Hi everyone,
I have a Cali Stone with pegs rather than footboards. .I am 5’10’ but long in the leg and on long rides I feel cramped in my legs. I have heard that replacing the pegs with footboards will give me an extra inch of legroom. I had a look at an EV today but could not convince myself that they were lower than the pegs. Does anyone have first hand experience of this?
Yes. They do lower the feet some.
floorboards convertion
Must admit, I prefer footboards to pegs on a Cali.
Comfy, and they just seem to suit the nature of the bike once you get used to them .
Daz
My Cali has footboards and I find them comfy because they provide a variety of places to put my feet. For me, it’s this ability to move my feet around, rather than extra space as such, that keeps cramp from becoming a problem.
I have foot boards on my Cali, with the standard seat I was cramping up a lot so I changed to a Corbin seat which is higher than the standard one so gives a bit more leg room.
Another advantage of the Corbin is you sit further back and now my knee fits behind the left cylinder whereas before it wouldn’t.
The best option is to have the seat redone to be fair, mind footboards conversion is NOT cheap as it involves
Lower Frame
Footboards and rubbers
Gear change pedal and linkage
Footbrake and linkage
IF you buy 2nd hand frame lowers you may need new bushes
Not every one gets on with the heel toe gears and the footbrake, It takes a fair bit of fettling to make sure the gear change and footbrake is set correctly to YOU. The clutch needs to be set spot on too.
IF you get it right neutral is easy to find, it clicks into 1st with NO bang in fact so quiet I have to stamp the pedal to make sure it has gone into gear.
The footbrake needs adjusting so it is useable witha toe and heel on the board for slow take off a bit of speed braking, and so you can pop your heel on the wee spigot for more pressure and in Town.
Those are fair comments about the seat. I have the optional Guzzi touring seat which does provide that bit more height.
[QUOTE=guzzibear] The best option is to have the seat redone to be fair, mind footboards conversion is NOT cheap as it involves
Â
Lower Frame
Footboards and rubbers
Gear change pedal and linkage
Footbrake and linkage
 etc etc etc
[/QUOTE]
I won’t argue about a seat convertion but the rest here is only true if you want to use guzzi parts. The harpers floorboards convertion for stone and similar models is a simple plug and play. No need to bugger about with frame rails etc. Still not cheap but I am very happy with mine and would not go back to pegs.lawries2013-07-11 07:10:27
This is all food for thought. The Harper’s conversion looks to be simple and high quality (thanks for the link Lawrie) but is more money than I want to spend at the moment. I may go for a gel seat pad as an interim solution.
I fitted a Corbin seat to my old Jackal which is a similar model to the Stone and it transformed the bike from a real pain in the ass to a great cruiser.N
Nickrs2013-07-18 02:55:18
Northwest has one for sale
For sale one Cali EV Corbin seat, thin blue stripe, used.£140 plus postage which will not be cheap, can pickup from Blackburn (Lancs) areaPM me if intestested
Does anyone know of a UK supplier for the Harper’s footboard conversion kit?
Cheers,
Richard
It will not work the same buddy you could be wasting alot of dosh.
To swap from pegs to boards on a cali you WILL need
Lower frame rails, both sides
Brake pedal and linkage
Gearchange pedal and linkage
Footboards WITH rubbers
Side stand and fittings
Happily all the Cali type can be retro fitted SO look on e-bay and the usual breakers Reboot/Gutsibits/NBSPossibly Ex Smokingbiker as he has some Convert spares.
Sometimes your local dealer where someone else has swapped t’other way not everyone gets on with the brake/heel toe gearchange
The Harpers conversion looks like you do not need to change the frame rails because the boards bolt into the footrest mounts on the existing frame rails.
I would personally get the seat height increased- this way you get the extra legroom, more comfort and you keep the half decent ground clearance that the pegs give you.
Are we saying that all those footboard Calis out there don’t have enough ground clearance? I have never yet touched a peg down on my Stone so I don’t think reduction in ground clearance will be an issue.
Never ever touched a footboard down, the center stand spigots hit the deck well before then…I did manage to rip one of those out…
Heck if you want to corner harder than that a Cali IS the wrong bike for sure.
I actually checked the V1000 one time , with some help to hold it, BUT with the footboards lifted that wee bit the centre stand hits one side and before the footboards hit the deck the crash bars will be grinding along the road.
Not tried it on the Cali 3 or EV tho’.
The OEM Cali type set up allows the heel toe gearchange and the footbrake, to just pop boards on would leave you with the standard gear shift, more difficult with footboards.
Have to say EVERY bike I have seen with OEM footboards Harley OR Guzzi have heel toe gearchange and different to the footrest footbrake.
Before just popping non standard boards it MAY be worth checking insurance? Especially in these days where SOME insurers treat add on decals as “non standard” additions and more than 5 or so they add on a charge…
Ther “could” be an argument for them to affect control, it may sound nuts BUT the time to find out is NOT after a problem.
guzzibear2013-11-30 21:12:09
I mentioned the ground clearance because those Harpers boards do sit a fair bit lower than the pegs. I agree the pegs are hard to touch down which is the great thing about the Jackal / Stone- it is a Tonti framed cruiser which is great in the twisties.
…and I still have no idea where to buy them in the UK!
Could you contact Harpers and ask about UK & European stockists?
Just a thought
Steve
Good point Steve. Lets see what Harpers have to say.
Richard