Back braces

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jim oneill

triplex
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
223
Reaction score
7
Location
Northern NJ
Enjoy 250 mile Sunday rides however after about 175 miles my back starts to ache. Can anyone recommend a good non cumbersome back brace?

 
Can't help with the brace. Have you considered if a more upright sitting position would help? If so, handlebar risers may be a better long-term solution.

There are several varieties of bar risers. Click here to see search results.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have the same issue at times. The "Back-A-Line" works well for me. Riding position is important but not a cure all for those of us with spinal problems.

 
Enjoy 250 mile Sunday rides however after about 175 miles my back starts to ache. Can anyone recommend a good non cumbersome back brace?
I guess the question here is, which part of your back starts to ache? upper or lower?. I have had 3 back surgeries, the last being a fusion of the L3 & L4 vertebrae this past January. I guess I'm lucky, because I put 96k+ miles on my FJR without any lower back pain from riding. Actually my back feels better after riding for 8 hours, than it does after sitting at work for the same 8 hours. Good luck, and I hope you find some relief.

 
You might find that starting some light exercise routine to strengthen your core muscles and increase flexibility are a better solution than relying on a brace. Try a search for "exercises for motorcycle riding" Should find articles by Motorcycle Larry, Sound Rider and others. Pick and choose what works best for you. I work on my core muscles every other day for about 30 minutes and it makes a big difference.

 
I ride with the shield all the way down. The oncoming air supports my torso more...so lean is not an issue. I relax my grip when I see that I am doing that, as well as my shoulders and arms.

I have no risers, and took them off my Gen 1.

 
My spine is trashed. I think I did it early in life playing football. I know this condition is true because I happen work in a medical imaging business where we image ourselves often as a course of testing the equipment, with no negative repercussion to ourselves, or expense.

I have no discs remaining in the Sacrum-thru-L3 spaces, as they have all previously ruptured, and dessicated (on their own without surgery). I was lucky to have no ruptures that squirted out too much laterally onto the spinal chord, causing impinged nerves and more than a small amount of sciatica. There is also a lot of bone degeneration, but I have no idea why that happened.

I say all of the above, not as an appeal for group pity, but because I want to relay that have very little, if any, back pain when riding. In fact, most of the time when my back isn't feeling all that good, a few Vitamin I (Ibuprofens) and a good long, all-day ride is just the ticket to get it feeling better. I have occasionally had issues further up in the cervical area, but that is more acute, feels muscular, and probably due to not exercising enough, rather that any physiological decay.

While others may poo-poo the idea, I think the biggest difference for me was when I learned to ride bikes in the MYRP. Do not be confused here: I have not mastered it fully to this day. It is always a "work in progress" to feel the weight of your torso on your hands, and then transfer that weight onto your legs, torso and into your feet. It is totally non-intuitive. But it is so worth it. Practice makes perfect, and is also perfectly fun

Keep working on your riding position. Get your bike ergos adjusted to your own physique. Do not be dissuaded by the ignoramus butt-heads that will tell you that you are just a wimp for not riding the bike the way it was delivered from the factory, with ergonomics adjusted for some little Japanese 4' 12" guy, just because they happen to be able to put up with that. They must be very happy, because, as we all know, ignorance is bliss.

Riding is about enjoyment, more than anything else. Don't let anyone else's need to self promote cause you to lose any small part of that enjoyment. One day, if you keep it up, it will all click, and you'll be comfortable. And then you will be so glad that you stuck with it.

The down side is that you may not want to do anything else with your life from then on. Sorry. But welcome to the enigma.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Check out motorcycle ergonomics simulator

If you've ridden other motorcycles without such discomfort, it may be you could make some adjustments to the bike: seat height, seat, bar risers/pull-back, highway pegs etc, and/or adjust your riding posture/fitness.

I was getting some tension in my upper back until I installed risers

 
Top