Suburban pegs and shift lever report.

[Couchrocket]

04 RT. "Large" rider, 30" inseam, chubby legs.

 

My RT always felt a little cramped in the knees and my right hip after several hours in the saddle. By the end of several long days on the road it was enough to "almost" wish for the comfort of my GL1800, and began to chew into the joy of a tour.

 

I finally bought Suburban's driver peg lowering kit, and their matching replacement shift lever. (Don't know why it took me so long to give this a try.)

 

I first only installed the pegs, and did a test hop. Nice, and after a couple of hours my knees and hip were very fine. A big difference. The shifter's new "relative" position actually made up shifts easier, but required a lifting of the foot (not just my boot toe) in order to down shift. I figured I'd give it a while before deciding whether to install the Suburban lever. Took off on a hop from L.A. to Monterey and back (900 miles or so) and never really got used to the shifter. Too awkward when needing quick gear changes "down" . . .

 

Installed the Suburban shift lever and the position of the lever-to-peg is back to normal and very comfortable -- increasing my overall satisfaction w/ the lowered pegs "a whole bunch." Two days of around 8 hours each in the saddle and nary a squawk from knees or hips. Happy camper.

 

Clearance to "dragging" pegs is reduced a bit, but since I'm a pretty sedate rider I still never got close to dragging anything going up PCH through Big Sur, etc. So, for me at least, that's not an issue at all.

 

Shift lever isn't "easy" to install, but isn't all that difficult either if you have the assistance of someone who is good with a wrench. My friend Doug made it look pretty easy as I assisted w/ the operation.

 

Good equipment, well made, looks OEM on the bike.

 

No connection, usual disclaimer, just happy customer.

[dawn]

Great info Scott. I put the peg lowering kit on mine but missed the replacement shift lever. I've seen the lever extenders but not one that relocates it. Got a link?

 

Thanks,

[paulcbrowne]

http://www.suburban-machinery.com/R1200RT.htm

[Couchrocket]

Thanks Paul!

[Couchrocket]

Shifter change-out for an R1200 looks like it would be about a two minute job, compared to the R11xx shifter!

 

Sweet . . .

[dawn]

Thanks!

[TMH]

I had the peg lowering kit only for my 1150RT, which did help. Much more fiddly on that bike, though, getting the shifter and brake pedal where I wanted them. Removed the kit from the 1150 when I bought the 1200.

 

I don't know why but I put the kit onto the 1200RT and the positions of the shifter and brake pedal were very near perfect, without any additional fiddling.

 

I am a believer in the Sub Mach stuff as well. My only thought is that if you are looking at trying their peg lowering kit on your R12, you might want to buy/try that alone first, and only buy the extra shifter stuff if you find you need it. I sure didn't.

 

Tom

[Jon_M]

Has anyone tried the Touratech shift lever extender? It seems to offer a lot more adjustment options than the one from Suburban Machinery. See it here: Shifter. Look at the instructions pdf to see how it goes on.