Roadsmith Comfort Controls on a CSC Viper with ground effects running boards

[pwhoever]

So I have a California Sidecar Viper trike and like title says, it has the ground effects running boards installed. One of my biggest complaints was the positioning of the drivers peg. I never liked the fact that my legs would get positioned slightly rearward.

Having Kury Ergo II foot rests have helped when I wanted to stretch out but when I'm stuck driving around town or stop and go traffic on highway, you really cant stretch out that often. I tried removing the drivers pegs and just resting my feet on the floorboards but it wasnt that comfortable to me. I would have to lift up my foot to use the foot brake and shifting was pretty awkward.

I have been looking at the Roadsmith Comfort Controls for awhile now but had a hard time justifying the $6-700 for them. (Same reason I haven't sprung for a modified custom seat either because a good one would cost even more) They move the drivers pegs forward 3 inches and down

1. I finally came across a used but in great shape set and am going to be installing these soon. As with drivers pegs, levers get repositioned as well. But I have some questions for those that have put these on a Viper.

1. On Roadsmith trikes, on the brake side, a panel needs to be removed and a rubber bladder installed because when brake lever is pushed down, the bottom of the pedal needs to be able to go lower than the Roadsmith floorboards. Is this also the case with Viper floorboards? Will I need to cut a notch out of the Viper floorboard or are they low enough to not need to do this?

2. Like I mentioned earlier, I didnt like just running without the drivers pegs in stock position because it was awkward using the brake and shifter. With the controls moved down and forward, are they positioned a little better so I can try leaving the drivers pegs off?

3. And this question is a general question for anyone that has installed these. When installing the shifter setup, it mentions that a small section towards the bottom of the engine cover needs to be trimmed off. This is the cover that the alternator and coolant reserve tank sits behind. Is this part really necessary? It does look like the new Roadmith peg.mount slightly covers it. If I didnt trim it, how hard is it to remove that engine cover? If I have to trim it, I will.

4. Finally, with the new shifter positioned more forward, how many have had issues with the foot warmer doors? Looking at the photos, it is pretty close and I wear size 12 boots. If it is an issue, are there any solutions that dont require welding to resolve this? I dont know the first thing about welding so I want to avoid this route if it isnt necessary.

[pwhoever]

Well I got impatient and decided to spend the afternoon in the garage installing the Comfort Controls. It was a bit of a struggle but I did it. Unfortunately I didnt get a chance to get out for a ride but maybe tomorrow I will. I think I can now answer most of my questions.

1. The Viper floorboards do not sit low enough and will cause interference with the foot brake lever. I solved this by cutting a small notch into the floorboards carefully and kept pressing down on brake lever while trimming until it didnt touch anymore. Once I reinstall the rubber floorboard pads, no one will know.

2.I tried the brake side without the drivers peg and it actually seems like it could work just fine. For now though, I'm going to try keeping the peg. I didnt try on shifter side as it seems like the shifter still might be a little higher and awkward with out the peg but we shall see. Once things calm down around here and I can finally get back out riding, I will try it both ways and see what I think. I do like the way the pegs now sit and it's a much more comfortable position.

3.The engine cover absolutely needed to be notched like directions mentioned. I tried to take off as little as possible but I may have to take a bit more off. It is a bit harder getting that engine cover back on again even with notching. I will see how that works out.

4 The new shifter does come awfully close to the foot warmer door. Not sure how I'm going to like that but at least I'm aware and again, just see how it goes. Hopefully it doesnt become an issue but riding in warm weather, it will be just fine...

[pwhoever]

So some thoughts on the Controls. When installing the brake side, it kept binding when I would press the foot lever. I think my spindle wasnt fully coming out but the new attachment to the brake spindle also seemed a hair thicker than the original brake lever. I couldnt get the new bolt to go in. I ended up using the original bolt for the new attachment and the new bolt on the original brake lever. I also found that if I really tightened the bolt on the new attachment was when I got the binding and the brake lever would not fully return without help from my foot. I discovered if I just snugged the bolt on new attachment and tightened just a bit more, the brake lever would no longer bind. The way it is mounted, even if the bolt could work itself loose, it would still stay on the brake spindle. I may go back and put some loctite on it layer but I'm not worried about it. The positioning of the brake lever leaves enough room for my size 12 boots where it doesnt contact the foot warmer door when its opened.

Also, in the instructions, it mentions when installing the new mounts on a trike to remove a 3/8" plate on the back of them on both the brake and shifter mounts. I still dont understand the reasoning behind this so I chose to leave them on. I was told that it is more of a thing when counting on bikes and the plate is needed on drivers side to clear the kickstand mount. I'm guessing that with some floorboards, that extra plate might position the mounts too far out and could have issues with floorboard contact. On mine, the brake side, my boots fit in just fine and on shifter side, there is more than enough spacing.

On to the shifter side. One thing I have noticed is that the shifter throw seems to be less than the OEM shifter and it also seems to be a lot firmer. It may feel a bit odd because I guess I got use to the sloppy OEM shifter feeling. It solidly shifts between the gears. It is a bit harder finding neutral now but I'm sure with a little more practice, that will be taken care of. I did notice that when the engine is cold and at a high idle, it seems like it slams into 1st gear. I never really paid attention to this before but seem to remember it would somewhat do that before. Once warmed up, it seems to shift normally. The shifter does come extremely close to the foot warmer door but still has enough clearance. It's only the rear part near end of rubber shifting pad that is close. There is still plenty of the shifter to use so not to contact the foot warmer doors. I also now understand what I kept reading about a gap between the OEM shifter peg mounts and the new mount. It is only visible on the shifter side and not the brake side. It has to do with the shifter mount has bosses on the side but the new Roadsmith mounts dont make accommodations for it. The brake side does not have these bosses and mount flat to the new mount.

I took it out for a short ride to test it out. The foot positioning now is greatly improved over the OEM positioning. I think it's going to make a big difference on linger trips. Overall I'm pretty happy with the setup.

I will try to post a couple photos.



Plenty of clearance from foot warmer door



Shifter side clearance. You can see it's close but doesnt touch. I just have to mak sure not to place my foot all the way inwards. Pretty easy to manage.





You can see my size 12 boots still fit inside the floorboards to use the brake and shifter lever. Brake side is close but shifter side has plenty of room.





Here you can see the gap between the OEM mount and new mount. For me not a big deal. I have seen where at least 1 guy carefully grinded the bosses off the back side, I would be worried about accidentally taken too much material off.If I end up going without the pegs then it wont be an issue at all.



I will do a few more trips with the drivers pegs and then do a couple more without the pegs. This will let me decide which way I prefer.