SuzukiSavage.com - DIY mid controls

Stefinstein

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DIY mid controls
02/22/17 at 09:51:19

Hello and welcome,

So after an enquiry from another forum member on my "DIY forward controls" thread, I have made a separate page for mid controls.

Like many of you savage owners I like to modify my thumper to my own tastes in style and comfort. I have recently been looking to find any kind of plans, how to's, drawings, or forum pages on how make your own mid controls. But, as all of us already know we are very limited to the options we have for parts in the retail market. Now we are faced with the options of outrageous prices or building your own set from scratch.

So, here's my proposal;

That this page be used be used for an open source of information on how to make your own forward controls, a collaborative thread for forum members who can offer their ideas/experience/dimensions/drawings/pictures to the forum readers.

I am eager to see the responses this page will get. Hopefully with the collective help of the people reading this we can create the ground works for anyone attempting this feat.

Thanks for your time and your contributions in advance!

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ohiomoto

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Re: DIY mid controls
Reply #1 - 02/22/17 at 10:00:13

I like it. I'll post what I work up when I get started.

There is one really nice example that showed up on here a while ago. They are slightly more "rear set" than what I need, but they were done beautifully.

Here is the thread: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1480200232/0

The more I look at them, the more I might be willing to compromise on my peg placement. He reused the stock shifter and brake pedal in a simple yet effective design.

I was planning on doing something similar and mounting a set of XS400 pegs that will get my feet a little more forward. But it will complicate my shift lever placement compared to the example above, but I'm hoping be able to use a lever straight off the shift shaft in true mid control fashion. I also have a XS400 rear brake pedal, but it won't be a simple to fabricate at the example above.

For the bracket, I found that you can use a set of motor/battery box mounts (on the right in pic below) turned upside down with just a little bit of bending.

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mount.jpg

« Last Edit: 03/23/17 at 10:03:00 by ohiomoto »

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Kenny G Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com The Singles Club...LOL Posts: 1754 Robson Ranch, Denton, Texas Gender:	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #2 - 02/22/17 at 10:14:46 Stefin, I could live with that setup. Kenny G
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Stefinstein

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Re: DIY mid controls
Reply #3 - 02/22/17 at 12:04:33

I feel like the left peg coming thru the belt is an unsafe route unless it was right over the swing arm axle, but that's a pretty high for a set of pegs. Just looking at all the mounting options and I see those two little plates that hold the engine to the frame (they also bolt to the stock battery box) that you are talking about. Those could be remade to wrap around swing arm axle tube and drop down and maybe attach to stock muffler mount bolt (for rigidity).

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ohiomoto Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2825	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #4 - 02/22/17 at 12:21:00 Those are the two plates I mentioned and posted in the picture above. I modified a set to mount upside down then you would basically make something similar to Ryca's mount or the one I posted above. What do you mean by unsafe route? The Ryca style bracket is unsafe?
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Stefinstein YaBB Newbies Offline Mad Scientist Posts: 46 Vancouver Gender:	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #5 - 02/22/17 at 12:24:14 No I'm sure they're well proven, but having it come thru the belt with the oscillation it does might not be the best route. Do you have any close up pictures of your work? Maybe nerdsports can help us with some input on the matter.
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Stefinstein YaBB Newbies Offline Mad Scientist Posts: 46 Vancouver Gender:	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #6 - 02/22/17 at 12:38:53 Does anyone have a pair of these mounting plates handy for some accurate measurements?
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Dave

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Re: DIY mid controls
Reply #7 - 02/22/17 at 12:40:23

Having the mid mount between the top/bottom of the belts is not a problem if you use the pulleys, as they are a large diameter and there is plenty of clearance. It is an issue wihen folks change over to sprockets....the smaller diameter of the sprockets brings the chain too close to the mount, and RYCA does work to clearance them if you are going to use a chain.

This a bad photo.....but it is the only one I have that shows the relationship of the belt to the RYCA mount. This photo has a Kawasaki rear pulley, and it is showing how loose the belt is if you don't also use the Kawasaki front pulley. The bar that extends out to the mounting plate is very far forward, and is almost directly under the swing arm pivot point.

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ohiomoto Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2825	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #8 - 02/22/17 at 12:40:29 No pictures. I just did a little grinding to make them fit and threw them in a box somewhere. I'll probably fab something up here in the next week or two. Finishing up anther part of my project.
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Stefinstein YaBB Newbies Offline Mad Scientist Posts: 46 Vancouver Gender:	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #9 - 02/22/17 at 13:08:53 Dave- thanks for the pic that's not a bad reference at all. If someone can get me the dimension on those little plates I can whip something up. Even a good close straight shot of each one laying on some graph paper would work if you can't figure out how to measure them
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ohiomoto

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Re: DIY mid controls
Reply #10 - 03/22/17 at 07:12:54

I've been working on mine a bit. You can go about it a couple of ways.

I started out doing something like nerdsports did, but mounting the plates on the inside of the frame isn't the best choice for true mid-controls. My pegs are going to be further forward than nerds I think will just put too much leverage and stress on the bracket. That said, you can easily use the battery box/motor brackets to make something similar to his. I would probably still mount the brackets on the outside of the frame like Ryca does though. I think it would be stronger. Probably even strong enough to hold my pegs out front a bit more, but I think the bracket be in the way of my rear brake set up. I think nerds design is about perfect for about anything behind the swingarm pivot.

I'm trying to hang my pegs a bit in front of the pivot, so I'm going make something similar to Ryca's mount. The reason is because they have the mount positioned more forward, under the swingarm pivot. This will be much stronger for those of us who want our pegs in front of the pivot.

I hope to cut and weld mine up by this weekend. I'll try and snag some pictures of some of the ideas that could work (and I'll measure up the plates for Stefinstein too).

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ohiomoto

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Re: DIY mid controls
Reply #11 - 03/23/17 at 09:37:40

This is NOT how I ended up doing my set up but I'm leaving it here because it's a viable solution. The setup I'm using starts on the next page.

-----------------

Here is how you can use a pair of motor/battery box mounts to make a bracket such as nerdsports. I decided against this method because my pegs are going to be much further forward and I think this design might not be strong enough. I think it would be perfect for rear sets or anything behind the swing arm mount.

In this picture, from the top are two stock mounts. Below them are two that have been heated and flattened out (one is also trimmed up a bit). There is a 1" tube with two slots cut that will accept the mounts. The mounts will side into the pipe and then be welded. Note that these slots were cut so that the mounts sit on the inside of the frame mounts. I would cut them to fit on the outside of the frame for more strength.

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IMG_20170322_204635478.jpg

« Last Edit: 01/11/23 at 20:57:45 by ohiomoto »

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ohiomoto Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2825	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #12 - 03/23/17 at 09:43:02 Here is the trimmed plate in the tube. The reason for the trimming is to set the height of the tube so that it clears the belt and swingarm. The more you take off, the higher the tube will be once it's installed.
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ohiomoto

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Re: DIY mid controls
Reply #13 - 03/23/17 at 09:48:35

This is how it would look with the plate mounted to the outside of the frame. Of course the tube would need to be welded and cut down to size as it would likely only need to stick out 2" past the plate. Also, I would use thicker walled tubing. This was just a piece I had lying around. My plan was to use it to mock up my parts and then get something more substantial before I started welding.

Pretty simple. You just add some outer plates to accept your rearsets or peg and lever combination you plan to use. You'll notice that this sits slightly behind the swingarm. So anything in front of the pivot will put a lot of leverage and stress on the bracket. That's why my final design will move the tube forward, right under the pivot. I'll post that up soon. Hopefully before the end of the week.

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IMG_20170322_205056506.jpg

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Kenny G Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com The Singles Club...LOL Posts: 1754 Robson Ranch, Denton, Texas Gender:	Re: DIY mid controls Reply #14 - 03/23/17 at 09:52:10 Moto, You have the right idea. If you ever decide to manufacturer the mid controls for resale count me in. Kenny G
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