Rearsets

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Habilis
Posts: 13
Joined: 17 Mar 2013 15:16
Location: Cumbria
Location: North Cumbria

Rearsets

Post by Habilis »

77 sport , with std footrests ( further back than strada with linkage for gearchange )

Looking to fit rearsets , but the usual tarozzi always seemed like an afterthought to me , nice to ride with , but kickstarting problems and material strength plus price didn’t appeal .

Thought I could make a better set , so spent a while with cardboard and scissors roughing out positions but it didn’t look right .

I like the original footrests and the fact that they are adjustable with the toothed pivot .

after spending far too long trying to file the 32 20degree teeth on a piece of steel ,i thought I would Advertise for a set of footrests and cut off the toothed pivots and fabricate something to weld on the stubs .

Luckily I got offered a pair of strada footrest ( thank you , MarkB)
And they were in good condition , a fair bit longer than sport ones ,

So , I offered the left one up to the bike in a reversed position , wow , that’s exactly where I need , slowly depressed the kickstart and it cleared ! no rubber on , fitted the rubber and it just touched .
Removing the rubber I cut 15mm of the footrest and assisted the rubber back on with a mallet , well clear !

It is tight against the armour front pipe , I think just touching is a fairer description rather than tight , easy to sort with a little easing in the vice.

Hopes up, I looked to the gear change side and that footrest , reversed , was perfect .

I removed the linkage and the gear-lever , the gearchange clamp and gear lever Are same dia so I tacked welded the lever to the outside edge of the clamp and tried it , touch too long for my size 11 , so , removed the rubber and cut the end off , shortened the lever by 20mm and rewelded it .

It may be that a strada lever may fit without welding ?


Committed now , I needed to sort the rear brake lever

Do I make a complete new arrangement ? Or shorten the existing ?
I decided to shorten the lever drastically.

Background to this decision, my rear brake has always been very good , in fact too good and would lock easily and it took a conscious effort in an emergency To resist stamping too hard especially at low speeds .

I shortened the lever by 10cm I made the cut near the pivot at an angle so the lever would come out at an angle , welded up and tweaked the footpad out a touch with Stilsons .

Out to test . My bike ( like many) was a pig to engage neutral and my 2nd to 3rd change up needed to be slow and deliberate . So far gear-changing is much more positive and neutral is my new found friend ! The pattern is reversed and this may help with actual changing

Rear brake position is good and braking is still strong , it takes more effort but feels far better , as it was ,it felt like a hydraulic brake and panic stomps caused lockup’s , now it can still lock but has far more feel up to that point.


I still need to test the rear brake at sunny early morning speeds but in town and country roads it’s a big improvement despite its lack of leverage .

To me it looks like the footrests were meant to be reversed , I have not seen this before or heard of this being done , have I missed something ?
( I am not a big fan of the internet or social media so it may be quite normal )

Access to swing arm greaser is unobstructed and no lifting of footrests plus it uses Morini parts.

Update :

Although adequate in the town , when ridden as it should be the amount of force required to use the rear brake when multiple bends are encountered causes the body to tense and spoils the flow , so, reluctantly I had to rethink the rear brake arrangement

I welded a boss on the top of footrest hanger towards the rubber and made a new lever incorporating the original foot pedal .
Space is tight but whole thing comes off with the footrest with one bolt . same pivot and cable just shortened the inner

Now the leverage is almost the same as original , just a touch less mechanical advantage which works out well.

Next issue is rear brake stop light switch ... ( I will make do with the front one for now)
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George 350
Posts: 450
Joined: 16 Jun 2007 09:43
Location: Northampton

Re: Rearsets

Post by George 350 »

Very well done, and a good effort. So obvious too.
However, your kickstart lever is one of the NLM ones that was made to not require the infamous spacer block. If you had the original I fear the same issues as Tarozzi might rear their head, which maybe why no one has done it, also not too many owners have welding kit available and that is why the simpler 'bolt on' of Tarozzi etc. seem to be preferred.
Will be interesting to see how comfortable they are after 200 miles in the saddle!
George
350 sport 1978, 350 Strada 1978
650 Norton 1967, 650 Kawasaki 1977 and 650 Enfield 2019
Habilis
Posts: 13
Joined: 17 Mar 2013 15:16
Location: Cumbria
Location: North Cumbria

Re: Rearsets

Post by Habilis »

Ahh.. My kickstart isn’t NLM , I was looking after a 500 that was for sale here and that had a good looking kickstart fitted, i presume that is an NLM one?
I liked the look, so made one like it , I think the one on the 500 was brass that was chrome plated ? It could just have been
Heavily plated with copper I didn’t want to scratch to find out .

Anyway mine was a lump of stainless steel I chain drilled out roughly then hacksawed and filed to shape , the hardest bit ( pun intended) was the holes ,it took longer to put them in than cut and file to shape , the stainless, work hardened at every opportunity .

It is heavy .

making pictures small enough to upload is a challenge , any suggestions very welcome.


I will refit the original alloy one and see how it fits
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George 350
Posts: 450
Joined: 16 Jun 2007 09:43
Location: Northampton

Re: Rearsets

Post by George 350 »

Hi. I cut mine from 30mm thick HE30 aluminium sheet. A lot easier to cut and file than stainless steel!
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. Works as well as yours does too. The original shown proved 100% reliable until it and the knuckle assy it fixes to disappeared while on a motorway in Spain. As a result I had to make a 2nd one.
George
350 sport 1978, 350 Strada 1978
650 Norton 1967, 650 Kawasaki 1977 and 650 Enfield 2019
Habilis
Posts: 13
Joined: 17 Mar 2013 15:16
Location: Cumbria
Location: North Cumbria

Re: Rearsets

Post by Habilis »

Lovely , very neat. Yes the original ( I think) ally kickstart hits the rubber, 25mm off would probably see it pass and still be enough of a perch .

It’s seems obvious to be able to rotate the foot pegs back for sporty days and track
It looks like thats what was intended but not completed in the design stage.

Hope it helps somebody.
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