I picked up a quick detach backrest a few weeks ago and have only used it twice. The first time I scratched the crap out of my fender second time was last night and again left a good scratch in my fender.

It seem the backrest is sprung so that the front 2 tabs are turned in making me use a ton force to get the thing on and scratching the fender.

Anyone have any tips to fix this? What am I doing wrong?

I have the front mount so the chrome part of it is farther out, is that swapped? Seems like it shouldn't be this tough

 

Mine doesn't even touch my fender.

You'll probably get better advice if you post some pics.

 

If the brackets are on correctly, your backrest shouold not contact the fender at all. I believe the chrome should be in closer to the fender and the black grooves should be on the outside.

 

You are going to have to disassemble the backrest and realign everything. After the backrest is disassembled, install the side plates onto the bike first, then slide the bar into the plates and install the screws. Tighten everything up and you should be good. What probably happened was it was assembled first and then installed onto the bike.

 

agree with the loosen and then tighten once mounted on the bike. also the steel spacers go next to the fender strut with the grooved bushings out.

my backrest actually has a slight spring outward to it. i have to push the "legs" together slightly for them to slide into the bushings.

 

The backrest only hits the fender when it comes out of the mounts springing back, mostly because I have a bunch of force on it trying to get it to move and then slipping out hitting the fender.

I initially assembled it off the bike then had issues and took it apart and put it back together on the bike as suggested when I got it. Still super tight. I'll try it again I guess.

 

I had to bend mine apart to make it go in more easily. Good now.