my (her) arm rests

Finally got around to making some arm rests for my wife. I've been thinking of making a set for awhile now. These arm rests cost me around $50 to make. The actual arm pads i found thru classified ads, came from an office chair i paid $20 for. The support arms are 5/8" solid steel rod and cost $15. I had the small pieces of 5/8" I.D. "receiving" pipe laying around the shop.
The 1/4" x 1 1/4" flatbar came from a neighbour. It took about three evenings to make these. Most of the time was spent scratching our heads on making it work! Our shop is equipped with a 20 ton press so making the bends was relatively easy, however bending the 90 degree angles was a little stressful because i just cold bent it and was afraid it would snap and launch to the moon! The flatbar that holds the arms to the bike was mounted under the topbox mount but above the small "C" channel that came with the topbox to prevent bike scratches. I like the idea that the arms are mounted in a way that it isnt touching the bike anywhere so they can be totally removed without any scratches or holes!








Making the arms swing up was the challenging part. It took three of us standing in silence and staring for what seemed like hours to finally come up with a plan. Seemed like we came up with a dozen ideas until the "light" finally came on and the method we used was rediculously simple!



I just held the arm where it had to be when level and drilled straight thru then flipped the arm up and drilled from the opposite side straight thru. Then removed the material between the 1/4" holes, leaving opposite elongated holes.



the arms are removable in seconds using these 1/4" SS quick connects.



view from above. I made the arms to swing up and have a little clearance to the top box so it could be opened with the arms up.



The actual arm rests came from an office chair i finally found thru local online classifieds. It was a good find, the guy specialized in used office furniture and had lots of styles to pick from.




BTW not sure about the tank bag seen in the pics! it was on sale for $37 at Canadian Tire. Put it on last night but not sure what to think of the look!! opinions?

Hey Guy,

I don't usually comment on what people manufacture for their scooters, but I must in this case. Sorry...I just need to say something to you.

They look good but the problem is when you hit a bump or a pot hole and your wife needs make a an adjustment and puts all her weight down on them. An arm rest collapse at any speed, could cause your wife to fall off and you to lose control over your scooter. Bad...Very Bad. Please rethink your design.

Dennisb how is it going to collapse? I can literally stand on them, so i doubt my wifes 5 lb arms will break a 5/8" solid steel rod and cause a catastrophic failure! Are you a little annoyed that this is such a simple but very effective design and wont cause paint damage on the bike like your design  . They swing up without twisting knobs etc. so accessing under the seat is unobstructed and instant, unlike your design. I didnt care for the look of your actual armpads, they appear homemade. Plus i saved $250 by not ordering yours. My design concerns your safety conscious but you dont show concerns sending someone the "perfect connector" to disengage their sidestand safety switch, bad, very bad!

Good Luck!

Dennisb you can go ahead and use my design for your next round of new and improved armrests. 

Hotwings,
 
You did ask for opinions.
Dennis gave you his.
His concern was for safety.
You could have been a little nicer.
Instead of being defensive you could have asked him to farther elaborate where he thought the weak points were and why. Constructive criticism can only improve a product.
 
IMHO, (since once again you did ask for opinions) and I'm not an engineer, the weak point MAY BE the pins themselves. Your pictures don't show that you use anything to hold the pins in place.
Tubing is inherently weaker than solid also.
 
Constructive Criticism:
For your next version I invite you to consider using square tubing for your receiving piece across the back and solid square (similar to what is used for iron fences) metal for your arms. You can still coat the metal in whatever you like for  aesthetics. You can still have your two positions and your pin, but you have no inherent rotation if the pin breaks.
 

FWIW i asked for opinions on the tank bag. 
I cant see how my wifes "kermit the frog" arms are gonna shear off a 1/4" stainless steel pin! The pins are quick connect and cannot just fall out. The 20 ton shop press was at its limits bending the rods! Using the square tubing is a poor design idea because swinging the arm up would be a chore!

The act of posting is, by default, a tacet invitation for comment, even if that wasn't your intention.

Your tank bag is very neat. Your arm rests are pig ugly! But that's just my taste. They also look rather wide.

On the practical, I wonder what would happen if you dropped your bike at speed with someone on the back? I see two scenarios straight away; the bar bends, or it snaps, either one potentially giving rise further injuries to the passenger.

I challenge you to take a picture with you standing on them:lol:  

Joking apart, as long as they suit you and your missus and you think that they would not jeopardise your safety then what do you care what people think. I made modifications to the left footrests of my other 2 motorbikes so that my wife could rest her foot on them because of limitations to her bending at the knee from a previous motorcycle accident, did not need to do it on the SW. Although you have to accept criticisms from others, good or bad. When I first took my wife for a ride on the SW she complained that the GIVI backrest was hurting her back. I immediately was thinking of how I can modify it when after the second ride she noticed that it was now OK and asked me if I did do something to it, when I answered that I did not she then realised that she was wearing a different bra and that was the problem. The back rest was putting pressure exactly on the bra strap and buckle   

Colin B wrote:

Your tank bag is very neat. Your arm rests are pig ugly!  But that's just my taste. They also look rather 

 OUCH! I was thinkin the other way around. The bag was a** ugly and the arms were too beautiful to behold:lol: .
I guess whats ultimately important is that the wife really likes the arm rests. They are effective and comfortable. If shes happy im happy! 

Just my 5 cents worth -
In the time I've been on this forum, I've always found Dennis to have some good ideas, make some good products, and give advice freely. I don't think I've ever heard him criticise in a nasty way, so why should people direct nasty, sarcastic comments to him - or any other member, for that matter.
During the time he was 'away', the forum was in some respects a poorer place.

FWIW I bought one of his Perfect Connectors to fit lights to the top box - worked perfect, and it connected! If someone wants to buy one to disable the sidestand 'kill switch', surely that's their choice. Dennis doesn't hold a gun to anyone's head - he makes the product, you use it as you see fit.

When will we get back to being a friendly group of like-minded riders, and stop bitching at the slightest criticism. IIRC, that's why Waspie left - threads becoming negative and sarcastic, comments becoming personal. No need!
As I say, just my 5 cents worth.
End of rant!

Graham

Like they say -" dont go to war if you dont like getting shot at"

hotwings wrote:

FWIW i asked for opinions on the tank bag. 
I cant see how my wifes "kermit the frog" arms are gonna shear off a 1/4" stainless steel pin! The pins are quick connect and cannot just fall out. The 20 ton shop press was at its limits bending the rods! Using the square tubing is a poor design idea because swinging the arm up would be a chore!

 
 When I decided to get freeway pegs installed on my Silverwing (See my album) the design for the mounting to the frame (A Kuryakyn product) was a clamp style. Rather than welding the clamp to position, the mechanic suggested a pin system much like yours. He said that if the bike went down, it was better for the pin to give way and tuck up then steadfastly maintain position and bend the frame.
 
In your situation if the bike goes down and the pin snaps, the arm rest will rotate upward or downward, possibly pinning or snapping your wife's "kermit the frog arm". If the bike goes down, her body being between those two armrests will give her something to push against in an effort to not scrape the ground. The armrest rotating either way will leave her exposed.
 
Lastly, when shifting position on a bike, or even getting on or off the bike, its typical to put your weight on whatever you need to, to steady yourself. Its not your wife's 5lb arm that is the problem but the weight of her entire frame that could be placed on a single arm rest.
 
Again, not being an engineer, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "quick connect"
Looking at the pin in your pictures, it appears to have holes at the end where a cotter pin might go.  I didn't see any of these in the picture:

You are correct that a square tube will not allow you to rotate the armrests. That's what I was after when I suggested it. Yes you would have to remove the armrest and rotate it and put in back in position, but doing so means the pin is only doing the work of stopping the armrest for sliding out, and the shape is doing the rest of the work.
 
If you feel like you want to keep the current system, they make spring loaded pins as well that you could weld to the existing unit in the same place as the removable ones are now. then you pull up out of the hole, rotate, and it will snap back into the next hole it finds. This way you never lose the pins.
 
Please take all comments, (mine and everyone else's) in the spirit intended.
Hopefully you see this as a dialog, not a war.
 
Dan

hotwings wrote:

The pins are quick connect and cannot just fall out.

 

dspevack wrote:

 
Again, not being an engineer, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "quick connect"

From the pictures I would think the quick release pin is similar in design to ...... http://www.jwwinco.com/products/section10/rp200/index.html ... where the pin is held in the hole by one or two spring loaded balls

BERN these are similar to the pins i used. The link shows a nice chart and i see a 1/4" pin would take 8200 lbs to sheer it off. Everyone above is worried about the pin sheering with a shift of my wifes 142 lb body. In theory one could "safely" hang 10 Silver Wings each including a 200 lb rider off one of my arm rests before the pin sheers!........just sayin.....peace to all:lol:

I really can't comment on the bag as the foto's are centered on the ammunition. Maybe if you could take a better range of photos showing your bag, then I could give an opinion on it.

KurtPerthWA wrote:

Maybe if you could take a better range of photos showing your bag, then I could give an opinion on it.

 Dont think that kind of picture is acceptable. 

Hotwings, I just noticed in your first picture that your bike has a logo "FSC600" on the nose. Is that standard or something you added (if so, details please).

Y

Colin B wrote:

Hotwings, I just noticed in your first picture that your bike has a logo "FSC600" on the nose. Is that standard or something you added (if so, details please).

Its something i added last winter while bored. I posted the details here at the time. I went to the local sign shop and had it made for around $5 for 2. I got it in metallic silver to contrast with the black. Not sure what the font was, the sign shop had a thousand choices and i think i picked the basic font. Im not near the bike right now but im guessing its around 1" to 1 1/4" high. I thought it was a nice add on but then again i thought the arm rests were too. 

It IS a nice add on ... I'm still not sure about the arm rests though.  

hotwings wrote:

BERN these are similar to the pins i used. The link shows a nice chart and i see a 1/4" pin would take 8200 lbs to sheer it off. Everyone above is worried about the pin sheering with a shift of my wifes 142 lb body. In theory one could "safely" hang 10 Silver Wings each including a 200 lb rider off one of my arm rests before the pin sheers!........just sayin.....peace to all:lol:

Remember the mechanical advantages of a lever arm.  8200 lbs isn't that much when pushing on the end of an arm attached to it. Not trying to pick at you, I do think you did nice looking work and it doesn't look bad at all. Just thinking safety for you.

good job hotwings, I think you provided for the #1 in your life, if she loves her arm rests, who cares what anyone else thinks about them, opinion asked for or not. Happy wife, Happy life! just dont try and sell them