Just Tossed Buell Footpegs In The Round File

[JINKSTER]

That's right folks...I went to all the trouble of ordering up the buell footpegs...paid my $25...waited a week for'em to arrive...then measured and bought bushing/spacers at the local hardware..started the job today and...just finished tossing my two brand new buell footpegs in the $hitcan...here's why.

After doing the math between the stock peg and the buell footpegs I discovered that almost 1/10th inch of material needed to be ground away just to meet the width requirement/dimension..this meant that about .045" had to be removed from the underside and about .040" from the slightly thinned top side..plus a section of the supportive web on the underside had to be ground away..this made me raise a suspect brow as now it became apparent that both "ears" of the "CAST ALUMINUM" footpeg (vs the stock steel ears) had to be ground away to a thinkness of just under 3/16ths of an inch in order to fit the bike...well...I still proceeded despite my apprehension...and once I got the thicknes properly ground down on both sides?..and the structural corner web ground away?..now I could "Fit Check" the sucker to make certain the pinhole lined up and now the freaking hole was way outboard and even more hadta be ground away ON THE LENGTH!!!..to get the pinhole centered!!!

Leaving an extremely precarious "Skimpy Edge Distance" worth of some extremely questionable cast aluminum on two very thinned out web-ears and...that's when I tossed in the towel on this mod...and here's why..

I'm an old dirt bike rider...and as such?...when ever I encounter sudden un-avoidable obstacles such as POTHOLES, Armadillo's and oppsums (that seem to come up real quick when I'm doing like 120 at night)?...I have this habit of lifting my @$$ off the seat by "STANDING ON THE PEGS"...all 240lbs worth of me...Bracing for impact...ON THE PEGS!!!

Well...UNT-UH...Not me Jack!!!....I ain't trusting what may be my life too two ears of less than 3/16ths" thick, home ground, Buell cast aluminum to withstand such..so don't pass go...don't collect $200 and...in the $hitcan they went.

Sorry guys...I know there's a lot of you out there enjoying this mod but for reasons of personal saftey and structural functionality?...I gotta give this mod a "Thumbs Down"...and I'll be purchasing properly fit/manufactured aftermarket pegs soon.

L8R, Bill.

 

[Nijinsky3]

Good call Bill! Safety FIRST!

 

[pure_ego]

although I didn't get as technical as you did.. just took em to a grinder till they fit.. I haven't seen any reason to worry about them..

actually jump up/down on the to the point I almost knocked the bike off the stands.. I don't weight quite as much as you.. about 200 pnds.. but they've been there for about 6000 miles so far.. and I also did the dirt bike stuff on the pegs when the need arises..

I worry more about the passenger pegs than the buell pegs..


Anybody ever heard of a failure?

 

[#cruncherbusa]

I think you made a good call just for the fact that would would be worrying about your pegs and not other cars & your surroundings!

 

[The Big Red One]

That's right folks...I went to all the trouble of ordering up the buell footpegs...paid my $25...waited a week for'em to arrive...then measured and bought bushing/spacers at the local hardware..started the job today and...just finished tossing my two brand new buell footpegs in the $hitcan...here's why.

After doing the math between the stock peg and the buell footpegs I discovered that almost 1/10th inch of material needed to be ground away just to meet the width requirement/dimension..this meant that about .045" had to be removed from the underside and about .040" from the slightly thinned top side..plus a section of the supportive web on the underside had to be ground away..this made me raise a suspect brow as now it became apparent that both "ears" of the "CAST ALUMINUM" footpeg (vs the stock steel ears) had to be ground away to a thinkness of just under 3/16ths of an inch in order to fit the bike...well...I still proceeded despite my apprehension...and once I got the thicknes properly ground down on both sides?..and the structural corner web ground away?..now I could "Fit Check" the sucker to make certain the pinhole lined up and now the freaking hole was way outboard and even more hadta be ground away ON THE LENGTH!!!..to get the pinhole centered!!!

Leaving an extremely precarious "Skimpy Edge Distance" worth of some extremely questionable cast aluminum on two very thinned out web-ears and...that's when I tossed in the towel on this mod...and here's why..

I'm an old dirt bike rider...and as such?...when ever I encounter sudden un-avoidable obstacles such as POTHOLES, Armadillo's and oppsums (that seem to come up real quick when I'm doing like 120 at night)?...I have this habit of lifting my @$$ off the seat by "STANDING ON THE PEGS"...all 240lbs worth of me...Bracing for impact...ON THE PEGS!!!

Well...UNT-UH...Not me Jack!!!....I ain't trusting what may be my life too two ears of less than 3/16ths" thick, home ground, Buell cast aluminum to withstand such..so don't pass go...don't collect $200 and...in the $hitcan they went.

Sorry guys...I know there's a lot of you out there enjoying this mod but for reasons of personal saftey and structural functionality?...I gotta give this mod a "Thumbs Down"...and I'll be purchasing properly fit/manufactured aftermarket pegs soon.

L8R, Bill.

Thanks for the clear concise feedback Bill....I had my suspicions, which you've now confirmed.....none for me thankyouanyways

 

[JINKSTER]

I think you made a good call just for the fact that would would be worrying about your pegs and not other cars & your surroundings!

Yeah..and maybe I am being overly cautiouse but...back in my wild and crazy days I was coming home from a keg party at my drummers house on my '81 Honda 750 FOUR...about 3:30am...nuth'in but me, my bike and a two laner out in BFE...cruising along at about 110 with the heels of my cowboy boots hanging on the passenger pegs...and...hit a pothole...everything went up..then everything went down...only on the way back down the heel of my right cowboy boot failed to re-catch itself on the passenger peg as the sharply pointed toe hit the 110mph asphault and shot my leg back up so hard and so fast I almost kicked myself in the back of my own damn head.

I spent the next three days gimping around feeling like everything below my naval was tore up and hyper-extended....after that?...I swore I'd never do anything again that could possibly cause either of my feet to leave the pegs and contact asphault whilke at speed...namely riding pancake with my feet on the passenger pegs...well...the buell footpeg mod just got added to that list.

L8R, Bill.

 

[Glyn]

It's funny you should bring this up, I was looking at this mod last week. I decided to hold off ordering parts until I was sure I needed it.

Maybe I'll hold off again.

I would like a little more leg room though

 

[Lloyd]

I did the mod with no regrets. It is worth it for the added comforts. I say dont do it if you feel it is unsafe..To each his own.

 

[FL Knifemaker]

Bill,

Wouldn't it be possible to just mill a good, strong set of pegs from solid aluminum?? I was going to pull off the stock ones, measure them up and start making chips. Mabye a double layer or "sandwich" design from titanium or Ti. and aluminum??

I'll give you call tomorrow. I'm getting ready for a show so things are crazy around here. When I get back, I'm attacking the Busa on several fronts

 

[GSXTacy]

I'm 280 lbs. GSXR pegs off ebay. 10mm steel spacers from the hardware store and 10 min of work. I jump up and down on them with no problem. I still gained some room, and it looks much better. Any questions, PM me.

 

[RandomNickname]

All things being equal, I'm just taking the rubber off of my pegs, until I just go full bore and get new adjustable rearsets. I'm like Bill -- too paranoid and worried about my own safety to worry about jury-rigging something that is so critical.

 

[JINKSTER]

I'm currently unemployed but have spent 20+ years of my life as a precison sheet metal fabricator and then when through apprenticeship as a precision tool & die machinist and...whiddling away on "Cast Aluminum", including the complete removal of what the designing engineer saw as "stress point webbing" just dosen't give me a warm fuzzy fella's...leastways not where my flesh and bones are at risk...to boot?...during my years as a machinist I've seen many instances where casting had gross levels of porosity so...while many here may have been lucky with this mod?...I ain't volunteering to become the 1st failure...I'll either buy it right or make it right but i ain't whiddling away at cast aluminum and then hoping for the best...just not my style...and while I know there's many here who've enjoyed this mod without issue?...with the last name of "Jinks" it would be just my luck of the draw to get...the bad ones.

...and be...the 1st failure.

FLKnifemaker...yeah man...anything replicated and machined out of fordged/billet stock would make me feel much better than anything "cast"...I've just seen way to many crappy castings cross the beds of my machines over the years to trust my @$$ to whiddled down aluminum castings...I'm too old to go down over sumpt'in stupid now...so...do me a favor and make two sets when ya make'em alright?

L8R, Bill.

 

[pward76]

What I did was get some TL1000R pegs from Ron Ayers - they also sell the spacers.  Everything fits right up - no grinding, no sweat.  Lowers the foot position the same amount as removing the rubber from the stockers, (about 3/4 of an inch) and you still get rubber.  You lose a bunch of weight, and the pegs look like larger versions of the passenger pegs.  

Another good point, you are using stock Suzuki parts - I just couldn't bring myself to put something from "the motor company" on my Busa...

There is a thread around here somewhere that has the part numbers, I'll search for it...couldn't find it, so I looked it up on ronayers.com.

43510-02F11 right peg 26.40
43520-02F11 left peg 26.40
09180-08149 spacer 2 @ 2.59 = 5.18

total 57.98 plus shipping



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[FL Knifemaker]

Another good point, you are using stock Suzuki parts - I just couldn't bring myself to put something from "the motor company" on my Busa...

ROFLMFAO!!!!

I agree on that point alone. I have a Buell also and hate to park the Busa too close to it. The F'ing Gremlins might jump ship!

Jinx,

I agree with you 100% about machined castings. I'll be in touch.

 

[DAB]

Thanks for the info.

 

[#cruncherbusa]

back in my wild and crazy days I was coming home from a keg party at my drummers house

Isn't this how all good stories start out!

 

[JINKSTER]

back in my wild and crazy days I was coming home from a keg party at my drummers house

Isn't this how all good stories start out!  

in a word?....YES!

 

[flrider]

I'm not sure how to respond to this post. I have had the Buell pegs for many months now and have nothing bad to report. I am 300lbs and have not had a problem standing on the pegs when going over bumps or potholes. I did have the pegs done by a good machinist so none of the garage type grinding was done on my set. Milling is perfect and the spacer bore is exact. I think this is why I am not at all apprehensive about the mod. It feels soooo good to get my knees a little straighter. I won't go back!!

 

[shenoyp]

...I dont know about the mod!!

...but I kinda like the stock footpegs, just feel they are more practical. I had bought couple of good looking pegs from oppracing.com ... but those didnthave any rubber on them, and I kinda like the ride when my footpegs have rubber

 

[jetset]

I just did my footpeg mod.I used GSXR 1000 pegs they work very well you just need the collars to make them work and there is a noticable difference.