I recently bought a driver's backrest from Utopia Products Inc. and installed it on my Royal Star. I have the factory seat, and the installation took about 10 minutes, even stopping for pictures! The directions included are the same ones that are on their webpage. If you have a drill with a 9/32" or 5/16" bit and a 7/16" wrench, you can do it yourself, too. Here's how I installed mine:

I picked up the backrest at Sanders Yamaha and brought it home. That cargo net sure comes in handy!

After opening the box, I needed some place to spread things out. If your garage is like mine, there's too much clutter on all the horizontal surfaces.

I spread all the pieces/parts out on the tonneau cover of my trusty old pickup truck! Everything was there. (Actually, I checked that when I picked up the package!) The instructions said to push out the two plastic rivets that hold the plastic shroud to the frame.

This is before I started. The plastic rivets are still in place. They push out easily - they're actually expansion plugs. If you push the center part down into the frame, the whole "rivet" will pop out of its hole. Now we're at the point of no return - we start drilling.

The hole on the right is done - notice the white fender paint visible through it. I'm drilling the other hole. The instructions said to use a 9/32" bit and if the holes didn't line up perfectly to use a 5/16" bit. I figured I'd split the difference and use a 19/64" bit the first time. Everything lined right up.

The mounting bracket for the backrest goes right down the front of the pillion pad and under the seat frame. It didn't look like it was going to fit, but it went right in! The two bolts visible on the pillion come with the kit.

The bracket holes are threaded so you don't have to worry about dropping your nuts! A 7/16" socket makes things go together faster. The Top Bar, attached to the backrest, is attached to the bracket with the bolt that will act as a pivot when you sit on the bike. The backrest also has a removable storage pouch

with a strap that I noticed was around the Top Bar. Hmm, I ought to take that off in case I want to take the pouch off. It's also held on with Velcro (tm).

Now that the pouch is off, it's a good time to refer to the directions, which say that you should leave the strap around the bar. *sigh*

The strap is back around the bar, and I've drawn the strap up snug. The excess stores in the pouch. Someone could use the pouch for a purse if they wanted to. This is a pretty good shot of the pivot bolt of the backrest and the fore/aft and up/down adjustment. The two allen head bolts just below the pivot are where you adjust the height. You can see a third hole below them, and there are more holes on the other half of the bar. This is the factory setup. I ended up lowering mine one notch. The larger allen head bolt standing upright is the fore/aft adjustment. It controls how far back the backrest sits. You need a 7/16 wrench to snug the locking nut visible underneath.

Here's the backrest all in place, before I put the seat back on. The bracket is surprisingly strong and steady. All that's left to do is reinstall the seat

and after wiping that dust off the seat, adjust it up to where you want it.

I think I'm done fine-tuning just exactly where I want the backrest to be. I've got about 140 miles on the backrest as of this writing, and am happy with it. I'd like to have gone further, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. I have noticed that I don't slouch with the backrest, and that's why I wanted to try one. It won't move you forward if you're thinking about a backrest instead of handlebar risers, at least not very comfortably. It will give you more comfort while riding.