My Utopia Backrest arrived this morning - not yet fitted but it's beautifully made.

Upside - cost £85.00.

Downside - £60.00 Import Duty and VAT!

I think it's worth it, though.

VAT is added to the price which is printed on the label - 21% here.

I guess Import Duty is also calculated by the cost of the goods.

Oops! I should have said €66.00 not £66.00

It's so confusing - $$$, £££ & €€€

Just looked at the paperwork:

Import Duty - €40.81
Admin - €25.00
Something I can't translate - €0.40

Backrest now fitted.
It's a lovely piece of kit but not quite as straightforward to fit as even the detailed but clear instructions would have one believe!

Fortunately, Ed (my partner) was able to apply a bit of muscle to get some of the holes to line up while I put the bolts in.

I suspect that the bum-stop may have been modified a bit as time's gone by - the holes I drilled appeared right in the corners of the plastic webbing so I has to chisel some of it away to make clearance for the nuts.

One is supposed to take off the seat but that was proving almost impossible so I gave up with that and did it with the seat in situ. I doubt it'd have made much difference, though.

The quality and finish of the item is first-rate and the covering and stitching match the original seat.

It remains only for me to spend time adjusting it to suit me.

I found the standard backrest really uncomfortable even when set back as far as it could be and especially when wearing my full length back protector.

The bottom of the protector rested on top of the butt rest resulting in the protector trying to exit from the top of my jacket making me feel as if I am hooked up on something or other.

I had thought of cutting a few inches off of the bottom of protector but that would have affected its integrity etc.

I decided to contact the UK Corbin agent to enquire about one of their standard seat / basic driver back rest packages only to find it would cost in the region of £600 so I put that one to bed straight away.

Luckily I came across the "Leroybeal web site" stock backrest modification and I decided to go for that.

I went to local blacksmith with the specs and got a quote.

They cut, drilled, bent and painted the two brackets up for me at a cost of £15 and I duly fitted them after spending another £4 or so for nuts, bolts and washers.

The result was excellent but after my first test ride I found that the back rest was a bit too high up my back and that the top edge of the backrest was angled a bit too far forward for me.

So I decided to make a modification to the modification, went home, drilled another hole in each of brackets and added spacers to first of all lower the rest and secondly to angle the rest back a little.

The net result is brilliant and I am very pleased indeed with the modification / low cost.

[b]

Ok Santa needs to put a utopia under my tree. I'm going to Book mark the site and talk to Santa's assistant that will of course bring up the Coal Discussion. I will retort with the new kitchen remodel. she will bring up 37 years of anguish living with a cheap bastard.I will come back to the Kitchen remodel with new appliances of her choosing. She will remind me that the Car needs new rubber. I will retort with the granite counter tops. Well it's coming out of your account she will say. Ok I'll say! That should do it! I have always been my own Santa any way.

I went to the Utopia site and the backrest looks beautiful. Then I hit the link that has instructions to install it. You have to cut a small slit in the saddle? No. Not going to happen on a bike I own. It's too bad I saw the post on bestbackrests.com sending that gentleman a unit that wasn't QC'd as that make doesn't require any surgery on the saddle. Still, they did give him a refund even after their standard 7 day return period. Might give them a try when I get my ride.

I think I owe you an avatar if you'd like one, for all of your help!