Quick Review: RIVCO Can-Am Passenger Floorboards

[daveinva]

http://www.rivcoproducts.com/products/product.php?productid=703&cat=435&page=1

Last weekend was the first time I've had the GF ride on the back of my Spyder RS. It took all of 20 minutes to realize that at 5'9", the stock passenger pegs weren't going to cut it-- too high and too far back.

Having already installed the RIVCO driver floorboards, I figured I'd go for the matching set. In addition to the passenger floorboards, I ordered the 5" relocation arms to lower and bring the boards forward. I didn't want to go with the 7" ones, RIVCO doesn't recommend them if you want to use the driver pegs-- even though I have the driver floorboards, I find myself using the driver "sport" pegs fairly often, so I was reluctant to use the 7" arms. My GF can tough it out

I used 3-day shipping, ordered on Sunday night, had it by Thursday afternoon. Both the boards and the relocation arms include the identical set of instructions, they cover both installs.

THE GOOD:
-- Install is SUPER easy. Unlike the RIVCO floorboards and highway pegs, which requires a jack and a lot of swearing, absolutely anyone can install these in less than an hour, closer to 30 minutes even.
-- Fit and finish is top notch. RIVCO makes nice stuff. I don't think their stuff is as nice as ISCI, but I like it better than KewlMetal, a happy medium for the price.
-- The boards are adjustable to multiple angles, even without the relocation arms. Quite comfy!

THE NOT SO GOOD:
-- Install *is* super easy, but the instructions still managed to confuse me, I had the relocation arms flipped at one point and was wondering why they wouldn't screw in right. The good news is, there's only one way for them TO work right, so you'll eventually realize they go on one way only.
-- For some inexplicable reason, the allen screw to attach the floorboard is a different size hex than the one to attach the relocation arm, so you'll need two different size allen wrenchs (I don't know which size off the top of my head, but they're so close to the same size I don't know why they *aren't* the same size).
-- The boards and relocation arms adjust to multiple angles, but the movement is limited at the lowest 5" arm setting; the right-side board will hit the stock exhaust in all but one or two angles. No biggie, just something to note.
-- Lastly, the boards are advertised as able to "fold in", but unfortunately the mount is constructed in such a way as to preclude a complete 90 degree folding in, the boards fold in at most about 70 degrees. No biggie, but it would have been nice to fold in completely.

THE BAD:
-- The leftside passenger floorboard precludes you from easily using the RS parking brake. I've managed to finagle my boot down in there, but that's with the driver floorboards and sport pegs installed; I think it might be harder to do that with the stock RS pegs. Either way, after the install it's NOT easy to use the parking brake while seated on the Spyder, so be sure to plan ahead when you park.

FINAL VERDICT: :thumbup: GF is comfy on the Spyder, the boards look nice, the install was easy as pie. A few quirks, but they don't ruin a thing.

 

[Bob Denman]

:2thumbs:
By any chance could you get us a picture of the left side/ parking brake clearance issues? Thanks! :clap:

 

[daveinva]

:2thumbs:
By any chance could you get us a picture of the left side/ parking brake clearance issues? Thanks! :clap:

Will do when I get home. Like I said, I could reach the brake by pointing my toes down and wiggling in, but it was hard to push the brake all the way in. Not a problem on level ground, but on a hill I can see it being a pain.

Of course, that's using the relocation arms-- without the arms, the footboards won't block the parking brake at all, and if you chose to set the relocation arms higher, you might not have this problem either.

I forget, doesn't someone make a parking brake pedal extension for the RS? Seems like that'd help out here...

EDITED: Yup, ISCI does... http://www.industrialspecialty.com/ISCI - Spyder Parts.htm#parkingbrake, they also have the curved extension for use with footboards. I'm thinking it'd solve the problem here (IF it's a problem... for $80-$120 extra, this might be a problem I'm okay living with )

 

[daveinva]

Photos of the install (pardon the dirty Spyder, she needs a bath pps

Here you can see where the floorboard sits with the 5" relocation arm. The 7" would bring it even more forward, but then it likely interferes with the driver footpegs when set at its lowest level.



Here you can see how far the floorboards fold up (not very with the relocation arms installed, unfortunately).



Lastly, you see how little space there is to reach the parking brake. You *can* get to it, but you have to wiggle, and thus it's very hard to push the brake all the way down (like many, it takes all 4 or so clicks of my brake to do anything at all). I'm definitely ordering the ISCI parking brake extension now to increase my confidence.



Again, despite these minor shortcomings, they're a very nice set of boards, and I would buy them again. :thumbup:

 

[Bob Denman]

Thanks Dave! Your pictures will help to make it easy for folks to decide for themselves... :2thumbs::clap: