[banditrider]

Had a wee (actually vee) off today. Very minimal damage to the bike (and none to me) but I did break end off the gear lever. Thanks to a guy with a couple of large spanners we were able to bend it a tad so I could ride home and use all the available gears :thumbup:

But, can anyone suggest where can I get a new gear lever with a folding end that fits?

 

[nhbubba]

I did something similar. Repaired it with a bolt, nut, some permanent thread lock, and my tap & die set.

 

[honest bob]

The cat's meow:yesnod:Studebaker Folding Foot Shift Lever - DL650 all years

 

[bwringer]

The cat's meow:yesnod:Studebaker Folding Foot Shift Lever - DL650 all years

That's nice, but it doesn't fit the VEE.



This looks promising... Touratech DL1000 Shift Lever


I know some folks have bolted on a DR650 lever, but this places the end of the lever pretty far forward.

Now, if only we could find a decent replacement brake lever for the Vee that's not $99... According to this thread, the Touratech Wee brake pedal fits the Vee just fine. It's just ass-crampingly expensive. :furious:

 

[greywolf]

Folding-Shift-Lever-Suzuki-V-Strom-DL1000 - Touratech-USA

 

[honest bob]

:headbang: My bad. Another good reason to buy a wee:green_lol:

 

[teevee]

have had the touratech for several months now an love it. huge improvement over the totally unnecessary stock linkage. much easier shifts and better feel.

 

[banditrider]

Thanks for all the replies. Might have to look into the Touratech jobbie - the NZ$ is really high against the US at the mo'...

Although I think there is a Touratech outlet in Oz - time to Google...

 

[wingnut11]

DR shift lever

I'm using a DR 650 lever on the vee. It's steel and has a folding end on it. best part is it was only about $20(u.s.$). It works like a charm. It does sit a little far forward, but I think it's only a problem if you have smaller feet, but at size 11 (again u.s. size) it's not been a problem.

 

[bwringer]

I have size 12 (47 euro) foot flaps, but I wouldn't want the shifter any further forward. Everyone's preferences are different, I guess... :thumbup:

Anyhoo, I just pulled the trigger on the Touratech lever ($9.45 to ship one stinkin' little lever? :furious: ).

What I'm mostly after is to get rid of the significant amount slop in the stock linkage. The increased "survivability" is somewhat secondary to me, personally.

 

[banditrider]

Ordered the Touratech lever out of Oz last night. Shipping to NZ was about Oz$11. Shipping from Europe was ridiculous and I couldn't seem to get the US website to play ball (probably would have been cheaper though :evil.

Will keep the old bent up one for my spare...and with any luck never need it! :thumbup:

 

[Craig Jackman]

have had the touratech for several months now an love it. huge improvement over the totally unnecessary stock linkage. much easier shifts and better feel.

I could not agree more. No lubing the shift pivot point, no shift linkage to fall off ... shift lever attaches directly to the shift shaft, the way it was intended to be.

 

[bwringer]

I could not agree more. No lubing the shift pivot point, no shift linkage to fall off ... shift lever attaches directly to the shift shaft, the way it was intended to be.

Excellent -- exactly what I'm hoping for. :hurray:

Now, if only the damn thing would get here faster... Indy is a loooong way from Seattle.

 

[greywolf]

There are 2 downsides. One is a lever attached directly to the splined shaft has no fine adjustment for height. It means changing by at least one spline or bending the arm. The other is a small chance a drop can damage the shifter shaft or even a case. Fixing that is not trivial.

 

[cwadej]

I spliced in a 3/4" section to make my stock arm longer. I've looked at the Touratech one, but pricey and dont really want to splice it or go short again.

So what years DR650 shift levers fit the Vee?

 

[hodgkins]

I would think any. I dont think that bike has had any updates since it came out. I put one on mine and cut out 1" to make it fit my needs.

 

[Craig Jackman]

There are 2 downsides. One is a lever attached directly to the splined shaft has no fine adjustment for height. It means changing by at least one spline or bending the arm. The other is a small chance a drop can damage the shifter shaft or even a case. Fixing that is not trivial.

I haven't noticed the lack of fine adjustment to be an issue, but that may just be me. I'm perhaps more easy going in that adjustments don't have to be nano-meter precise. I would think that any drop onto a Touratech shift lever that would cause damage to the shift shaft or engine case, would cause near identical damage with the stock shift linkage.

 

[Digger2]

Nice

Like that and cheap

QUOTE=honest bob;716190]The cat's meow:yesnod:Studebaker Folding Foot Shift Lever - DL650 all years[/QUOTE]

 

[wingnut11]

There are 2 downsides. One is a lever attached directly to the splined shaft has no fine adjustment for height. It means changing by at least one spline or bending the arm. The other is a small chance a drop can damage the shifter shaft or even a case. Fixing that is not trivial.

There may be a slight increase to the chances of damaging the shifter shaft. But I think in most cases the advantage of having a folding shifter outweighs the disadvantages. Even if the shaft breaks replacing it is not much worse than changing the front sprocket. Same thing goes for the cast piece that holds the shaft itself. While this damage is not trivial and would almost certainly end a ride it is fairly easy to fix.

 

[EC90T]

There are 2 downsides. One is a lever attached directly to the splined shaft has no fine adjustment for height. It means changing by at least one spline or bending the arm. The other is a small chance a drop can damage the shifter shaft or even a case. Fixing that is not trivial.

I look at both of those issues as a non-issue. Motocross/dirt bikes have had direct shifters for decades and neither one of these are issues with them. And before you go spouting off about the weight difference between the two machines, just remember the dirtbike will hit the ground a lot more and at faster speeds. This will more than offset the weight issue.