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No doubt you can make your legs more comfortable by doing some of the above things, but NONE of that will address your upper body pain. It's the bars!!!!!!!!!
Bars, seat, and BACKREST! You've got to go with a seat that will allow for a backrest. Once you have it, you will think you died and went directly to Hog Heaven. Trust me on this one. I used to have similar problems back on my softie. I went to the Corbin with riders backrest, changed bars, and I'm a new man. Mustang, C&C, even the MoCo has backrests. Find the one that works for you, and you'll never, ever be without it.
I get the pain also and I replaced the seat, the bars, added a rider back rest, I would love to tell you a true cure...for me there is none. I have arthritis at the base of the neck not bad but when sitting in a car the same result is there and tension is the biggest culprit. when I sit and look straight ahead for long periods of time on the bike/cage my neck stiffens . The cure for me is exercise as I am moving down the highway, just basically looking around more helps tremendously, or just being a bobble head for a few tenths of a mile. When I am on side roads I have little to no problem, because I am enjoying the scenery/view and looking around for the unknowns. As we get older this is very common to have arthritis at the base of the neck (at least this is what my Doc says). However, I do not regret any changes I have made to my bike they were all for the better in my opinion. Ride safe.
Same here Happens in the Car ,Truck ,Jeep ,Bike, Dinner Table. I have the same neck problems as you . Do the same things you do to help control the pain. I also wear a neck brace at night in my house sleep with it some times. Helps a lot.
Be a Man - Take up Yoga or Ti Chi. Seriously, together with losing weight it has worked for me. A number of years ago I thought I would have to give up riding. Now, I ride with the stock seat on my 03 EG and no back rest. I have a lower back problem but both disciplines strengthen all (well almost all) the muscles that have weakened over the years.
Im 6'11" on an 08 Street Glide I had the same problem right behind my shoulder blades and the base of my neck...What I did was put on 13" apes to get my arms up a little. Then I had the stock seat redone...I had a local guy tear the seat down to the pan, we cut out the slot for the backrest and added fiberglass to cover the existing hole, then replaced the foam putting the "hump" where I wanted it, and added a gel pack...you can try it on for size at this point and adjust as needed then recover it with your choice of material...I used gator and ostrich. One thing which also helped me was getting back in the gym....push-ups, bench press-decline and incline....and relax, some of it may be caused by tention of holding the bars to tight. As for leg room, I got some brackets from a company in Indiana (cant remember the name right now) which moved the boards forward a couple of inches. Good to go now.
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