'speed of cheese' rearsets direct from the home office:

[m in sc]

So last week when I was out west getting married, we visited the salt flats. I had reached out to Mark @ speed of cheese about some rear-sets, and i wasn't aware of how close he was to where we were. So, he offered to let us come see his shop.. i was like 'hell yes'. Yes, on our honeymoon. Angie enjoyed the visit as well.

so first, mark was super gracious to Angie and i, and spent the better part of the afternoon with us.  I can assure anyone, he's living the gearhead dream. Its an amazing setup.



few of the pics I took of his stash:





'old parts' 



anyway, i had bought them for the lightweight. However, in the current form they need the plate that ties tot eh swingarm pivot to operate, and while i have plenty of spares, they just wouldnt work with the swingarm. since that bike is very unique, that issue wont affect 99.9% of the people that will want the rearsets.

That being said, here's the good live and in person:

freaking jewelry.





so, i also needed to address the side stand (not related). so i cut up and modified a universal one for a gsxr? i think.

the discoloration of the back anodizing to copper was unintended and it matched the bike so i kept it.



on stock pivot. new sidestand stop (stainless) utilizing the stock footpeg mounts.. so its actually dampened:





it does not scrap the pipe, or rearset. the mark is from when i was testing the sidestand fitment.



i of course had to bend the living shit out of the kicker to get it to clear, as per usual with rearsets. I had an 'ugly' one as a donor so bent that one up and kept the stock straight one intact and put away.







I know mark is going to produce nice billet kickers for the RDs,... because i saw them in the shop. Hopefully he'll start selling them soon. IF not, im still 99% sure an rz lever on an rd knuckle will clear. they are positioned almost the same as vintage smoke rear sets by happenstance. (peg and toe ends)

and the test ride. Man these things work FANTASTIC. 





rode over with 2 friends, let my frond Travis ride the r5 over to grab a beverage. he also has a 72 that's stock, and he was very impressed with them as well.




Keep in mind, the current sets you need to retain the side plates, but cut off the rear peg mount. I know marks working on different versions of these so stay tuned down in his for sale section for these. BUT, i didnt care about cutting of the back section so i let it rip.

Thye are my favorite set ive had, they really are that good. well, except the set i made on the lc.   

[85RZwade]

This sounds like a ridiculous question to ask about rearsets, but how is the riding position comfort? The Raasks on my RZ must have shrunk over the years, because my knees don't love them so much anymore.

[Hawaii-Mike]

Great looking rearsets and congratulations on getting married!

[m in sc]

thanks mike.

as far as the riding position, really not bad. they are about 2" forward of the passenger peg location and maybe 1 " lower. I run low fz1 bars on that bike (like rz bars) and i find them comfy.

[85RZwade]

Cool, thanks for the reference points

[IR8D8R]

Congratulations Mark. Angie is a keeper. Remember: Happy wife=happy life. None of the women in my life have ever been willing participants in my motorized escapades. They tolerated but did not play. That's 24kt. gold by itself.

I know you have/had Nick's Vintage Smoke rearsets on the lightweight 350 and have been satisfied with them. I've had problems with mine always.

 One of my issues is a difficulty adjusting the lever down far enough to be under my toe without having to lift my toe up to downshift and brake. I could use a taller seat but my ankle doesn't bend well in my riding position with low bars. They need to be clocked at between 4 and 5 o'clock and I can only get about 3:30 especially on the brake.
It looks from your photos that the SOC rearsets allow the lever to be adjusted lower than the VS?

Do you need to have the stock passenger peg mount plate in place to use them? They look great to me. I'm seriously considering myself.

Can they be made to work with a folding peg? Or are the pegs an integral part of the mechanism. Chuck just short-kicks his 400 because he doesn't like bent kickers or folding pegs. That's fine if the peg is robust enough to withstand a few hits and the bike fires easy.

Cheers!

IR8D8R

[m in sc]

Congratulations Mark. Angie is a keeper. Remember: Happy wife=happy life. None of the women in my life have ever been willing participants in my motorized escapades. They tolerated but did not play. That's 24kt. gold by itself.

I know you have/had Nick's Vintage Smoke rearsets on the lightweight 350 and have been satisfied with them. I've had problems with mine always.

 One of my issues is a difficulty adjusting the lever down far enough to be under my toe without having to lift my toe up to downshift and brake. I could use a taller seat but my ankle doesn't bend well in my riding position with low bars. They need to be clocked at between 4 and 5 o'clock and I can only get about 3:30 especially on the brake.
It looks from your photos that the SOC rearsets allow the lever to be adjusted lower than the VS?

Do you need to have the stock passenger peg mount plate in place to use them? They look great to me. I'm seriously considering myself.

Can they be made to work with a folding peg? Or are the pegs an integral part of the mechanism. Chuck just short-kicks his 400 because he doesn't like bent kickers or folding pegs. That's fine if the peg is robust enough to withstand a few hits and the bike fires easy.

Cheers!

IR8D8R

thanks, yeah she's great. Got very lucky with her. 

As far as the layout: the geometry, by happenstance, is almost identical to Nicks. Peg placement, etc. (i did check)

passenger pegs and mounts are a definite no go on these. That may change on next revision.

shifter linkage: add a coupler nut and stud to lengthen the rod. will drop it down enough.

the pegs are integral. however, an sr400 kickstarter (modern), or the one brad sells at hvc will probably clear, im 99% sure. (which is just an sr400 kicker).

...BUT, mark is making billet kickers that should clear, but not sure if he has them ready for sale yet

[sav0r]

A fabricated tubular steel kicker is where it's at. We don't need more CNC aluminum BS. I say that as a person that loves to make CNC aluminum BS. For a kicker, a thin wall cro-mo getup would be real sweet.

[85RZwade]

Build it and they will come

[m in sc]

i've seen the one he is working on.. its super duper beefy, has one on his street bike. (we did discuss the aluminum ones woes from the past) But I do prefer the one i made out of tube TBH.

[sav0r]

A tapered tube would be even cooler. Though I think most of the mass produced tapered tubes are probably slightly large in OD since they are catered to the bicycle market, not the 25 people here on this forum that might buy a really sweet/expensive fabricated kicker. That said, most of my BMW bikes back in the day had tapered tubes in various places, so it must be available somewhere.

A quick google turned up this;
https://shop.vari-wall.com/bicycle-tubing/

[m in sc]

i mean, 4130 isn't terribly expensive. https://www.mcmaster.com/tubing/

Tapered? I mean bling factor would be nice i guess but. 

[Makr]

I missed this thread. It was so nice to have you and Angie visit.

[Dvsrd]

A tapered tube would be even cooler. Though I think most of the mass produced tapered tubes are probably slightly large in OD since they are catered to the bicycle market, not the 25 people here on this forum that might buy a really sweet/expensive fabricated kicker. That said, most of my BMW bikes back in the day had tapered tubes in various places, so it must be available somewhere.

A quick google turned up this;
https://shop.vari-wall.com/bicycle-tubing/

What about tapered and oval tubing, like a bicycle fork? A used fork could possibly be used for fabricating a kickstarter?

[m in sc]

of course it could. that stuffs expensive though. i figure very few would be willing to pay for it.