This thread discusses the Content article: Floorboard Extensions for the Road Star

Well, I just installed my floorboard extensions. I made a few changes from the article. I used the Hezbak basic layout, I don't think I am going to miss the 1/4" much, but who knows. I used 1/2" stainless steel because we had some 1 1/2" flatbar laying around in the shop. After laying out the holes, I was not real happy with how close the upper hole was to the top of the bracket. So we decided to drop them 1/4" all the way across. Once we drilled the holes, the brackets looked to be just HUGE thanks to the 1/4" drop not having the holes centered in the bracket. Maybe they would not have looked so big in 3/8" steel, but it just looked "gomby". So I decided to trim them and follow the hole pattern on both sides for a slight dog legged effect. Then I buffed/polished them out. Like a chromed part, the pictures don't do them justice and in most shots they look black, but they have a finish now that rivals any high quality chrome. On the top one you can see the inital punch marks for the previous hole location. Not a big deal since the bolt head covers them up. They also look wavy in this pic for some reason, they are not, they are perfectly straight.

Here is a picture before the final buff and polish.



Left and Right shots





A few things others planning to do this should know:

The comment that you can remove the rear brake line from the frame clips to create enough slack for the move is a stretch ... literally. I am not real happy how the brake line runs now. It is not near the frame, it is up along the bottom of the motor and along the large oil line. I don't like the bend where teh hose exits the banjo fitting tube. It isn't real bad, but I am not real please with it. It may motivate me to get a 3" longer SS brake line for the rear brake ... and of course while I am at that I may as well do the fronts. (Yep, that was a cheap mod dear, cost me nothing but $130 in brake lines ). If anyone has any tricks on the brake line, please post them.

Another note ... the cheap and soft as hell bolts that mount the floorboards may not want to come out. My left one was a bitch and I ended up cutting the heads off of them both. Not a problem because it forced me to get some high quality bolts that look a lot better than the stock ones would have. I am going to get a set of chrome bolts to replace these in the near future. So have a hrdware store near by or have a nice set of 10mm X 1.25 by 30mm bolts handy. And some lock tight.

Tomorrow I find out if I like the feel. I am expecting a new Mustang seat in a few days and did this mainly because I expect the seat to push me forward some (an ich or so I hear), and this should compensate and then some to overcome the slight cramped feeling I have now.

Update:

Rode into work this morning. While I expected them to be a bit lower, the floorboards drag quite a bit earlier than they used too. I would occasionaly hit them - but not enough to notice the board begin to fold up, but now they are full bore folding. I will be tweaking with what limited adjustment there is to see if I can make them hit less. I did come into the shop this morning and dig up 2 small pieces of diamond plate that may make some really nice custom floorboards. Of course all of my fab guys were out looking at the install this morning and now I have 10 new ideas how we could do it. Moving the front holes up an inch or so may resolve the issue all together, but would make a longer brake line a must.

The 15 degree tilt may be a bit much for my taste as well (at least my stiff left ankle) so while I tweak the angle for clearance I will see what I can do there. If I do move the entire set up up an inch or so, I would probably leave that angle. Looks like I may make a few proto types in carbon steel before I break back into the stainless again. The overall effect was much roomier. I do need to get used to the new shifting angles and looks like I will begin using the heel shifter now since it is sitting in a prime spot and is easier to hit than the toe shifter (that damn stiff ankle again ... hey kids - DON'T RACE MOTORCYCLES WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG OR YOU WILL HAVE INJURIES LIKE THIS TOO! )

Nice job on the Post Crash.

Please keep us advised on this as you make more changes.

GRAM

Update 2:

By my calcs, the mod would have lowered the rear of the floorboard about 1". By my math this morning, my adjustment last night should have raised the rear of the floorboard up about ... 1". I am not draggin' as early, but still touching. Now, I believe I am just riding it harder into corners to see if it will drag (DUH! ). Angle now is pretty comfortable. I am going to drill out the front hole to 9/16" which should then give me enough adjustment to raise the rear of the floorboard another 7/8" to 1" which will also be less of an angle than the stock position. Since I am torquing these bolts to around 45 ft lbs, I am not too worried they may move on me. If they do, a quick zap with a tig welder in the holes will help solve that.

This position may or may not work with the Mustang seat, only time will tell.

Okay ... I THINK I am done. I did not make a new set of brackets yet, I just "whallered" the holes out a little to give me some twisting adjustment (BTW "whallered" is a copyrighted word - have a guy named Kent that works for me that comes up with these words that we call "Kentizms". Now understand, whallered is differnet than "HAWG" - whallerin' just makes the holes bigger in the direction you need them bigger in, hawgin' makes the entire hole bigger. And that kids, is todays lesson in Kentizms.). So anyway, I whallered them out and now the boards are almost perfectly in line with the stock hole lines. Sooooo ... for me at least, drilling all the holes in a straight line instead of 15 degree tilt would have been a better way to go. The stock position has a bit of slant up too it anyway. They are not dragging during normal riding anymore, so I am at least on the right track. Now to see how I like it with the new seat - when it gets here.

I'm 6'3" and think the extensions would be a great enhancement. Will they work though with the Yamaha Big Bar Engine Guards? I'm planning to buy the guards but thought it may not all fit.

Mark

I do not have a clue. Get the bars first then see just how far you can move the floorboards before interference.

I’ve got a set of Stainless Steel flat bars sitting on my desk waiting for a few minutes to go drill the holes and then buff them out. If you are in no rush, let me know when you get the bars, maybe I will have replaced my R&D set with the new ones and would send you these to try.

I just installed brackets bought from the RS Riders site. I have an 05 RS.

I agree about the stretching of the rear brake line. It's a bit of a worry. It's quite tight. I was able to use the middle one of the stock clips.

I saw another post about moving the master cylinder and pedal forward with a fabricated bracket, and I was thinking (dangerous). Couldn't we move the pedal backwards as well? And then avoid the time and expense of a longer brake line. And while we're about it, the pedal could be a bit higher, too. Should be easy if all it requires is a piece of drilled steel.

Anyone tried that? What do you think?

Shep

Well, with the proper resources you can do ANYTHING I am going to have to take a look at that later.

i tried the option for taller riders (i´m 6ft 4 ), and found the 15º angle a bit too much and the heel of the running board touched down earlier.

i made another set with all the holes in line, making the running board angle the same as stock, and found this was ideal. the other advantages are a bit more ground clearence than stock, more legroom, and a bit more slack in the brake line.

i was considering changing the saddle to get back a bit, but that option was about 285 euros at the cheapest. i now have the riding position that i wanted for an overall cost of about 3 euros for 1 meter of 40mm x 10mm steel bar

more money for beer!