Hello & a gear lever question

[MrMetabolism]

G'day everyone,

I've been a reader of the forums for a while and have recently bought a GS500 as my first bike, so figured it was high-time I registered.

Have to say, I'm pretty happy with my bike. Was a 2005 model that was kept mostly in storage, so it's only got about 5,000k's on it and its been running great. One thing that I've found a bit awkward though has been gear changes. I'm 6'4" with a size 15 boot, so I haven't really been able to adjust the gear level into a position that's comfortable for me. At the moment, it's in a position where I can get my boot in and out from under it fairly easily, but because it sits up fairly high I almost have to lift my foot off the peg to change down.

I think the main issue is that it sits further back on my foot than usual, putting it on a "thicker" section of the boot. I reckon a shorter lever might help, but I haven't found anything other than stock levers in my search on the interwebs. Is anyone aware if shorter gear levers are available for the GS500? If need be, I might just cut the middle out of the stock one and have it welded back together. Any possible issues with that? If worst really comes to worst...I could probably suck it up 

Cheers guys.

[fetor56]

The standard lever is made of steel not aluminium or any other alloy......why don't u just cut a small section out for your suitable length,then have it welded-up again.The weld u could either grind roughly for strength or smooth for looks.

PS...i just saw your last comment about welding.....good idea & very cheap.

[gsJack]

Some of the peg conversions gstwins members have made for appearance purposes are to smaller round pegs that would give you more clearance under the lever without rotating it up.  http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Upgrades.Pegs

I played with rotating my shift lever down a notch last summer to get more room for a pair of boots with a thicker sole and found the loss of leverage from the change made positive down shifts difficult, I had to lift my heel insure a positive shift due to the loss of leverage.  Since your a big guy and less than a third my age leverage might not be a problem for you though.   

Just a thought, rearsets would give you more boot room too if the shorter lever doesn't work out and your legs aren't too long.

[BockinBboy]

I'd try the lower peg type options before modifying the shift lever as gsJack suggests. If you shorten the lever, you lose a lot of leverage and it will certainly make it harder to shift. I know it doesn't seem like much effort to move, but the length has quite a bit to do with that. I've never seen a shift lever shortened, only lengthened when the position is changed to fit different rear sets and so forth.

- Bboy

[Calpantera]

I would go ahead and pick up a second one for testing with, I am sure you can get one from a parts whore on the boards for pretty cheap. cut it and see how it goes, it will lose some leverage thats for sure. If you don't like it you can always switch back. At 6'4" you must feel like you are on a kids bike. I am 6' and I am considering lowering pegs or rearsets for a better ride myself.

[Slack]

Instead of welding your shifter back together just cut it down to the appropriate length, then drill and tap a hole at the end of it.  Use an M6x1.0 40mm bolt with 6 nuts screwed on to the bolt then one washer, and screw the whole thing into the hole you tapped with copious amounts of red locktite.  Wrap all the nuts with a bit of duct tape and then put a piece of electrical heat shrink over all of it.  I've fixed shifters with broken pegs this way, although never changed the length.

[MrMetabolism]

 Cheers guys, used levers are pretty cheap so I might grab a couple and have a play.

A set of new pegs might not be a bad idea though. I came across some MFW vario pegs that might make things more comfortable overall.

@Calpantera, would you believe I learnt on an old 225 Scorpio? The GS is a monster compared to it, that thing was....awkward