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Rearset Faq?

3665 Views 63 Replies 27 Participants Last post by  josea1952
First off rearsets are basically the footpegs you rest your feet on while riding. You do all of your shifting/front braking through the rearsets. The oem ones use to all be in a fixed position for the footpegs. This made riding hard for some who wanted to raise them so they wouldn't drag while racing, for tall riders, or short riders. Often it also isn't the best position for you. The most comfortable position you're in often will allow you to pull faster times on the track and make you a better rider. Pictures here are the silver vortex rearsets. Rearsets are sold in pairs. Some rearsets come with the ability to retain the stock rear brake light activator and some do not. You can tell by this picture that hte rear master cyl is attached to the rearsets. We don't have the wiring hooked up on this bike because we never brake with the rears on the street and not the fronts so we left it off. Many like to have the rear brake light fully functional. The easiest way to do this is with a banjo bolt that goes into the rear master cyl and when it senses pressure it completes the loop and activates the rear brake lights. YOu just install the banjo and there are two wires coming out the back that you splice into your oem wiring.

We will cover the basics of the most popular brands in this thread, but feel free to ask questions about others. We'll cover Gilles, Sato, and vortex rearsets.

All images are copyright of MotoMummy.com and may not be used in public without prior written permission.

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Here you can see the vortex footpegs compared to the sato's. Sato's are the shortest footpegs out there, but they are great for racing because you can lean way over no matter the position of the footpeg and not have to worry about touching the pavement with the footpeg. The only complaint with sato's we ever get is that the footpeg is too short to be comfortable on a long trip on the street. You can also tell that the vortex footpeg has a lot more grip on it. Vortex footpegs offer the most grip out of every rearset we sell. The grip is insane on a vortex footpeg.

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Here is a picture of the banjo bolt brake switch that I mentioned earlier. As you can see it has the two wires coming out of the bottom of it. You just unplug your oem harness and then cut the ends off and splice them onto the ends of these wires and you're done. The sato's all come with a brake switch like you see here. Vortex do not, but if you buy them through MotoMummy.com we include a brake switch like you see here for free. Gilles do not come with one except the gilles VCR rearsts which don't have this banjo bolt, but they have their switch build right into their rearsets.

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The vortex pegs are also sharp as shit so make sure you handle with care but they are great rearsets i haven't had a complaint yet.
If you look at this picture you can see the built in brake switch on the Gilles VCR rearsets. They still have the two wires coming off the rearsets so you will still need to wire these into your oem harness to activate your brake lights. Another thing to mention with the Gilles VCR rearsets is that it has a return spring for the brake pedal. The other models do not. How does the brake lever return to it's natural position after braking? The pressure of the brakes alone will return the pedal to a point where it will not be an issue. Nearly all rearsets are done like this. Gilles just upped the anty a bit, with their VCR model rearsets.

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Next is how you adjust the location of the footpegs on your bike. Nearly all rearsets are done the same. First you install a mounting plate on your bike. This picture is from the rearsets that will mount to the left side of your bike. Where you see the leters "moto" in MotoMummy is where the mounting plate is. You mount that to your bike and it has all of the adjustment holes. The part that says mummy.com is the part that has the footpeg attached. You can see the two bolts that go through that part and bolt it onto the mounting plate. Now you can pick where you want the footpeg located on your bike by unbolting that and moving it around on the mounting bracket. Make sure you have both sides of your bike mounting into the same holes on the mounting bracket or it will feel a bit lopsided. Shown here is also the Gilles titanium colored rearsets.

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Now lets get to the fun part. Comparing the rearsets. I'll let you guys make up your own mind as it's easy to see which offer the most adjustability. Shown here are the black vortex adjustment plate, the titanium gilles adjustment plate, and the gold sato adjustment plate.

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Now black is black so there is no need to compare. But lets compare the gold's as they are very different. Sato is the brightest with vortex being the most dull. This should help people decide which rearsets they might want if they are looking for gold.

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Now lets go over Gilles VCR adjustability. These actually pivot and rotate in a circular motion and offer the most adjustment. I think showing this picture says it all compared to the mounting plate/bolt on method of adjustment.

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Another thing to note is that all rearsets discussed here have dual bearings on the shift levers to make them much smoother then oem rearsets.

The run down.

Gilles Rearsets
No brake light switch unless VCR model
Come in gold, titanium black for standard model
VCR models come in black, gold/black, black/gold, and gold
-black and gold are solid one color. If you get gold/black it's mostly gold with a black circular adjuster in the middle. If you get black/gold it's mostly black with a gold circular adjuster in the middle.
Carbon fiber heal guards with gilles

Sato
come in black, gold, silver
Come with a brake banjo bolt

Vortex
come in black, gold, silver
We (MotoMummy.com) sell them with a brake banjo bolt, but most do not.

Best bang for the buck? the vortex and I feel it's hard to argue with that one. The gilles offer a custom look and some good adjustability.

If you have questions post them up.
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yes they are SUPER grippy and you don't want to bump into them. I actually like the vortex rearsets also. Not as high end looking as the gilles, but they get the job done damn well.

If anyone has any questions just post up.

rican1884 said:
The vortex pegs are also sharp as shit so make sure you handle with care but they are great rearsets i haven't had a complaint yet.
Corey, correct me if I'm wrong here but didn't Vortex redesign the pegs to be less sharp? A quick section about replacement parts would be awesome too


I have the vortex's myself, love them for the price, functionality and definitely the replacement factor.
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those pics are the new pegs
they made very minor changes in 07, but those are pics of the newest model they have. They actually added grip on the new ones. You can't slip off hte new ones if you tried.
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motomummy said:
those pics are the new pegs
they made very minor changes in 07, but those are pics of the newest model they have. They actually added grip on the new ones. You can't slip off hte new ones if you tried.
Ah ok...yeah I have the same pegs. Definitely puts a nice cut or two on you if you're not careful with them. But as you stated grip is definitely fantastic.
I'm not sure if it was mentioned but Gilles is the only one that has the carbon fiber heal guards on both the vcr and older model rearsets.
Corey, Anyone ever had problems with the shift rod being too short with adjustable rearsets??? Mine is with the Vortex adjustables and wondered if anyone had a solution.
As an FYI, my brake light switch hooked up to the Gilles rearsets on my 04 just fine! The brake switch did need a little tweaking (that adjusting bolt needed to be cut down a little) but otherwise it bolted right up.

I love mine! I need to readjust them though!
I bought a set of vortex from Corey a few months back due to his suggestion, and they are great. I know some people consider them the "cheap ones" but as far as feel goes, they are perfect. Very smooth shifting, very grippy.
Cool thread Corey! Rearset's will be on my list if I win the motomummy contest!
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