Stomp it... stomp it good.
Was talkin' with Greg the other day and he asked if I'd worked on a heel toe shifter yet. Said I had too many projects goin' to work on it. Woke up this morning intending to work on the basement remodel.... finally said screw it, let's make a stomp shifter instead... would be lots more fun.
Started with these...
I'd previously hacked up that shift and brake lever for forward controls. Changed my mind on that, so here we go. First I gotta put the shifter back together...
Yes... I really did weld that back together barefoot. Sue me....
It was bent about as bad as any I'd seen before. Nothin' the orange beast couldn't handle though...
... and a vise and 12" crescent. Actually, that's a metric crescent.
Once it was back to good as new
started bending the brake lever to what I thought was close to what I wanted.
The problem here is the footpeg is in the way of just welding the brake lever on the back of the shift lever. It needs to attach in front of the splines and bend itself under the footpeg. Jigged it all up and tacked it together. Up the stairs for a test fit (welders are in the basement workshop). It worked but I wasn't quiet happy with the fit. Back down the stairs, cut it apart, bend some more, tack it together and back up to the bike. This step actually consumed about 2 hrs and more stairs than I could count. I'll spare y'all all the pics of what didn't work.
I finally got it to where it cleared the footpeg when shifting and it felt about right when I rested my foot on it. Back down to the basement and welded it together. What I didn't like now was the look. It looked like two pieces of metal stuck together at an odd angle. The term "butt ugly" comes to mind. After all the work I put into the SG, that just won't do. Satisfied it was where I wanted it, I burned about a half pound of wire into it and made a filet around the joint. So that decision meant several hrs of grinding, filing, sanding and polishing.... whew. And here we are...
Still needs more work before I send it off for chrome. Or I might just pay the extra for the chromers to finish it.
Overall I'm happy. It's elegant and looks right at home now... I like it.
Was gonna take it out for a test ride but after 6-8 hrs of up and down the stairs my knees and feet have vetoed that idea. Maybe tomorrow.