Heel shifters are for the birds...

[Conleyevans]

as some of you may have guessed i am not a fan of heel shifters. it was a heel shifter that put my girlfriend and our bike in a ditch and a heel shifter that allowed me to upshift at the most inoportune of times.
so here is my question. i am wanting to take off the stock heelshifter foot peg and put on a standard toe shifter. 1) where can i just buy a toe shifter, and 2) if i find one, how hard of a task is this going to be? i have already looked at starmotorcycles partslist, but i can't find the shifter.
if anyone has any ideas pleas let me know. i would hate to take a hacksaw to it...
thanks in advance.

[Hawkeye]

It might help if you say what kind of bike you have.

[Plumcrazy]

I have one on my 650 V-Star and have only used the heel shift a few times...and I'm not fond of it either, but to answer your question, I would stop by the local shop and see if someone desires that piece and offer to swap.

Wayne S

[Conleyevans]

sorry, about that, i have a vstar 1100 custom...
i keep forgetting to ask when i am in the local yamaha dealership... i get too caught up in the new rides. lol
i am as curious as to how to do it as to getting the piece. i figure i can, worse case, take off what is up there and grind it down. make a one off piece. but i am not even sure what it would take to do that. tools, time, that sort of thing. i want to really do some customization on the bike, but have no idea where to start. so i figure i start small.
thanks for any help anyone can give.
ride safe and free.

[happymiles4me]

You might also find one at the local junk yard off a totalled bike. Just a thought.

[Goliath616]

http://www.motorcycleforum.com/showthread.php?t=77518 another member had the same problem with his heel toe shifter, the link is his thread on it describing what he did to fix the problem. (just make sure you buy a replacement shifter when cut the one you have, in case you ever sell the bike and they want the heel-toe shifter)

[Conleyevans]

that is a good point. thanks. i will have to do something. problem is around here, there aren't a lot of junk yards with motorcycles. i will start calling around though. thanks for the link.

[Goliath616]

same here, I am still waiting to get the money together (really it's just hating to pay the money for it) to get another shifter so I can cut one, but the damn things are $65 (that's the cheapest I have found so far anyway) and that isn't worth it (yet) to me

[Conleyevans]

where did you find one? it is almost worth it as far as i am concerned. and it is cheaper than the fender damage from another accident.

[Goliath616]

http://www.prosourcemotorsports.com/...ion_detail.asp
it is #38 on the list, 38 LEVER ASSY, GEAR SHIFT ()
25600-41F10 1 $69.42
that's just for the shift lever alone (the link will take you to the page, I just pasted the description to make it easier to find for you)

[Conleyevans]

thanks. i searched that page all over looking for that foot lever last week. i couldn't ever find it. thanks.

[aaronrkelly]

Originally Posted by Conleyevans

as some of you may have guessed i am not a fan of heel shifters. it was a heel shifter that put my girlfriend and our bike in a ditch and a heel shifter that allowed me to upshift at the most inoportune of times.
so here is my question. i am wanting to take off the stock heelshifter foot peg and put on a standard toe shifter. 1) where can i just buy a toe shifter, and 2) if i find one, how hard of a task is this going to be? i have already looked at starmotorcycles partslist, but i can't find the shifter.
if anyone has any ideas pleas let me know. i would hate to take a hacksaw to it...
thanks in advance.

Hmmm.....I have a 650 VStar with a heel shifter and Ive never been in the ditch. The heel shifter did NOT put you in the ditch....you did.

Im not sure how your built but Im a big guy....6ft4in and I wear a size 14....and I just dont use the heel part - never gets in the way for me. If it did I would simply hack it off.

My bike is mine.....I will do what I want to make it that way and I dont worry about resale value or making it stock again. If it bothers you take a grinder to it and cut it off....no big deal. Its only metal and can be replaced.

Stock bikes suck anyways.

[Conleyevans]

if you had read the post you would have understood that actually my girlfriend put our bike in the ditch. the heel of her boot tapped it just enough to go into neutral when she was in the middle of a turn.
you might want to be a little more thorough in your reading before you try to sound smart.
and i am not concerned with reselling the bike. but if at a later date i decided to give a heelshifter another go, i want to still have the original part. and the beauty of any bike is making it your own, i agree.
you sound about my size, aaronkelly. so stock is rarely comfortable. what kind of forward controls do you use? or do you just use highway pegs?

[aaronrkelly]

Originally Posted by Conleyevans

if you had read the post you would have understood that actually my girlfriend put our bike in the ditch. the heel of her boot tapped it just enough to go into neutral when she was in the middle of a turn.
you might want to be a little more thorough in your reading before you try to sound smart.
and i am not concerned with reselling the bike. but if at a later date i decided to give a heelshifter another go, i want to still have the original part. and the beauty of any bike is making it your own, i agree.
you sound about my size, aaronkelly. so stock is rarely comfortable. what kind of forward controls do you use? or do you just use highway pegs?

My point wasnt to sound smart....it was to point out the heel shifter is not at fault....its the unproper use of it or lack of control of the motorcycle that was the problem, not the object. Thats still the case even if your girlfriend, you or Mother Theresa were riding the bike. The heel shifter didnt cause the accident....your girlfriend caused the accident.

I bought a set of 4" extensions off eBay for about $100 - worked great. Moving the controls forward 4" makes a HUGE difference. In fact its more comfortable in the leg area then my Goldwing. There is a guy on VStar forums named ZIV that has his own site, his forward extensions are about $50 more but they are also tilt adjustable. I was to cheap to spend the extra money but Im still plenty happy with the eBay ones.

[Conleyevans]

point taken, i still maintain that had they not been there, it wouldn't have happened. and we are both learning riders, so we are getting used to all the bits and pieces. but i am still amazed they didnt' bother you. i don't feel like my foot has any room on that side at all.
do you know who made the extensions? so they are different than full blown forward controls? that would be sweet and a lot less than the 700.00 jardines. lol.
i will check out his stuff.
thanks.

[aaronrkelly]

Originally Posted by Conleyevans

point taken, i still maintain that had they not been there, it wouldn't have happened. and we are both learning riders, so we are getting used to all the bits and pieces. but i am still amazed they didnt' bother you. i don't feel like my foot has any room on that side at all.
do you know who made the extensions? so they are different than full blown forward controls? that would be sweet and a lot less than the 700.00 jardines. lol.
i will check out his stuff.
thanks.

They are just extensions....they move the existing controls forward almost 4". They consist of a set of brackets, bolts and a few pieces used to extend the control rods for the shifter and brake. Took me about 45 mins and a couple beers to put together. They shipped with real good instructions and went together very easily.

Here is a link to a 3" set of extensions for $75 with free shipping. I just measured my extensions and they measure 3 3/4" but you might want to go with these instead because mine will tag the fender a bit if your on the brakes hard with the forks turned. Ive sense turned my bike into a bobber and removed the fenders so it doesnt matter.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamah...mZ110296520514

[Conleyevans]

very cool thanks. have you looked at West Eagle? they have some great stuff. i want to turn a 1100 into a bobber too. as soon as i can afford a second bike i will start. if i mess too much with my girl's and my bike she will kick my a$$. lol.

[aaronrkelly]

Originally Posted by Conleyevans

very cool thanks. have you looked at West Eagle? they have some great stuff. i want to turn a 1100 into a bobber too. as soon as i can afford a second bike i will start. if i mess too much with my girl's and my bike she will kick my a$$. lol.

They do have some great stuff....but its all very expensive and Im a cheap *******. Im going for the homemade bobber look.

This is what I got so far....buying no custom parts. $70 and about 7 hours of my time. Rear fenders is the front fender cut in two and clamped to the swingarm. Home built hoop to hold the stock seat. The only thing I bought was the sidemount light.

[Conleyevans]

dude, that kicks a$$... seriously. and almost exactly what i was wanting to do. i might be harrassing you some once i get some spare money. that is very cool.

[aaronrkelly]

Originally Posted by Conleyevans

dude, that kicks a$$... seriously. and almost exactly what i was wanting to do. i might be harrassing you some once i get some spare money. that is very cool.

Just take a sawzaw to the front fender....then grab ahold of it and spread it out with your hands to fit over the rear tire. Get 1" conduit clamps from the hardware store and mount the fender to the swingarm. Rear fender done.

The side mount plate just bolts up using one of the rear end bolts.

Take all the turn signals and stuff off.....strip it down.

The only thing I had to make was that seat hoop. Its was just welded up by a friend of mine. Thats rebar and some angle iron. It bolts to the passenger peg location. Took him about 45 mins to bend around and weld up.....then I just slipped some gas line over it to make it look less like crap. Works great.

[piranha2]

I hate the heel shifter too. I couldn't deal with it. I got out my Dremel with a cutter and 2 minutes later, no heel shifter!

[Conleyevans]

i may steal some of your ideas aaronrkelly...i am hunkerin for some wide ape hangers though. and piranha i may just dremel it off. as long as i now i can get a new one. harleys got the right idea there. theirs has a hinge on the peg. so if you dont' want the heal shifter you can move it out of the way.

[Conleyevans]

i ordered a toe shifter from the local yamaha shop. 45 bucks. which is well worth it to me. and i don't have to maul the original equipment. lol.
thanks for all the ideas.