jimbemotumbo
Well-known member
Installed a set of Knifemaker's passenger floorboards. Hope you find the summary and pics useful.
Installation (total install time <30 minutes):
Likely one of the easiest installs you'll ever do. The supplied instructions are complete and easy to understand. Boards came well packed and are of obvious quality construction. I must admit, my work with aluminum is limited to cooking eggs.
I won't repeat every instruction detail here. Basically you just unbolt the stock pegs, remove the rubbers from the pegs (the screws are extremely soft and el-cheepo pot metal ... have your vice grips handy), and bolt on the boards using the supplied hardware. You need to enlarge the "peg holes" (what did you call me?) slightly with a 1/4 drill bit. Also, due to the factory variances in peg faces, you may have to grind a small section to allow the board to fit flush against the peg face. I think this is important to prevent loosening over time. Yours may fit perfectly right out of the box.
Grind this spot:
You'll want it as flush and secure as possible before tightening the nuts down, thus:
The finished installation:
From the top:
Folded:
Note: The folded position is not flat against the side of the bike. If you look closely at the peg face, it is angled and any additional peg surface area will prevent it from fully folding using the stock mounts. Although I didn't expect this, I do not find it a problem. I'm a little monk-ish about some things, so many of you may not care at all. Thought I should mention it. It in no way affects the performance of the product.
Actually, the way they fold up looks kind of "stealth fighter" now that I look at them a bit.
How's the ride?:
No distance rides as of yet. My lovely pillions (daughters and wife) find it much more comfortable to be able to move their feet around slightly. Some of the heat from the muffler /header junction is blocked by the boards. On short rides, you likely won't notice much over stock pegs. Our suspicion is that a high mileage day will find the passenger much more comfy with these boards than without. We don't have any longish rides until mid July, so thought I should at least comment on the install and initial impressions.
I expect also that the boards will allow a more relaxed ride for the pillion when leaned against the backrest / topcase (still waiting for that mod). I'll repost with some LD and backrest experience next month.
Very nice work by Knifemaker. Not sure if he will mass produce these or what the cost will be. You'll have to ask him. Based on his other work, I'm thinking a combo floorboard/bike utility knife might be in order!
Installation (total install time <30 minutes):
Likely one of the easiest installs you'll ever do. The supplied instructions are complete and easy to understand. Boards came well packed and are of obvious quality construction. I must admit, my work with aluminum is limited to cooking eggs.
I won't repeat every instruction detail here. Basically you just unbolt the stock pegs, remove the rubbers from the pegs (the screws are extremely soft and el-cheepo pot metal ... have your vice grips handy), and bolt on the boards using the supplied hardware. You need to enlarge the "peg holes" (what did you call me?) slightly with a 1/4 drill bit. Also, due to the factory variances in peg faces, you may have to grind a small section to allow the board to fit flush against the peg face. I think this is important to prevent loosening over time. Yours may fit perfectly right out of the box.
Grind this spot:
You'll want it as flush and secure as possible before tightening the nuts down, thus:
The finished installation:
From the top:
Folded:
Note: The folded position is not flat against the side of the bike. If you look closely at the peg face, it is angled and any additional peg surface area will prevent it from fully folding using the stock mounts. Although I didn't expect this, I do not find it a problem. I'm a little monk-ish about some things, so many of you may not care at all. Thought I should mention it. It in no way affects the performance of the product.
Actually, the way they fold up looks kind of "stealth fighter" now that I look at them a bit.
How's the ride?:
No distance rides as of yet. My lovely pillions (daughters and wife) find it much more comfortable to be able to move their feet around slightly. Some of the heat from the muffler /header junction is blocked by the boards. On short rides, you likely won't notice much over stock pegs. Our suspicion is that a high mileage day will find the passenger much more comfy with these boards than without. We don't have any longish rides until mid July, so thought I should at least comment on the install and initial impressions.
I expect also that the boards will allow a more relaxed ride for the pillion when leaned against the backrest / topcase (still waiting for that mod). I'll repost with some LD and backrest experience next month.
Very nice work by Knifemaker. Not sure if he will mass produce these or what the cost will be. You'll have to ask him. Based on his other work, I'm thinking a combo floorboard/bike utility knife might be in order!
