For those of you out there with home made forward controls

I know there's a few of ya out there that made their own forward controls. That's what I'm gonna have to do real soon. Anybody got some nice detailed pics of what they have? I'm not quite sure what I want them to look like. Maybe a few pics will get the imagination going. I do know I don't have the money to buy them, and even if I did have the money, I still wouldn't. Unless 20 minutes with Pamela Andersen is included with the controls, they are way overpriced. Thanks for any help.

 

PainterD has some on his bobber. I think if you look at his gallery pics you might be able to see them.

 

Try this site.
http://www.tcbroschoppers.com/id19.html

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

Yes, I've made a couple sets of forward controls in the past few years. I just copied the way the forward controls were made on my Honda Shadow...kinda.
First you will need some kind of mount to start with to mount the controls (shifter and brake lever) to. I used 1/4" plate steel to bolt to the front engine mounts> I needed to use 1/2" longer bolts there. Then I used a rod between the two plates to make them solid. Without the brace between the two plates, the plate on the brake side would bend a little when applied hard. I used a shifter and brake levers from other bikes that were scrapped out. I mounted them to the plates with the proper size bolts. I mounted the foor pegs (or in my case, mini floorboards) just below the controls. Now I needed to connect the levers. I used 1/4" round stock on the shifter side, cut to length and threaded on each end (metric) I used 3/8" rod on the brake side, so it wouldn't bend when the brakes were applid hard. It worked just fine.
It takes a bit of measuring and cutting and re-measuring, etc. to get it just right and get the levers right where I wanted them. I threaded the rods a bit longer than I needed to allow for some adjustment when I was done and I'm glad I did.
I may be hard to see just how I made them, but you get an idea:

 

Thanks, Painter.
I think my biggest problem is finding a way to make the pivot for the pedals. Guess my best bet is to use some exisiting parts and pieces and modify them to fit my bike.
Again, thanks.
Is that diamond cut on the motor fins? That looks sweet.

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

Thanks! The diamond looking "bling" on the fins are just cut at an angle with a dremel tool. It worked out pretty well. You just have to take your time and get the angle right. I need to polish mine yet to get them to sparkle more.

 

I want to add that PaniterD's bobber is truely a work of engeering. He has gone to the salvage yards and come up with some amazing stuff on his bike. After riding with him on one of our MN rides his bike was running real sweet the whole way. He has the Seca gearing and the Maxim rear wheel (which is smaller) That gives him better use of the power band of that engine. (It Has Great Exceleration) But the down side is he has to fill up more often. Not cncerned about MPG when your havin fun. Hope to ride with him again in the spring

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

Mn-maxim,
Yes, we will ride together again this summer I'm sure. I didn't seem to get out this past year as much as I wanted to. There was just too much other activities going on.
The mileage on my bike wasn't so much to do with the smaller wheel, although I'm sure that has a little to do with it. I swapped the Seca rear wheel back on it for a week to see the difference in RPM and gas mileage. There didn't seem to be any big difference in either one, so I went back to the smaller wheel (it just looks better and sits lower again)
I am blaming the lesser mileage on the mods I made to the engine. I have a Uni-foam filter installed, more open exhaust and some re-jetting done to the engine. That's when the gas mileage seemed to go down significantly.
The wheel size is stock on the 750 Maxim, which is the same gearing as my Seca and it doesn't really change the gearing as one may think. I wan't looking for any better performance (it ROCKS just fine already), it was just to lower the rear and looks better with the wider tire.

Looking forward to riding with you this summer! >PD<

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

Just to give you some other ideas, here are some pics of what I did for my Maxim-X chopper. After riding this past summer with the set-up, I'm real happy with the placement and solid feel.

 

johno that is one nice bike, damn

 

Up until now, I haven't had much of an interest in forward controls. But the ones I'm seeing here are awesome looking. I'm assuming that it's mostly trial and error and measure and cut fab work?

 

this might sound stupid but don't your pant legs blow up around your knees?

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

To keep my pant legs from blowing up, I wear what are called "sturups". which are just little bungy cords that go under my boots to keep my pant legs down. Or another trick is to use the small bungys around the pant legs (like touser blowsers in the military) that works well also.
If I wear tighter parts, I don't seem to need them however.

 

I have used leather chaps all along and don't have any problems with flapping pants, road rash, or bug juice on my jeans.

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

I guess when it comes to forward controls, it's all about the riding position it gives the rider. If I had to explain it, you wouldn't understand. It gives the rider the feeling of sitting "in" the bike and not "on" it for me. I can't imagine riding for any distance in any other position, but for some it's just the opposite. I have friends with sport touring bikes that sit with their feet directly below them and like it. I just like the laid-back postion for cruising as I'm not an agressive rider.

 

If you're looking for an inexpensive option, you can flip your current foot pegs and mount them on the opposite sides where your front motor mounts are with longer bolts, and then just make new linkage. That's how I'm running my bike, and it works great. It also looks like it 'fits' the bike much better since it's all the original parts instead of having big bulky floorboards. The only downside is it keeps your legs pretty close to the engine.

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

That's not a good idea. You don't have good control with your bike while riding with your feet so close to the pipes. You need some type of mount coming off the lower engine mounts to have your footpegs mounted to, so you have some place for the control arms to pivot off of.
Just look at how factory forward controls are made. They have a small plate the the footpeg and the shifter/brake lever mount to so they can pivot.

 

PainterD is right about the control issues concern...he is also bang-on about the riding position you get with forward controls!

 

Re: For those of you out there with home made forward contro

Johno8,
Okay, here's the $25000.00 question. Where did you get those rims for the bike? I would love to put something like those on my 650 maxim. Thanks.

 

WesleyJN1975:

Those rims are the original rims the bike came with...plus about 100+ hours of sandblasting, aqnd polishing them with the tried and true various stages of polishing compounds, a dremel tool, plus a drill. I gave up trying to finish them last year because of the time spent on them. Hoping to finish the polishing to a mirror-like shine this Spring...but I'm totally rewiring the bike as we speak...priorities eh?