Lou Wambsganss
Elite Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2013
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- 279
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- Location
- United States, Dallas, TX
A few weeks ago, I fitted Buell drop footpegs to my NC, to get some extra leg room. http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-mods/5670-buell-footpeg-mod.html I am happy with the mod. The brake pedal has plenty of adjustment range to move down to match the drop and does not interfere with the pegs.
However, the shift lever could not go low enough for me to be completely comfortable. The pushrod starts running out of length, and the shifter actually contacts the Buell footpeg. Rather than cut and weld on the cheesy steel stock shifter, I figured I would splurge and get a nice SW Motech machined aluminum shift lever. With discounts and a few member points at Twisted Throttle, the total was about $150 out the door.
I was hoping that this SW Motech unit would have enough adjustment to satisfy me, but it did not. Actually, all other thing staying equal, the SW Motech shifter places the toe peg a little higher than the stock shifter, at an equivalent pushrod length, due to where the pushrod mounting hole is placed. However, I liked the SW Motech shifter, so I kept it and modded it to fit me. I will say that it does have adjustable length (pivot to toe peg). You can make it about 3/4" longer or shorter than the stock toe peg, plus it is hinged to avoid breaking in a fallover.
A word of caution here: I experimented with rotating the engine-side shift lever to the next spline on the shift shaft to try and raise the shift point. I would advise against doing this. The relative motion of the engine side and foot side shift levers gets weird and sinusoidal due to uneven lever arm lengths. The engine side shift lever needs to stay basically straight vertical to keep things working properly, and to keep the up and down shift throws equal. Even just one spline over was enough that it felt weird to me. The pull to shift up became noticeably longer as the engine shift lever approached horizontal.
My big necessity was to get the toe peg lower. My first thought was to just grind a little off of the locating boss on the pack of the toe peg and hang it down below the shift lever. However, that would make the peg hinge up-down, which is not conducive to solid shifting. I would have to keep the peg horizontal, and relocate it down.
I found a piece of aircraft aluminum formed section that was pre-formed to 90 degrees and pre-heat treated, IE it was ready to go. I just needed to cut and drill it to fit my needs. If I had to guess, I would say it was probably 7075-T6 aluminum, between 0.063" to 0.080" thick. I only used a small portion of the return flange as a stiffener flange. I cut it so that it would be shorter than the thickness of the base of the toe peg, thus avoiding interference with my foot. I ground down the locating boss so that it would fit into a 7/32" drilled hole on the relocation angle and prevent the toe peg form rotating around the attach fastener.
I moved the toe peg down about 1.75". This may seem like a lot, but at its lowest adjustment, it was still too high before. Honestly, now that I've ridden it like this a little bit, I will probably adjust the linkage back up about 0.25" to be perfect. Also, I found that just the aluminum relocation angle had a little too much flex/twist, so I added a titanium strap behind it, and it is very solid now. Again, not absolutely sure, but it is probably 6Al-4V Ti, about 0.032" thick. The additional weight is negligible.
I addition to relocating the toe peg, I found that there was a little too much in-and-out play about the shifter pivot shaft. I cut a piece of bulk gasket material into a washer (0.040" thick) and it is perfect. It still has a few thousandths pf play to account for expansion and free movement, but not enough that it feels sloppy.
Overall, I am happy with this mod. Shifts now feel more precise than stock. The toe peg is located to match my drop footpegs. It's just another piece of customization that is unique to my bike that makes it more comfortable for me. Plus it's completely reversible. The SW Motech toe peg can go back up to its intended position on the SW Motech shifter, or the stock Honda shifter can even be reinstalled if desired.
However, the shift lever could not go low enough for me to be completely comfortable. The pushrod starts running out of length, and the shifter actually contacts the Buell footpeg. Rather than cut and weld on the cheesy steel stock shifter, I figured I would splurge and get a nice SW Motech machined aluminum shift lever. With discounts and a few member points at Twisted Throttle, the total was about $150 out the door.
I was hoping that this SW Motech unit would have enough adjustment to satisfy me, but it did not. Actually, all other thing staying equal, the SW Motech shifter places the toe peg a little higher than the stock shifter, at an equivalent pushrod length, due to where the pushrod mounting hole is placed. However, I liked the SW Motech shifter, so I kept it and modded it to fit me. I will say that it does have adjustable length (pivot to toe peg). You can make it about 3/4" longer or shorter than the stock toe peg, plus it is hinged to avoid breaking in a fallover.
A word of caution here: I experimented with rotating the engine-side shift lever to the next spline on the shift shaft to try and raise the shift point. I would advise against doing this. The relative motion of the engine side and foot side shift levers gets weird and sinusoidal due to uneven lever arm lengths. The engine side shift lever needs to stay basically straight vertical to keep things working properly, and to keep the up and down shift throws equal. Even just one spline over was enough that it felt weird to me. The pull to shift up became noticeably longer as the engine shift lever approached horizontal.
My big necessity was to get the toe peg lower. My first thought was to just grind a little off of the locating boss on the pack of the toe peg and hang it down below the shift lever. However, that would make the peg hinge up-down, which is not conducive to solid shifting. I would have to keep the peg horizontal, and relocate it down.
I found a piece of aircraft aluminum formed section that was pre-formed to 90 degrees and pre-heat treated, IE it was ready to go. I just needed to cut and drill it to fit my needs. If I had to guess, I would say it was probably 7075-T6 aluminum, between 0.063" to 0.080" thick. I only used a small portion of the return flange as a stiffener flange. I cut it so that it would be shorter than the thickness of the base of the toe peg, thus avoiding interference with my foot. I ground down the locating boss so that it would fit into a 7/32" drilled hole on the relocation angle and prevent the toe peg form rotating around the attach fastener.
I moved the toe peg down about 1.75". This may seem like a lot, but at its lowest adjustment, it was still too high before. Honestly, now that I've ridden it like this a little bit, I will probably adjust the linkage back up about 0.25" to be perfect. Also, I found that just the aluminum relocation angle had a little too much flex/twist, so I added a titanium strap behind it, and it is very solid now. Again, not absolutely sure, but it is probably 6Al-4V Ti, about 0.032" thick. The additional weight is negligible.
I addition to relocating the toe peg, I found that there was a little too much in-and-out play about the shifter pivot shaft. I cut a piece of bulk gasket material into a washer (0.040" thick) and it is perfect. It still has a few thousandths pf play to account for expansion and free movement, but not enough that it feels sloppy.
Overall, I am happy with this mod. Shifts now feel more precise than stock. The toe peg is located to match my drop footpegs. It's just another piece of customization that is unique to my bike that makes it more comfortable for me. Plus it's completely reversible. The SW Motech toe peg can go back up to its intended position on the SW Motech shifter, or the stock Honda shifter can even be reinstalled if desired.
