Hiya,

My new Sportster Iron 883 is great, except for a couple of annoyances - the crappy front end (soon to be treated to progressive fork springs, slightly heavier oil...blah blah) and the cursed rear brake pedal!

With the mid controls fitted, the brake pedal height is too high by at least an inch - I actually use the rear brake so I find it irritating and potentially dangerous to have to physically lift up my size 14s off the peg to press down on the pedal. The pedal should lie just under my foot but there is no way to adjust the pedal to sit lower (apart from a small bit at the master cylinder end which makes no real difference). Pretty poor design Harley!

So..I have just fitted forward controls - and the damn pedal is even higher! Of course the long linkage from the pedal to the actuating arm by the master cylinder is a single piece of rod - unlike the shifter pedal side which is adjustable.

Anyway, enough complaining...what I need to do is either: 1) bend the brake pedal lever so it is around 1-1.5 inches lower at the working end - I note Kuryakyn make pedals just like this but not, of course, for the Sportster! I also don't have either enough heat or a bleeding great machine to do this or 2) Install a shorter/adjustable linkage for the forwards. Again, I'm aware of some adjustable linkages being available but none seem to be quite what I need.

Now surely I'm not the only Sporty owner who has come across this problem and I'm determined to sort it out. So is there anyone out there who has overcome this poorly-designed foot pedal design?

Cheers,
BigAl
Caversham, UK

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist, but a size 14 on an 883 Iron, only brings one thought to mind...

 

It's kind of hard to pin poor design on H-D because your size 14 foot doesn't fit the pedal. The majority of people that they're marketing the bike to don't have that kind of small boat resting on the brake pedal. I'm a fairly average sized guy at 6', 220 with a 10.5 shoe size and I wear size 11 steel toe Doc Marten's when I ride and find the mids perfectly fine. Have you talked to the dealer or a certified H-D mechanic to see if it can be adjusted or did you just base that on your opinion? I don't know if they can adjust it or not, and it seems irrelevant now if you switched to forwards, but I would have at least asked at the service desk if it was possible. Or maybe the Iron just isn't the bike for you.

 

On current models, brake pedal height on a stock assembly is not adjustable.

 

Could you cut the connecting rod in the middle and slip a tight fitting stainless heavy duty tubing over it and get a guy to weld it after you adjust for length you need?
(assuming the rod is stainless)
Pete

 

Just ride it a while...maybe with your foot on the rear brake...the Pedal height will lower.

 

I wear size 12 boots and kinda wish my pedal was about an inch higher on my Nightster. I guess everyone has their own preferences. I agree, I think that it should be adjustable to a certain degree.

 

Guys in the states, be aware that he is giving UK shoe sizes not US shoes sizes, they're different.

I have an Iron and I dont have massive feet and I do find that I have to move my feet a lot to apply the back brake, but it doesn't really bother me.

Anyway, if you're ever going up to the Ace cafe, give me a shout, we can compare bikes!

 

If that's the case, a UK size 14 is a US size 15.

 

Ha ha!

You can get a shorter connecting rod. That will rotate your pedal forward but if you need to go alot you'll need to add an angled extension to the pedal to get the "lever" back.