum plates to lay flat. I removed the 3 shortest ribs.
Also, you need to cut the sides of the bottom cover at the access hole for the release levers, where they hit a bar under the trunk, (now that it is moved back). You will see where when you go to bolt up the bottom cover. I used a couple washers between the trunk and brackets to make up for the space difference the heads of the bolts made 'cause I did not want to countersink the bolt heads into the aluminum. I also put a couple small washers behind the opening levers bracket to move it a little so you could use the levers w/o hitting your fingertips on the bar.
The helmet locks also have to be moved back 1 ½". You will need to make brackets for them, too. I used thinner aluminum that was 4" X 1 ¾" with a corner cut off to be able to bolt up next to the angled frame. I drilled two holes 1 1/2" apart, the frt one was ¼" (to use the original bolt to attach it) and the rr one was 7/32". After filing off the small alignment tab, I then attached the locks to these brackets. Some guys don’t use the helmet locks, so they just remove them. The plus for all this is that you can now remove the saddlebags w/o removing the cover under the trunk, since the trunk is now ¼" higher and no more of the complaining about the backrest intruding into Her space!! I have only done 6 set-backs so far, any questions, e-mail me at (wingdr@aol.com) . The usual disclaimers apply, so do this only if you are qualified and have someone to help you. Also, it does not seem to affect the bike handling in any way.

Note that trunk holes are closer side to side in front than they are in rear .... hence the offsets in my 1 piece brackets.

 

[Whopper Stopper]

Thanks for all the replies!

My wife is 5'6''. The moving the trunk back sounds like a good idea although not sure I want to try to do it personally. I will probably try jacking her up some and see if that will help. It sounds like it is a combination of knees hips when she sits on it now. Everything is OEM, I did notice when she slid up onto her seat that the trunk seemed to interfere. I wish I had someone in the metro that was handy at tinkering.

Thanks again! I figured you guys would come through with some ideas.

WS

 

[J.T.M.]

The wife asked me to move the top trunk or tour pack which ever you want to call it back 2 inches. with a couple of pieces of 1 inch square tubing and 4 bolts I made a mount that allows me to move it back as much as 6 inches in 1 inch increments and up 1 inch. She loves it so I am very happy. A couple of bucks and an afternoon can make a big difference.

 

[Whopper Stopper]

What great information!

WS

 

[CrystalPistol]

I was sitting here watching the race and thought I'd improve that drawing some .... same info, just maybe clearer???

The hardest part is figuring out what to do with the trunk while doing it. Some remove it. I used pillows under the front lower corners and after undoing a trunk cable or maybe a wire harness (it was years ago I done it) .... when ready, I tilted my trunk forwards and used a coat hanger to secure it while I measured. I think it'ld probably be easier to do if the pieces were already made and you were just slipping into place.

Did trim some short ribs .... or did I use spacers??? Maybe you know someone who's handy .... maybe get them to do it with you?


Below are a few pics I had of the stock OEM seat with Utopia back rest and no rain cover in seat pouch, "Wife Unit" said it was more comfortable without the cover in there. I used a piece of tempered particle board sealed and painted black velcroed to the front of the travel trunk.