Utah Trikes Tip - Making a head rest for your trike

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Sitemap Making a head rest for your trike
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While the TerraTrike seats are extremely comfortable and adjustable, people still ask if there is a headrest available. I've never really felt like I needed one personally, I've recently adjusted my seat angle to lay back further and a little more support would be nice on the longer rides. WizWheelz does not make a headrest, so I decided to make one. I don't think that this headrest will be a one-size-fits-all type of thing, since the height and angle will really depend on your shoulder/head height, and the angle of the seat. In other words, a custom fit is in order.

I chose to use 1-1/2" black ABS pipe for the main side pieces, although you could also use PVC. The main side pieces are really the only tricky pieces to cut. ABS tends to be a little tricky to cut because it starts to melt. I was able to make the best cuts using a table saw.

I cut the pipe in half, but left about 2 inches at the end of whole pipe. With two of these pipes you can strap them to the seat. The top of the cut pipe will actually hook around the top of the seat very nicely. I used two straps to keep the side supports on.

Once the side supports are on you can set up the actual headrest portion of this project. Depending on the angle of your seat you can use either straight couplers or angled couplers. in my case, I used a 22.5° coupler. I suggest not gluing anything together until it is all assembled.

To build the headrest I used a "water noodle" piece of foam cut to the width of the seat, and a piece of 1/2" pvc pipe.

You may want to experiment with the height of the headrest by trying some different straight lengths of pipe. I drilled a 1/2" hole about 2" down from the top of two short pipe pieces. I started with 8" pipes. I stuck the 1/2" PVC pipe with the noodle through the two ABS pipes. I adjusted the length of the ABS pipes so the headrest was right above my neck. Once I got the height adjusted properly I glued the pipes together.

To keep the top together you could use a strap, but I used one of our seat bags. I used straps to build the back of the seat extension.

If you've ever wanted a headrest on your TerraTrike, and are a little handy, this hoepfully will give you some idea.

Total parts:
24" - 1-1/2" ABS Pipe
2 - 1-1/2" ABS Coupler (straight or angled)
18" - 1/2" PVC pipe
16" - Water noodle foam (or pipe insulation)
1 - Seat bag/headrest cover
8 - straps
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