Modifying direct-to-spline to rod-linkage shifter

[GhostZero199]

Hello!

I am a proud owner of a '97 GS500E, until Tuesday unable to drive, then my plates and the battery will arrive.

However, I am starting to document myself to make the bike more comfortable for me. I am ~185cm (6'-6'1"), and the current setup is horrible for sitting on with with feet on the pegs. I have already decided to move the shift arm a lot lower than it is right now, thinking about ordering new pegs since these seem to be OEM and are incredibly tall with all the rubber on it. Main problem I have is feet position, I feel slightly cramped on it.

Back to the question at hand. I was looking into shifters, thought about maybe giving GP-style shifting a go, for no reason, then looked at shortening the travel of the shifter. A lot of the answers I found were related to the rod linkage type of shifter, not the direct one. Would there be any advantages of moving to a rod-linkage, disadvantages, et cetera?

Thank you in advance!

[Bluesmudge]

I moved to a rod based setup just because it gives you lots more options if you want to repositioning the footpegs. I wanted to lower my footpegs which isn't a good angle to move the stock shifter. If you wanted a more race style rearset position then you would really need to move to the rod linkage shifter.

My setup uses a hayabusa shift arm, an SV650 linkage and a Honda F3i footpeg/bracket with the holes reamed out to fit the GS500 mounting hole locations.

[GhostZero199]

Thank you Bluesmudge, that actually hits another idea that I had to move the footpegs too. Thank you for including the parts too. Do you think sometime you can provide me with a few photos of the whole setup, just to see in general how it's all set and done?

[Bluesmudge]

No easy to post photos, but this link shows something similar using GSXR 600 rear sets. Same idea reaming out the mounting holes.

https://pantablo500.tripod.com/id3.html