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Off road ergonomics


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Hey guys,

 So I'm looking for some input here.  Please, help me out a little.  Off road ergonomics, basically riding while standing, is the subject of the day around here.  I found there's a few things to note.

1.)  Touratech 40mm risers - are a godsend. I will not ride this bike offroad without these, as they help with standing up and provide overall better control.

2.)  Rotating the handle bars - past 10 degrees, (as marked on the bar), but somewhere around 25 or so also helps greatly while standing, giving you better alignment in the wrists to the levers.

 

Now for the part where I'm running into some ergo trouble.  I just recently started riding offroad, and as such have discovered the wonderful world of proper footwear.  Alpinestarts Tech 7 Enduro boots, comfy, feel great, only took a few days of riding to get used to them.  But with the boots come some other problems now.  

 

Shifter position. -  Absolutely was not high enough.  I adjusted the linkage to raise the lever as well as rotated the peg to max height and this works.  To get more height (still missing shifts offroad) I am going to machine the linkage to shorten it by a few mm on each end and that should raise the peg a little more and all is good.

 

Brake position.  The stock GS Adv brake lever has a few unique things to it.  If you adjust the linkage in the rear, it will cause the lever to interfere with the frame.  Basically it came from the factory this way and I cannot adjust the linkage to get the pedal any higher.  clears the frame by 1mm or so.  Now its got the flip down for off-road use.  I found this is about perfect for on-road use.  Which means, off road, while standing, it is completely useless because I always have it flipped down.  Obviously, my only option here is to buy a new lever, but the question is, which one will get me the results I am looking for?  

 

Does anyone have any experience with the Touratech brake lever on a 14/15 'GS adventure, or other brand aftermarket brake lever?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

20150315_175829.jpg

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You make great points about off-road ergonomics when riding:  bar height, bar rotation, etc...  Wearing great boots too!

 

I'm not 100% sure I understand your description of the shifter and left side peg height.  I know my shift lever can be adjusted up or down and they make adjustable shifting levers that you can extend or shorten.  I wasn't sure about your rotating the peg and making the peg higher.  I lowered my pegs to get more stand up height (same reason I got bar risers).  I do recall having to get used to shifting with the hard boots though.

 

I haven't adjusted the linkage on my rear brake lever on my right side either, so I can't help you there.  I do have that piece flipped down all the time though.  The issue is that when you're on the pegs, typically the brake lever is too low.

 

Can anyone else give a better answer to MikeyB?

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Thanks for the reply Eric.

  On the 14 GS, on the shifter, there is an adjustment to raise the entire lever, and then there is a set screw at the end where the rubber part of the shifter is, allowing it to rotate.  Its offset, so when you rotate it 180 out it puts the actual shift peg further away by like 10mm.  90 degrees gets you a little out and up.  Not much, but when I first got the bike, in my work boots, rotating 90 out solved the problem.  In my Tech7's, adjusting the linkage for more height seems to get me close to ideal, but still going to machine the linkage down to get a few more mm of height out of it. 

 

I did look around and saw that lowering the pegs would probably solve the problems, with the Touratech offroad low setup seems like it would lower my foot down more (thus bringing the shifter and brake up, relatively speaking).  Also solves another problem, the inside cuff of my boot will just slide under and in on the edge of the seat and then the boot is "locked in" with the seat and the peg (really neat, I'll get a picture of that phenomina)..  Lowering the foot pegs might just be the silver bullet i'm looking for.  

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Few pictures.  

 

The boots, they catch the lip of the seat.  (the seat is in the low position, and no, I don't want to raise it to the high position...  ! lol)... 

20150316_175606.jpg

 

Same on the other side.

 

20150316_175646.jpg

 

Adjustable shifter peg.  Nice.  Also saw that instead of shortening the link I can rotate the link by a spline and grab some height here as well.

 

20150316_175656.jpg

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