Outtomunch
Member
I lost my right leg (BK) many moons ago and have been riding bikes ever since, never bothering with the back brake just using the front.
Having spent the last year in a wheelchair after a big off, and now starting to get mobile again on a new tin leg, I've closed the door on 40 years of two wheeled fun and got myself a F3-S to see what all the fuss is about.
The standard r/h brake is a big no for me, as I don't have enough strength/feel to operate it safely, so my options were a hand brake conversion or swap the brake pedal to the l/h side. After much deliberation, I decided to bite the bullet and work out a way of swapping the brake pedal over, and to retain it as a foot operated brake.
The work was carried out here in England by Second City Customs. One of the best custom bike builders over here and with great fabrication/machining skills, so if you're UK based and want to do similar, these are the guys to talk to.
Hopefully the following will give you a good idea of what's involved and if you're reasonably handy with machine tools and a welder, I hope there's enough info to get you going. Any questions, fire away and I'll do my best to answer
Bike converted is a 2021 F3-S
Simply put, the brake pedal and rod was removed. The lever that bears upon the master cylinder was left in place, no alterations there.
The 'cat' was removed and a link pipe put in place, mostly to create more room under the bike, but also 'cos it sounds nice.
A 'transfer' box was machined up; essentially a billet box with a bearing at each end and a rod running through it. The box was fitted with mounting brackets and bolts to the underside of the subframe. One end of a rod goes to the pivot of the existing r/h lever (that the original brake rod was attached to) and the other end of the rod that exits on the l/h side of the bike is fitted with an identical lever.
It was then 'just' a case of butchering the old brake lever to make it a l/h lever and running a rod from the foot brake to the new lever mounted on the 'transfer' rod.
You'll notice a couple of things on the photos; it was hard to show the angle but the l/h lever is inboard of the belt. If it wasn't and the rod ran through the upper/lower belt run, the belt would hit the rod when the suspension was compressed (DAMHIK
).
Also, we built in some adjustability into the brake rod via a threaded section. I can move the pedal foot pad back or forward to suit. You'll also notice the bolts in the brake pedal, this allows me to raise or lower the foot pad and thus increase/decrease brake feel. Once I have it how I like it, then a one piece pedal will be made up.
Hope that all makes sense, as I said, any questions fire away.
Photos:
Where's the brake lever gone?
Where's the brake rod gone? Lever left in place and link pipe replacing the 'cat'
So, this is taken from below the bike. The 'transfer' box is running along the R/h side of the picture (across the bike) and the mounting bracket to its left. There's also a mount, out of shot, on the other side.
L/h side of the transfer box and the pivot arm (inboard of the belt)
Adjustable brake rod
Ah, that's where the brake lever went! Also shows the height adjustment via several holes and bolts.
Andres
Having spent the last year in a wheelchair after a big off, and now starting to get mobile again on a new tin leg, I've closed the door on 40 years of two wheeled fun and got myself a F3-S to see what all the fuss is about.
The standard r/h brake is a big no for me, as I don't have enough strength/feel to operate it safely, so my options were a hand brake conversion or swap the brake pedal to the l/h side. After much deliberation, I decided to bite the bullet and work out a way of swapping the brake pedal over, and to retain it as a foot operated brake.
The work was carried out here in England by Second City Customs. One of the best custom bike builders over here and with great fabrication/machining skills, so if you're UK based and want to do similar, these are the guys to talk to.
Hopefully the following will give you a good idea of what's involved and if you're reasonably handy with machine tools and a welder, I hope there's enough info to get you going. Any questions, fire away and I'll do my best to answer
Bike converted is a 2021 F3-S
Simply put, the brake pedal and rod was removed. The lever that bears upon the master cylinder was left in place, no alterations there.
The 'cat' was removed and a link pipe put in place, mostly to create more room under the bike, but also 'cos it sounds nice.
A 'transfer' box was machined up; essentially a billet box with a bearing at each end and a rod running through it. The box was fitted with mounting brackets and bolts to the underside of the subframe. One end of a rod goes to the pivot of the existing r/h lever (that the original brake rod was attached to) and the other end of the rod that exits on the l/h side of the bike is fitted with an identical lever.
It was then 'just' a case of butchering the old brake lever to make it a l/h lever and running a rod from the foot brake to the new lever mounted on the 'transfer' rod.
You'll notice a couple of things on the photos; it was hard to show the angle but the l/h lever is inboard of the belt. If it wasn't and the rod ran through the upper/lower belt run, the belt would hit the rod when the suspension was compressed (DAMHIK
).Also, we built in some adjustability into the brake rod via a threaded section. I can move the pedal foot pad back or forward to suit. You'll also notice the bolts in the brake pedal, this allows me to raise or lower the foot pad and thus increase/decrease brake feel. Once I have it how I like it, then a one piece pedal will be made up.
Hope that all makes sense, as I said, any questions fire away.
Photos:
Where's the brake lever gone?
Where's the brake rod gone? Lever left in place and link pipe replacing the 'cat'
So, this is taken from below the bike. The 'transfer' box is running along the R/h side of the picture (across the bike) and the mounting bracket to its left. There's also a mount, out of shot, on the other side.
L/h side of the transfer box and the pivot arm (inboard of the belt)
Adjustable brake rod
Ah, that's where the brake lever went!
Also shows the height adjustment via several holes and bolts.Andres
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