Topic: Positioning rearsets

[Strife]

So I'm down to the last bits of my bike, unfortunately, one of those bits is the rearsets. I had originally planned on doing the rearsets using bike stems as mentioned on another forum, so to do that, I chopped off the passenger peg mounts. Looking back, I really wish I hadn't, as I could have just used them to mount my rearsets. But the past is in the past, so now I am working on creating my own mount for them. the plus being that I can perfectly position them. The minus being they are proving to be the absolute hardest thing about this project.

So I am wondering, are there any guidelines of "best-placement" rules to follow when placing rearsets? I see alot of them placed pretty close to where the original footpeg would have been, or where the passenger footpegs would have been, but that doesn't seem very comfortable. When I sat on my bike and had my brother move them around, it seemed the most comfortable place was a bit further back then where the passenger pegs were.

Now I know everyone will be different based on height, seat, riding position, and bike type, but I was wondering, are there any guidelines out there, and how did you all place your rearsets?

[Quorthon]

Good thread.   

The placement can be very important in the resulting body and weight positioning over the bike.  Comfort also, obviously.

Much more to it than look.  Feet to far back can result in front end wash out if I am not mistaken.   

Someone with more experience than I will chime in I'm sure.

[Strife]

Yea I've been doing a lot of research figuring out where people put theirs. I of course want it to be comfortable to ride, but at the same time, avoid any safety issues etc. For example, I had never heard that putting them too far back could result in a front end wash out. One guy in another forum mentioned something along the lines of "drawing" a strait line from your crotch to find the line, but it was somewhat confusing. But basically it was apparently how the lines are in a crotch rocket's rearsets.

So I was hoping to get a melding of the minds here of sorts, because it seems like rearsets are one of the more difficult parts of a cafe racer, and I think much of that is just a lack of documentation or how-tos. I know people have posted how they made their rearsets, but not so much how they placed them.

[Steve F]

When I was designing my rearsets, and planing on making my own hardware, I waited until the frame was put back together, the clipons were installed, and the final seat height was established.  If you jump the gun on any of these points, you'll end up with a compromise based on a "guess".  I was able to sit on the seat with the handlebars where I wanted them, and then decided where I would like my feet to be without having them too high or too far back.  I would just sit there for a few minutes on the bike with my fee tresting on objects of various heights at different positions front to back to see what felt the best.  Once that was established, I went to work taking measurements and designing in AutoCad.
Steve F

[Strife]

Yea that's the point my bike is at, the handlebars are on, everything is pretty much put back together, and the seat is completely finished and upholstered. Using different objects of various height and putting your feet on them is a good idea. My muffler i also somewhat large, so I have to account for that in my vertical placement.

[Steve F]

Yea that's the point my bike is at, the handlebars are on, everything is pretty much put back together, and the seat is completely finished and upholstered. Using different objects of various height and putting your feet on them is a good idea. My muffler i also somewhat large, so I have to account for that in my vertical placement.

Well, the muffler was one of those things that I wasn't concerned about at the time since my foot positions was more important.  I was fortunate to find a header/megaphone on ebay cheap, and didn't have any problems chopping it up after the rest of the bike was put together.  It was OK, but I ended up shortening the megaphone by about 5" and then cuttting and welding the megaphone up tighter to the rearsets (actually it's a little too close at 5/8" clearance with the brake pedal  )  First pic: riding position is quite comfy, actually...rode for alomost 200 miles on Sunday  2nd pic: the pipe's a little closebut it works.
Steve F

[Strife]

That's a really nice mount you have there. Did you design that in CAD? I just measured where the bolts I am going to mount to are, where, roughly I want the rearsets to go, and wear the shifter and brake rods are, and now I am going to start modeling them. If you don't mind, what is material used, and thickness of that material? Did you have someone CNC that or did you cut it yourself? It looks really nice.

Also, did you have to get longer bolts for where you mounted the uhhh "mounts" to the frame? The two bolts I'm looking at using appear to be the same ones you are, if I remember correctly one is an engine mount, the other is for the swing arm. I'm at work now, so I am drawing from memory.

Also I see you included the brake rod on the rearset mount itself rather then the stock location on the frame. Is this a CB750? I'm full of questions, I apologize, but you have a very similar mount idea that I was going for. One last thing, what are the two top bolts mounted to? For me that's just empty space and my CB650.

[Steve_K]

I have made several pairs of rearsets.  Handlebars, then the seat,or the seat first.  It didnot matter to me.which was first.  I like the pegs directly to below my butt. Then I position blocks to find the correct height.  It is a pain, but I like the pegs right for me.
Steve_K

[Steve F]

That's a really nice mount you have there. Did you design that in CAD? I just measured where the bolts I am going to mount to are, where, roughly I want the rearsets to go, and wear the shifter and brake rods are, and now I am going to start modeling them. If you don't mind, what is material used, and thickness of that material? Did you have someone CNC that or did you cut it yourself? It looks really nice.

Also, did you have to get longer bolts for where you mounted the uhhh "mounts" to the frame? The two bolts I'm looking at using appear to be the same ones you are, if I remember correctly one is an engine mount, the other is for the swing arm. I'm at work now, so I am drawing from memory.

Also I see you included the brake rod on the rearset mount itself rather then the stock location on the frame. Is this a CB750? I'm full of questions, I apologize, but you have a very similar mount idea that I was going for. One last thing, what are the two top bolts mounted to? For me that's just empty space and my CB650.

The material is 3/4 aluminum scrap pieces that I picked up at work, and machined them on a 2-axis CNC Bridgeport mill.  The engine mount and swingarm "bolts" were made from some stainless rod that we had but needed to be turned to the final diameter (that was a real PITA since they were quite long), can't remember what the diameters were, but .590" pops in the brain which was only .003 below the common 19/32" diameter that my company uses.  But anyway, the two "top bolts" you're referring to is for the master cylinder on the 750F's rear disc brake.  The splined brake shaft goes through a bronze sleeve to the stock Honda linkage for the master cylinder.  I ended up remanufacturing the master cylinder parts in stainless steel because all the original parts were total rusted out crap.  The foot pegs were bought from Dennis Kirk.com but I made the red aluminum mounts for them so they can flip up and back.  I attached a pic of the shifter side.
Steve F

[Strife]

Thanks for all of the info, that really clears up a lot of unknowns that I had about rearsets, which was the most daunting part. things are a bit more clear.

[FunJimmy]

I like the pegs directly to below my butt. Then I position blocks to find the correct height. 

I'm with Steve_K on this one too. Directly under my butt allows good weight distribution and a balanced feel.

FJ