Another dumb question. My son is 10yrs old and rides with me frequently, probably around 3k a year, on some long weekend camping trips. I notice the Oem tail rack for the factory topcase setup. Did you have the topcase originally and built the maple farkles setup on it for the specific LD purposes? My boy prefers a backrest, which the GT offers outta the topcase and the little pad on there. Well more like my ex wife demands a backrest for him, and i conquer as well lol.. Sorry for all the late night questions. I'll watch the video you have posted
Sean
So I've never found the RT suitable for a hard top case since, in my opinion, it didn't leave any space for the passenger (for me, anyhow, when sitting on the rear seat of an RT that had one at a dealership), plus, it's way too expensive and an outrage that BMW doesn't even offer it in any color that would match the bike or even in generic black. The setup I have is really adjustable, fore and aft, giving me the option to have the "backrest" closer to me for LD riding, when I have the water jug attached, or further to the rear when I need to carry a passenger (sidenote- I hate carrying passengers and only really did so when working at Iron Man events and the marathon here in Nashville).
It's probably not noticeable, but the backrest does have a slight rearward bend so that it feels better for a rear-seat passenger. BUT, when I added a small angle bracket to help hold the water jug, well, that would mean it would have to be removed anytime you needed to use it as a backrest, but these mods were done simply and it's just a couple of small nuts/bolts that need be removed. The D-rings that the tarp straps are attached to shouldn't pose any comfort issue, but again, they can be removed as well.
The nice thing about the way I have it setup is that I can have the backrest on while still being able to use one (or both) of my Sport 3 bags; I created a base plate that the backrest attaches to that is in the general outline of the luggage rack to make this possible.