Offset front brake lever

[tootall]

Does anyone know who makes an offset front brake lever for an '04 Rebel? My wife has very small hands and has trouble reaching the front brake. It's also difficult for her to reach the clutch lever, but that's another story. Thanks.

[Duke Bushido]

You can make it yourself, but you have to prep both ends of the cable.

It takes a bit of doing. The key here is that the current set-up actually needs the full travel of the levers, particularly the clutch.

Find where the clutch cable actuates the clutch: the little lever on the engine case that the cable hooks to.

What you will need to do is to move that end of the cable closer to the shaft that it rides on; this will reduce the travel required by the clutch lever.

There are several ways to do this:
you can make a new, shorter lever.
You can fashion some kind of attachment
you can 'jam something in there and hope for the best.

Once you've done that, the clutch lever will need less travel, and you can either adjust it a bit closer to the grip, or you can put an S bend in the lever to move it closer to the grip.

CAVEAT:
This reduced the range, but increases the amount of hand strength required to work the clutch. Not by much, if you don't move the cable end too far, but it's a definite change.


I've not yet found a great solution for the brake lever (But I haven't looked real hard, either), but you can change the length of the actuating rod (the little piece that goes into the master cylinder) to move the lever closer or further away from the grip. Just remember that the closer you make it, the more brake power you are sacrificing.