Is my brake pedal bent?

[RobF 116]

I bought my 2005 used in 2014. It had suffered a couple driveway tip-overs and had the scratched bodywork to prove it. No big deal.

 

The other day, I was installing a set of BLS lowering blocks and the brake pedal alignment caught my untrained eyeball. I had always thought of the VFR's rear brake pedal placement as somewhat  "discreet" as in "tucked out of the way", but now I was wondering if my bike was something of a sad outlier and rather than having a "discreetly positioned" pedal, maybe the pedal was just "bent".

 

Here is a photo:

 

               

 

Is my brake pedal bent in toward the bike, or is the misalignment between the plane of the footpeg bracket and the tread lines of the pedal normal?

 

 

[34468Randy 65]

I would like to be able to answer with certainty but mine has been bent in towards the bike for so long, I don't remember what the positioning actually was.  But it does look to be bent inwards a bit

[gig 130]

normal, i thought the same thing with mine, and has never been dropped. "on that side anyway"

[Marooncobra 42]

Mine is the same but I have heated it with a torch and bent it out for a more 90 degree angle

[RobF 116]

Thank you, Sirs.

[FJ12Ryder 291]

FWIW my '99 is much straighter than that. It is almost perpendicular to the foot peg.

[VFRpilotDave 4]

On 10/10/2018 at 4:23 AM, Marooncobra said:

Mine is the same but I have heated it with a torch and bent it out for a more 90 degree angle

Hey MaroonCobra, what was your technique for bending out the rear brake?

 

[MaxSwell 883]

I have bent back several aluminum levers. I use a closed-end wrench, insert the lever into the wrench and carefully and slowly bend back toward where it belongs. I've never broken one in the prosess and have never had a bent one break on subsequent tip-overs. I imagine there is a too-far point but I've never gotten there. I did the work while the levers were on the bike as opposed to removing then bending. YMMV. 

[dgordon 126]

Definitely it should be parallel, not on that angle.  I have an '07.  

[Marooncobra 42]

On 12/6/2018 at 5:07 PM, VFRpilotDave said:

Hey MaroonCobra, what was your technique for bending out the rear brake?

 

Sorry, only just seen your post. I removed the brake pedal from the bike and put the end that clamps onto the master cylinder in a vice. I then used a blow torch to heat up the pedal and used a Ring spanner. I just made sure I didn’t apply too much heat!!!

[VFRpilotDave 4]

Thanks for the pedal bending tip! I will try it out in the next few weeks. 

[VFRpilotDave 4]

Thanks also, MaxSwell!

[VFRpilotDave 4]

I used MaxSwell’s open ended wrench rear brake pedal bending technique and am now squared off again. A small piece of the toepiece underside splintered off but a touch with a metal file or dremel sander should fix me up. Sorry for the delay but I had to wait until the weather warmed up a bit here in Maryland to avoid cold snapping the metal. Any suggestions on lowering it by an inch to match lowered footpegs?

[Stray 117]

Nice work straightening your pedal. 

 

I did an off road experience day once and the guys running it used MaxSwell’s close ended spanner/wrench trick many times on the levers of downed MX bikes. Never saw a single one snap. 

[Urbanengineer 84]

23 hours ago, VFRpilotDave said:

I used MaxSwell’s open ended wrench rear brake pedal bending technique and am now squared off again. A small piece of the toepiece underside splintered off but a touch with a metal file or dremel sander should fix me up. Sorry for the delay but I had to wait until the weather warmed up a bit here in Maryland to avoid cold snapping the metal. Any suggestions on lowering it by an inch to match lowered footpegs?

That’s built into the factory rear sets. Loosen the 10mm lock nut and spin up the bolt. It should lower or raise the pedal. I like mine just lower than flat. 

[VFRpilotDave 4]

Thanks UrbanEngineer. I spun the adjusting bolt down farther into the U-channel, readjusted the rear brake light switch, and uncurled about 3 coils of the stoplight spring. Of course I had to remove the foot peg bracket, rear brake master cylinder, and heat guard to get to it. And naturally, I had adjusted it all the opposite direction first and then refitted everything nice and snug. Second time was a charm however, and it feels a lot better now! Thanks to the Forum for good tips.