Adjust Shifter and Levers?

On my 86 VFR700 I have a couple of "ergonomic" issues I wanted to ask about.

First of all, my fingers tend to slide along the clutch lever. After short rides my fingers will get stained silver and after a long ride I'll sometimes get a blister. Is this normal? Can the clutch and master cylinder be moddified so I can rotate them on the bars?

Also, I'm always having trouble lifting the shifter all the way up with my foot. The rubber end needs to be lower, but going low enough puts the shifter at an odd angle and the lever gets jammed up because I'm pushing it too much towards the pivot point.

I lowered it about as much as I can by cutting the lever, bending it down and rewelding it, but it needs to be a little lower still. Any ideas? Maybe a roller tip to keep it from jamming?

I noticed the police version of this bike had different foot pegs and the shifter pivoted near the peg. It was connected to the trans with linkage. Something like that would be great, but I've never seen them for sale. I included a pic of these shifters below.

 

I know ur fingers turning grey is because the levers are aluminum

 

Is that normal?
Now that I think about it, my previous motorcycle did have chrome plated aluminum levers. My cousin and brothers bike also have chrome over aluminum. Why would any motorcycle company make a lever that left your fingers silver? Seems kinda dumb to me.
Anyway, maybe some clear coat paint on the front of the lever will stop that.

I bent a tab in the left side control unit and then removed some metal from both the left handlebar and clutch cylinder so that I can rotate them some more. The brake cylinder didn't need modification to rotate. This definitely helped. Now I can ride for hours and not get a blister or sore finger. Just silver fingers.

 

I'm thinking about making a 2 piece shifter so that I can fine tune it's location. Maybe use a roller tip for smoother upshifts.

Right now I'm more concerned about why it sometimes pops out of second and goes to neutral under heavy acceleration.

 

Not to be a smartass, but your silver finger blister issue would be easily fixed by wearing gloves. I assume you were able to rotate the brake and clutch masters on the bars to make them more comfortable for your particular grip angle. I think you boogered up your shift lever quite a bit by putting that angle in it. Maybe get a stock un-molestered lever and try making it longer?? Most shift levers are strait for a reason, so that once you set it where it belongs you don't need extreme angles to upshift or downshift, kinda find the happy medium for your ankle/foot. I personally like the rubber on my shift lever and I think a rotating one would screw up my shift feel, JMO. The popping out of second into neutral sounds like an internal trans problem with the shift forks or the drum, which could also be causing you these shifting problems that you're chasing by modifying the lever, I would be checking out the innerds of your trans soooooooon.

 

Firstly, I always wear gloves. My summer gloves are fingerless to reduce moisture in this high humidy hell known as Houston. With full length gloves, the middle finger material would tend to get twisted or rotated as I pulled the clutch lever, but now that I rotated the levers more forward I'm hoping full length gloves will be okay for the winter time. Next summer I'll go back to having silver marks on my fingers. :biggrin:

I didn't booger up anything, I simply "adjusted" it lower. Making it longer would be worse. Most shift levers have a way to adjust them, these don't.

Ever since I lowered the shift lever slightly the only issue I have is the rare second gear popout. So you may be right. I can probably leave the shifter where it is and just focus on the other issue.

 

The clear coat paint will work till u wear through it they make a plastic dip u could dip the handle in that may last longer than the clear coat. Or u could just get a light wieght riding glove to wear

 

Just my 2 cents. I had the levers on my last bike powder coated to match the color of the bike and they lasted for the five years I owned the bike and still looked great when I sold it. I also have a friend who had the control bar on his hang glider powder coated because he was always coming back from hang gliding trips with black hands, and he has yet to wear through the powder coat. This is going on year 5 on his glider and it sees a LOT of use, including sitting on the ground during set up of the glider and even the bottom side of the bar has held up really well.

 

I've done a few tests with the shifter and I noticed it only pops out of 2nd gear under heavy acceleration. That was the key. If I shift into second at low speeds, then go wide open it stays in gear.

It seems that when I lean forward to counteract the G-forces of acceleration, my foot can no longer push the shifter up all the way. When sitting upright I can push the shifter up all the way and feel it stop. I can't do that when leaned forward. So I think that's my problem. I've been shifting into second gear only partially, so it pops back out.

I think the cheapest fix is to actually raise my foot position slightly with some rubber coated pegs. CaptB has some CBR1100XX pegs on his 87 VFR700 and says they raise your foot about 1/2". I added 3/8" of wood onto my current peg and it really lets me push it into gear all the way.

I can get these rascals for $16 shipped. They look nice.

 

Dang, all those cheap aftermarket foot pegs are shipped from china and take up to a month the receive.

I have another idea. I cut up a damaged foot peg I had laying around and will attach it right over the top of the left peg. I cut it down to about 1/4" thick. I'll use a couple of flush mount screws to hold it in place. If it's not tall enough, I can raise it by adding washers between the 2. Now it's adjustable!



I'm assuming I won't notice one foot peg slightly higher than the other as far as it making me sit funny or cramp a leg or whatever, but we'll see.

 

I like the ingenuity of your peg solution. I think if the difference is less than an inch or so (looks like that will be the case) you won't notice it at all.

Jose

 

Here's an update on my completed adjustable shifter. I did a new thread for those interested.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthre...-Shifter-Mod-on-86-VFR700?p=462430#post462430