Floorboard Brake Pedal
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 73
Likes: 37
From: Tucson, Arizona!
I talked to Whit who is making these brackets and he said you can angle the bracket so you can run your floorboard in a toes up/heel down position which is how I currently have my boards. I also ride with my heels on the front of my boards and toes on my footpegs. So I was worried about putting this brake bracket on too, thinking I would be riding around with my rear brake always on. Whit told me that he rides the same way and that it actually takes more pressure than just resting your heel on the board to activate your rear brake. I tried this out with my current brake pedal and he's right. It does take a lot more pressure then you may realize to engage your brake. So I ordered one and its on the way. I'll post back once I have it and have given it a trial run.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,182
Likes: 0
From: Phoenix
I talked to Whit who is making these brackets and he said you can angle the bracket so you can run your floorboard in a toes up/heel down position which is how I currently have my boards. I also ride with my heels on the front of my boards and toes on my footpegs. So I was worried about putting this brake bracket on too, thinking I would be riding around with my rear brake always on. Whit told me that he rides the same way and that it actually takes more pressure than just resting your heel on the board to activate your rear brake. I tried this out with my current brake pedal and he's right. It does take a lot more pressure then you may realize to engage your brake. So I ordered one and its on the way. I'll post back once I have it and have given it a trial run.
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 73
Likes: 37
From: Tucson, Arizona!
I put Whitbrake on my bike and have been riding with it for almost two weeks now. I saw the article about the brake in one of the Bagger mags and was very interested. I talked to Whit himself, asked a bunch of questions and was satisfied enough to buy one. The changeover is very simple. The whole process took about 30 minutes. I made the change because I have issues with the position of rear brake pedal and getting my foot stuck underneath the pedal.
The bracket holding the floorboard is very stout and fit into the floorboard with no problem. Once on the bike and in position the board now sits with a toe up/heel down position. It sits with toes up about ź” more than normal board position. This makes it easy to push down when braking. The board also sits out as far as it was before the change and I was using board extenders on my bike. If you boards are still in the stock position (i.e. close to the exhaust pipe) then you will notice the board now sitting father from the pipe.
Using the brake is straight forward, just push down on the front of the board and you’re braking. I know that some riders expressed concern about accidentally activating the rear brake. Based on my riding experience this would very hard to do. You have to physical push down in the front of the board to work the brake and it is noticeable physical action. I do ride around with my toes on my highway pegs and heels on the front of my floorboards so I was concerned about having my rear brake “on” without knowing it. But like I said you have push down to activate the brake and you WILL know that you’re pushing down. As far as standing on the floorboard while riding, I tried that out too and didn’t have problem, you have rotate you foot forward to activate the brake.
One thing I like about this brake setup is that it takes a lot of down pressure to lock-up the rear brake. In the past with standard petal setup it was/is very easy to lock up the rear wheel. Now I have to really push down to lock-up the rear brake which is something you don’t really want to do anyway. I’m saying it’s harder to as in it takes more pressure to lock-up the brake it is just a lot more noticeable physical action now when pushing down with you the front of you foot.
As with anything you change on your bike when it comes to rider setup there is going to be a learning curve. When using the brake the first few times it seems almost natural action to brake and because I was thinking about rear braking it didn’t seem like much. However, when it came to using the brake without thinking about it my first reaction was of course to lift my foot up and push on the brake pedal. Of course the pedal’s gone and for a brief nano-second it was an attention getting situation. A few more practice runs at emergency stopping got me in a happy place when it comes to braking. Bottom line, this is a nice change to rear braking. Is it better than current rear braking? That’s up to the rider. This rider likes change. I don’t have to worry about getting my boot stuck underneath the brake pedal and now it would be very hard to lock-up my rear wheel whereas in the past it was very easy to do. I can still get full rear braking without locking up the rear.
The bracket holding the floorboard is very stout and fit into the floorboard with no problem. Once on the bike and in position the board now sits with a toe up/heel down position. It sits with toes up about ź” more than normal board position. This makes it easy to push down when braking. The board also sits out as far as it was before the change and I was using board extenders on my bike. If you boards are still in the stock position (i.e. close to the exhaust pipe) then you will notice the board now sitting father from the pipe.
Using the brake is straight forward, just push down on the front of the board and you’re braking. I know that some riders expressed concern about accidentally activating the rear brake. Based on my riding experience this would very hard to do. You have to physical push down in the front of the board to work the brake and it is noticeable physical action. I do ride around with my toes on my highway pegs and heels on the front of my floorboards so I was concerned about having my rear brake “on” without knowing it. But like I said you have push down to activate the brake and you WILL know that you’re pushing down. As far as standing on the floorboard while riding, I tried that out too and didn’t have problem, you have rotate you foot forward to activate the brake.
One thing I like about this brake setup is that it takes a lot of down pressure to lock-up the rear brake. In the past with standard petal setup it was/is very easy to lock up the rear wheel. Now I have to really push down to lock-up the rear brake which is something you don’t really want to do anyway. I’m saying it’s harder to as in it takes more pressure to lock-up the brake it is just a lot more noticeable physical action now when pushing down with you the front of you foot.
As with anything you change on your bike when it comes to rider setup there is going to be a learning curve. When using the brake the first few times it seems almost natural action to brake and because I was thinking about rear braking it didn’t seem like much. However, when it came to using the brake without thinking about it my first reaction was of course to lift my foot up and push on the brake pedal. Of course the pedal’s gone and for a brief nano-second it was an attention getting situation. A few more practice runs at emergency stopping got me in a happy place when it comes to braking. Bottom line, this is a nice change to rear braking. Is it better than current rear braking? That’s up to the rider. This rider likes change. I don’t have to worry about getting my boot stuck underneath the brake pedal and now it would be very hard to lock-up my rear wheel whereas in the past it was very easy to do. I can still get full rear braking without locking up the rear.
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 894
Likes: 1
From: Huntersville, NC
How about some pictures and do they have the heel/toe shifter the same? I would still be scared to try it but it is a pretty neat concept and would be great for my size 14 boot.
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Banned
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,719
Likes: 1
I saw a set of those at J&P Cycles last year during October Fest in Daytona...
I was intrigued by them, they had both the shifter and brake assembly on an older bike. I've got a prob with my right leg which won't allow me to extend my foot forward of 95° from the leg, so I think they are out for me. But still interesting...
I was intrigued by them, they had both the shifter and brake assembly on an older bike. I've got a prob with my right leg which won't allow me to extend my foot forward of 95° from the leg, so I think they are out for me. But still interesting...
Excellent write up. Thanks for the info, and the time you took to share it with us.