Footboards - and now no footboards

[WingAdmin]

One of the first items on my "want" list for a 1500 was stock shifter/brake and pegs, rather than footboards. My 1100 has footboards and a heel/toe shifter, and while I'm pretty good on it from years of practice, I really still prefer the normal shifter.

My 1500 came with footboards and a heel/toe shifter. I thought I'd give them a try, and while the footboards were quite comfortable, I didn't care for the heel/toe shifter or brake. I just wanted what I wanted!

So I prowled some online parts sites and eBay, and bought all the parts required to return my 1500 back to stock. I've ordered new rubber for the shifter and the footpegs, to replace the worn rubber that came on my used parts.

I did the swap this morning, and spent the afternoon riding with my wife in the beautiful warm weather. The verdict: I LOVE my bike with the stock gear! I'm able to shift much quicker, and what I perceived as "clunkiness" in shifting turns out to have been just my perception of the heel/toe shifter. The transmission is slick, the pegs are comfortable, and I'm very happy with my choice.

Shifter, before

Shifter, after

Brake, before

Brake, after

I do think however that I am going to have to take the new shifter arm off and polish it up to match the gleam of the chrome everywhere else on the bike.

[WingAdmin]

I do notice that I no longer drag the blasted footboards in corners - instead I drag my boot soles. oops. I need to watch my foot position around corners or I'm going to end up with my toes poking out the soles!

[wrightwing]

My wife and I, should have taken a ride, instead of watching the BUCKEYES loose! O well, maybe next year

[DougK109]

Glad to hear someone else had the same thoughts as me. Mine had foot boards on it when I got it. I was going around a off ramp from highway one day and my foot got pinched between the board and the engine. They came off as soon as I could get the parts. It is a safety concern also.

[NKYWinger]

Me too.... mine came with footboards/heel-toe shifter. Did NOT like it at all. I'm back to pegs and I like it much better also!

[Viking]

That is a really complicated heel toe shift setup. Looks a lot more efficient with the straight shifter on it. Heel toe works real well when the shifter is mounted directly on the shift spline (like on Harleys), and the footboards are mounted much further forward. I tried the Kuryakin setup on my GL1800 and hated it. Back to stock.

[WingAdmin]

Glad to hear someone else had the same thoughts as me. Mine had foot boards on it when I got it. I was going around a off ramp from highway one day and my foot got pinched between the board and the engine. They came off as soon as I could get the parts. It is a safety concern also.

I did that early on with my 1100. Went around a corner and pinched my foot between the board and the cylinder head. It was a choice of take the pain, or run wide in the corner and hit a curb. I took the pain.

I learned after that to get my toes away from the front of the boards before entering corners.

[WingAdmin]

I decided the rough-forged look of the shifter was not in keeping with the chrome elsewhere on the bike. So I took it off last night, smoothed off the forging marks, smoothed it up to 1500 grit, then used some abrasive polish. Not quite chrome, but certainly better than it was.

Before polishing

After polishing

[NKYWinger]

Good work - looks a lot better...

[buffdaddy55]

If any of you who removed your heel toe shifter and would like to give it away, I'll be glad to pay the shipping on it if you will send it to me(providing that it will fit an '85 Aspy) Thought I would give it a shot!

[WingAdmin]

I got the new rubbers for the footpegs and shifter and put them on this morning - just before I went out for a ride for a couple hours. Here they are after my ride, still looking pretty new:

New footpeg/shifter rubber

[tek8550]

Sorry, buffdaddy I threw mine in the dumpster. They were all pitted and looked like crap anyway.

[TXAggie87]

Like buffdaddy - I'd like to try the footboard/heel-toe option on my Wing. I've got them on my Vulcan cruiser and absolutely LOVE them! But I'm too frugal (read here: cheap!) to plunk down $350.00 to try them, fearing I might not like them with the significantly different seating position. If anyone has some for sale at a reasonable price . . . let me know.

[mnwingluvr]

I too am a fan of FB and Ht. My 92 is stock and after years on an 83 with boards. Would like go back to that set. Never been a fan of wide stance for highway pegs. So Iso a quality set. And yeah cheap. Ordered a set from another site, the chrome was peeling, rubber missing as was some essential hardware.