Lower Rider Pegs

[todehnal]

It looks like there are 2 options for getting a bit more leg room. One is to buy the aftermarket lowering kit that Suburban Machinery offers. The other is to trade out parts from an R1150GS parts. The total investment is about the same, although the GS parts appear to require a bit more work, but seem to offer a bit more drop. Anyone have any experience with these that could make a recommendation??

Tom

[MarkShelley]

Sell it and buy the GS. Better ergos to start with.

[todehnal]

Yeah, but I really enjoy what I have, in every way, including appearance, but I would just like my pegs to be a bit lower. The seat height is perfect for my leg length. This bike has just been absolutely trouble free, and I don't want to buy someone else's troubles. I test rode a new GS, and for my riding style, my old R1150R is still my favorite. Oh, it had a lot more romp, but it sat a lot taller, and seemed pipey to me. I just want my old, comfortable riding, naked beemer, with a bit more leg room. So, I am back to my original question. Tom

[cbmwgs]

Try a search. I tried the lowering kit and found it wanting. I installed the gs parts. Easy job.
I replaced the foot peg and control with GS parts. Bike is much more comfortable with this change.

Just replace the side plate and associated parts from a GS for both the brake and shifter side.

Quote:
the attached information from Mark Johnson explains the process:


The swap wasn't totally trouble free, there's a couple of small "situations" that I haven't totally cured yet, but just because I haven't had the time to fiddle with them, nothing crucial or show stopping at all. After having been thru it, I would unhesitatingly do it again for the comfort factor.

Pretty much a bolt-on - the actual swap was pretty easy, even including swapping the shift lever that comes off the transmission. Everything bolts right on. The only real clue there's something not totally stock is the GS rear brake lever because the brackets look
very similar to the R parts and are, after all, BMW pieces.

beemerboneyard told me about and supplied me with a longer rear brake master cylinder pushrod.

He advised keeping the existing rear master cyl as it's larger diameter than the GS mc, and that way I didn't even have to disconnect any brake lines, I just unbolted the R mc from the stock bracket and bolted it onto the GS bracket leaving the lines hooked up. Did have to "massage" them a little - basically the stock line comes down vertically straight then makes a 90 degree bend toward the rear - I had to hand bend that 90 out of it - very carefully! - and make it a little more into an arc and do about the same where the line turns down to hook up to the mc in the stock position cuz the GS bracket places the mc in a little different angle. If you want things to look "neat" you could probly use a GS rear brake line. I didn't want to bother with bleeding the rear brakes at the time, not enough time, so did it this way.

Other than that, the foot lever on the center stand has to be massaged to the rear and to the outside when it's in the up position to clear the GS footpeg bracket. Only thing is, you can't reposition it too much to the rear or it angles the stand too much forward when the bike is on the stand. Right now, my center stand doesn't fold up quite all the way, but isn't really a problem - that foot lever does rest against the rear of the GS footpeg bracket. Can't use a GS center stand cuz it's a couple inches or more taller and, I would think, that would make getting the bike up on the stand quite a job. Also the foot lever is a little awkward to get to, I just got used to how to position my foot to get ahold of it. Some day I'm going to correct that situation - might have to do a little cutting & rewelding, I haven't had time to give it much thought yet. As far as I'm concerned, a minor inconvenience that I'm more than willing to put up with to have the GS footpeg position. I'm sure I can come up with a solution, just haven't had the time.

The side stand is also a little awkward to get to but, again, not that big of a deal. I ended up massaging the loop toward the rear some. Again, maybe a short peg tack welded or somehow otherwise fastened onto the loop and going to the rear a couple inches or something like that would easily solve that problem.

The vent hoses that fit behind the stock R right footpeg bracket don't fit behind the GS bracket, I'm going to trim them back a little some day, but for now just draped them behind the GS bracket.



Here's the rest of the pictures

http://www.mediafire.com/?u0pmjbmsidt
http://www.mediafire.com/?1my11cez5dd
http://www.mediafire.com/?xmnjkhz5yyy
http://www.mediafire.com/?hjh3qaymsxx
http://www.mediafire.com/?zy45mqmia4z
http://www.mediafire.com/?mmngidj3sq0

I didn't think I'd have any problem with my feet being too low (see the "Leanability" file) after holding the bike tipped to the side and having my wife take a picture. The pegs were still quite a ways above the pavement. I guess I didn't realize fully how far I do lean on slow sharp corners, though. I have very lightly scraped the bottom of my left toe a couple times on corners that I ended up turning sharper than I intended, and one of those times I turned onto a roadway that was sloped away from me and I turned left into the slope. So, now I just don't put my toe under the shifter when I take sharp left corners.

Hope this helps. I can't remember the total cost, but don't at least remember it as being significantly more than the aftermarket kits. And if you study the pictures where I'm holding the GS bracket in position over the stock brackets you can see the difference in footpeg position. Both down and forward quite a bit more than the aftermarket kits.
And with this swap, there's no problem with shift lever or brake lever, all stock parts
that work like stock.

beemerboneyard happened to have the complete setup, and was very helpful with advice.

Any questions, feel free. I can also take more pics if you'd like.

Regards
macx Mark Johnson

_________________
Cmartin
BMW R1150R 2002
Carrollton, TX

[todehnal]

Hey CMartin!!! Thank you , so much, for the detailed info. This is exactly what I needed. I have saved, and printed all of the pics, and documentation to aid in the process. I will make some calls and see if I can find a set of parts. My first call will be to the boneyard that you mentioned. Sincerely appreciate you taking the time to help. I love the bike, and with a bit more legroom, it will be fantastic.................Tom

[todehnal]

I found another player in this area. MFW makes a kit for just over $60 with 3 different distances of drop. They are claiming that their 30mm drop requires no modifications. That just may be enough to aid in my comfort level. I rode today, and only need about an inch or so. Has anyone tried these?? Tom

[P_Jensen]

I have not used the MFW, but I did have a set of SW-Motech on/off-road pegs on my 04. The fitment is not a listed one, but they worked fine. They have two positions with the first one being 3/8" lower and the second one being about 15/16" lower with the rubber pads in place, could gain another 1/4" without the pads. A couple of things to consider is the amount of adjustment for brake lever, I found that with the ones I was using the brake adjuster was at it's adjustment limit. You have to shorten the length of the brake pushrod to lower the lever, the gear lever has more adjustment range so it is not a problem. I would use the high position for "sporty" riding and the low position for long distance trips. With the pegs installed I used the stock low seat and it was good enough to do a Saddle Sore 1000, the difference was the easing of the angle at my hips. When I first got the bike I thought the stock seat was crap, when in fact the problem was the hip joint angle. Two biggest changes I made for comfort were the footpegs and swaping the handlebars for some pro-tapers.

[EasyBee]

For more info on MFW footrests also see the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jinn-KnKP6o

[todehnal]

Thanks.. I just may give them a them a try..........Tom

[gregor]

Maybe I have big feet but I can touch my toes down on tight and slow manoeuvres. On my standard bike, with rear preload about the middle, no way I'd lower the pegs.

[maccraith]

Here is an alternative idea that I found to be simple, inexpensive and very effective. Being a somewhat senior rider and having the typical concomitant knee problems, I was practically desperate to find an extended foot peg solution that would give me some relief of pain. I did all the research, carefully considered all the variable and extended mount solutions I could find - and then wound up buying a set of Hawk Talon brackets and a pair of inexpensive, universal, folding foot pegs. I am VERY happy with this arrangement. Not only did it save me money, time and effort, it also avoided all the problems and unintended consequences I read about with other solutions. Additionally, it gave me the opportunity to completely unbend and stretch out my legs. None of the other foot peg extension solutions could do that. What a relief!

The Hawk product is a very sturdy, thoughtfully engineered and high quality product. I suggest you look into them - as an alternative.

http://hawksproducts.com

[adventuredon]

SOk, so just done this mod on my 1150r. I found it easy to do. The mechanic less so!lol. Anyhow if you use the complete 1150gs peg set it’s a lot easier and we only had to relocate the rear brake cylinder and bend 1 pipe. The ride is now awesome with the bar risers as well and rotated back towards me. Actually feels a lot like a GS. We never even disconnected the brakes. The side stand loop is indeed harder to access now and the centre stand catches the left hanger so it’s now about 6cm proud in total. It needs to get past the left peg hanger at about 3cm. Anyone got any ideas how to mod the centre stand? Do I bend CS, or grind off some of to the peg hangers? It seems to only need a small adjustment and I can’t imagine that too much stress is placed on the hangers? Ground out the CS x2 on my recent ride and obv on both sides. So how and can I bend the stand? Grind off the footstool and some of the CS? Bend CS? Ideas please

[Photoguy]

It's hard to imagine specifically what's going on without a photo but I would think that if the choice were to grind a little off the peg mount vs. cutting or changing the center stand, I'd probably opt for the foot mount!

FWIW, I added the Suburban Machinery lowering pieces and while the center stand clears the foot pegs without issue, there is limited space to get my foot in there to hit the lever without pivoting the peg up and out of the way. I use a short bungee to hold the peg up while I'm engaging the center stand.

[giarcg]

I have a complete GS footpeg setup available. PM for details.