Thursday, 4 September 2014

Can You Kick It?

Once upon a time I lived and slept in German army surplus boots, but these days I'm more liable to rock Birkenstocks, or sloppy Vans, mildly hip but very uncomfortable for my fragile instep when kicking a bike over (my XS in this case). A lot of greying BMXers are now (or have already) tuned to motorcycles and this is quite an overly trendy mod but I still like it.
1) select BMX pedal of preferred heritage - this GT one is rather heavy and bulky even after I drilled out the reflectors, and opened up the holes to match the other cut-outs on top.
2) prise out the plastic end cap to reveal the securing double-nut. Dissemble the pedal being careful not to loose any of the ball bearings.
3) Having cut off the end of the original kickstart with its rubber foot grip, weld the pedal bolt to the remainder. Be careful not to get any weld splatter on the bearing radius. NB if you were to weld with the pedal still complete you would fry the bearing grease and melt any plastic sealing rings.
4) Reassemble, packing your ball bearings with fresh grease. Taa-daar. BP
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6 comments:

  1. Harley4 September 2014 at 11:19

    Gnarly mod, but might be best avoided if your machine is prone to kick back! (I know, just sort the timing out.....)

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  2. stevegayton4 September 2014 at 15:56

    Or you could wear decent boots when you ride instead of following the fashion of Vans and other skate shoes. Just saying :-)

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  3. 7474 September 2014 at 16:09

    I prefer dollar store flip flops.
    If your gonna be dumb, ya gotta be tough!

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  4. OILY RAG4 September 2014 at 20:20

    Looks very cool.

    ReplyDelete
  5. OILY RAG4 September 2014 at 20:21

    And it also looks like you've finnished your floor.

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  6. Mantree22 March 2021 at 03:22

    I am thinking of doing this on my old Honda 750 since the kickstart pedal is a little small for my foot I crippled in a motorcycle wreck years ago.

    ReplyDelete