Necessity is a mother

Safety Ed made a backrest out of materials in his basement (Orin O’Neill photos)

All my road trips with the PX were about 200 miles (or in the case of the ‘08 Oregon Road Trip, 200 miles/day). I was usually pretty beat at the end of the day; I expected such journeys with the GTS to be much more relaxing, with a possibility of 300-mile days.

However, the trip to Neah Bay and back was about 300 miles. And I was more beat than I ever expected to be.

I have a duffel bag I take on road trips that can be positioned in such a way as to make a nice backrest. It works quite well on the GTS, because the pillion perch is relatively high. But I didn’t take it because I didn’t plan on spending the night anywhere.

Not that my back was sore (it wasn’t), but it would’ve been less tiring to have something to lean on.

Safety Ed led the group that rode to Amerivespa, and as you can see in the picture, he made a backrest out of stuff in his basement. He is an engineer, after all.

A model of ingenuity, though Honda had an ideal solution on its (discontinued) Big Ruckus.

As you can see, the pillion perch is hinged, and can be tilted up to make a backrest for when you ride solo. This also makes it very easy to add a container for cargo, whether you build it yourself or buy something.

I’m a bit surprised this feature is not more widespread. Safety Ed was counting on the padding in his jacket to keep the hard surface of the plywood from becoming painful, but a padded and upholstered backrest would surely be more comfortable.

This will require some thought…

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