Well, call me stupid, I bought a set of Arashi rearsets
These things having traceable brandnames (aka Area 22 and Kemimoto), and finding no results for these things failing on people,
plus the fact hotbodies tries to con people into paying $340 for them, I figured I'd take a chance
$134 delivered at the door
So, initial impression
Nice box, nice parts, as is, these things surprised me
the only things I considered suspect were the bolts used to bolt the rearsets to the frame (black, grimey, as if oiled then left on the shelf for ages),
looking rather low quality, probably would be rusting pretty soon, I already decided not to be using these (OEM bolts don't fit though)
It did have the ability to mount the OEM brakelight switch, but since I replaced my brakelines a while back already with the knowledge I would be replacing my rearsets
and that aftermarket often times do not have this option, I already had a pressure switch installed
Luckily, the OEM brackets for this feature can be removed
Installation
For starters, locktited the beejezus out of them (truth be told, I'd do that with any rearset)
Left side first:
Turned out I received the wrong shiftrod (for a 750 k6/7), which works with the knuckles threading into the rod, while the 1000 k5 works with the rod threaded into the knuckles
I could use the knuckle in the set for the gearlever, but not for the engine side, where I couldn't replace the knuckle
Me, not unbeknownst to improvising, got a length of thread and inserted it into the knuckle, then I could screw the rod on
That problem solved, I ran into another problem: The gearlever didn't clear the shiftrod
I ended up drilling the thread out of a couple of nuts and using them as spacers beween the rearsets and the frame, also put a washer at the gearlever knuckle
IMO, even if I had received the correct shiftrod (which would have been just a thin threaded rod, not an 10-8mm thick bar) , I'd still have to shim the rearset, though I could've probably left out that washer at the lever
Luckily, the position of the rearset and angle of the gearlever were correct from the get-go, I had room to lengthen the shiftrod, but already being at the furthest back/highest up
I would have little to no play in shortening the rod, if the lever was set too low
The right side:
Again, shimmed the rearsets by using a set of drilled out nuts (done for equal spacing as the right, not because of any clearance issues)
I did put a washer between the brakelever and the connecting rod to the brake cilinder, since it pulled the conrod of the brakecilinder outward and put pressure on the circlip
Just mostly a PITA setting the brakelever angle, but that also had to do with the lousy way you have to change the length of the brakecilinder conrod on Suzukis
To limit brakelever return, there's also a concentric post, but the lever was too far outward for this to have any use
(Aside from setting up the brakelever angle correctly totally negating the use of this post)
As it is on the bike:
Would have loved to have seen a sunk bolt on the lower brakecilinder hole, since the heelplate is spaced to clear it (using a bolt-in-bolt attachment for the heelplate....don't ask why),
making it protrude in a way it's noticeable at my right foot
And it does have some flex, which makes me wonder how these things are gonna hold up when a lot of weight is applied to them (luckily, I'm a scrawny dude at 143lbs nekkid)
The only thing I had to do when all was done was make a mounting plate for my brakereservoir, since these rearsets moved it 3 inches back
(and I went about an inch up)
