I have ridden for decades and have had varying amounts of back pain related to being in the saddle for extended periods. Recently I put taller handle bars and a back rest on my Road King, that and putting the windshield on for touring has made very long rides comfortable .

 

Thanks. I ordered the ultimate seat with the backrest. I like that they offer a studded option that will make it match the studs on the other parts of the bike. Mustang seat wouldn’t look the same. Only problem so far is they sent me an email saying it is out of stock and will take 4 weeks to ship.

i also ordered some highway pegs. They are the longhorn style so I think I can get them into a good position. Once I get the seat and pegs in, I will reassess on whether to get new bars.

 

My Deuce has Forward controls ,no floorboards. And it’s very easy to just remove the backrest and then put in back into the seat after I get off the bike .

 

When I first started riding I had back pain, mainly because I had get used to the riding position and I was probably using/stretching muscles in a way they weren't used to. The seat was crap, so I did get a better one which helped a lot, and I was fine after that. A few years later I changed bikes, and went through the process again for a couple weeks until I got used to it. My chiropractor friend was helpful too.

 

You're good to go now. I have the Ultimate seats and backrest and I can drive from here to China in heavenly bliss.

 

*EVERYTHING* depends on *what kind of back pain*. Pain from an accident? Pain from simply sitting for a while on the bike? Pain from leaning back or forward too much? etc, ad nauseum.

I've got two crushed discs, two bulging discs, had all the muscles and tendons on the left half of my back from just under the shoulder blade to the top of my left butt cheek torn so severely that none of them healed well (it didn't help that the asshat of a neurosurgeon told me not one week after this work accident to "Walk! Walk! Walk!"...then a month later after seeing him once a week and telling him that I was literally crawling on my hands and knees after about 100 yards just to get back to my truck, he tells me he thinks I'm faking the pain!). I've got severe neuropathy(sp?) in both feet and from the left butt cheek down my whole left leg. I have to walk slightly stooped over and with a little bit of a limp on the left leg. I take hydrocodone once in the morning (the highest dosage they prescribe, and I'm *supposed* to take it three times a day) just so I can survive the pain of literally rolling over to get out of the bed. I only take it once a day because it barely helps and I don't want to get hooked, been using this since 2004. I'm in a pain number of minimum 5, 24/7. I haven't been able to sleep more than 5 hours a night since 2000.

With all that, I accidentally found out 8 years into my disability (thinking I'd never be able to ride again, of course) that sitting a bike hurts me so immensely *less* than trying to drive or even sit in a car or truck that the bike is all I own. It's a '98 Super Glide. No windshield (never have liked them and never use them on my bikes I've owned throughout my life), no seat-backs or any other weird stuff. Now, I *know* I couldn't survive a hardtail ever again, not even just to get it out of the driveway here, but my bike, I sit it without any problems and can ride about 150 miles before I have to get off of it to walk around for a few minutes and then I'm able to get back on for another 150 miles +/-, etc, etc, all day long.

This should put that "pain" into perspective so you know what should and shouldn't actually be a hurt or not just from sitting on a bike for a while.

 

I got the Ultimate brand seat with driver backrest, and finally got to take a ride today. No pain at all fir 40 minutes. Then I tried taking the backrest out on the way back and my back pain was severe after only 10 minutes. Stopped and reinstalled the backrest. No pain the rest of the way home.

My legs were cramping too but the kuryakyn longhorn highway pegs were lifesavers there.

 

For me handlebars that are just right height and distance wise. I lost 30 Lb. Exercise to build core strength etc. to be able to adopt and hold good posture. Posture when on the bike is real important for me, slouching is really bad and the typical Harley laid back posture in my mind puts a lot of pressure on the spine, with feet forward you can't use them to get some of the weight transferred to leg muscles and with a bump your spine takes the full jolt if you can't get your legs into play.. I wish my floor boards could go back a little more but I can make do.

there is a recommended triangle for ideal seating position?? http://cycle-ergo.com/

I have two fractured verts between the shoulder blades and a calcified C6 so the right bars did a lot along with posture and taking some weight on my legs.

 

Sorry to bring this thread back up but some great info, i recently have been riding my new RGS and i feel the bars are to low and the seat so so, have some lower back pain and i am in good shape. How much of a difference do the bars make?

 

The stock tuck and roll seat on my 2018 Slim was hurting my back after an hour or so. Back in Oct I bought a Mustang Standard Touring saddle with a removable backrest. Turns out the saddle by itself without the backrest solved my back pain issue. I keep the backrest in my saddle bags just in case, but so far so good,