Passenger foot rest bar causing problems?

[anndelise]

I put on the cowl cover bar and the passenger footrest bar last week. It looked really nice, and I can see how maybe even the footrest bar can help protect the Buddy in a fall.

BUT....
The darned things kept catching my pants. Everytime I'd come to a stop sign and put my foot down, when it was time to go I'd have to swing my leg wide to keep it from catching onto them..(it even happened with a pair of jeans that are relatively close to my legs).

At one point, I was entering a 50mph from a dead stop, making a left hand turn with a blind turn on my right (couldn't see traffic coming on the side that I'm aiming for). It's a scary intersection, even in my van. Anyways, so I throttled it so that I could get up to speed quickly, made a good curve into the lane, but my leg was hanging over the edge, dangling, because the pants were caught on the bar. It took me quite a distance of wrestling with it to get it free...a distance that had me swerving and not paying as much attention as needed to the road around me because part of my attention was on getting my foot uncaught and undangling. Needless to say, that night, I took off the passenger footrest bar.

Has anyone else had a similar problem?
Those who don't, how are you preventing it?

[siobhan]

I don't have the foot pegs on with my crash bars. They don't have to be on (the crash bars attach w/o the pegs), so if you don't ride 2-up a lot, take 'em off. Your passenger might not even like the pegs.

[Alix B]

Hey, ya that can be a problem. My personal experience has been that over time, I became used to them. My body now instinctively moves around those buggers. At first, my pants got caught-risky. My first rain suit was actually ruined from those pegs.

You could take off the rounded rubber tip at the ends, thats the part catching.

My passengers never even use those. In reality, their legs on those things makes it hard for you to come to a stop. I use them more for myself, just to switch up leg positioning when doing long distance drives.


The cowling is a must have. It allows me to strap down my soft panniers and has prevented body damage. The bike has spilled 3x now, usually due to making a turn and there is a hidden patch of gravel in the entranceway.
Not a scratch!

[bunny]

So you can get the cowl protectors without the foot pegs? When I inquired, I was told it was all together. I thought it looked kind of weird to be right where your legs are supposed to be.

I'll have to remember to ask again.

[Christy]

i am noticing that a little bit but it's not been problematic yet. I'm yet undecided if I'm leaving them on, or removing them. I LOVE the way it looks.

I am tall enough that if I sit further back on the seat (b/c of the width of the seat I think), when I come to a stop my legs don't go near the pegs b/c they swing a little bit wider...conversely if I scoot all the way forward on the seat I can totally avoid the pegs too, but I tend to forget to scoot either direction and am just trying to see if I get used to them. I've not really put all that many miles on the scooter since having them installed.

*shrug*

[anndelise]

So you can get the cowl protectors without the foot pegs? When I inquired, I was told it was all together. I thought it looked kind of weird to be right where your legs are supposed to be.

I'll have to remember to ask again.

it's kinda funny....you can get the foot pegs without the cowl protector, but when you buy the cowl protector it comes with the foot pegs.

.....

regarding passengers..
there is a potential issue regarding cowl protectors without the foot pegs when you have a passenger on board. The cowl protector (without the added pegs) removes the traction the passenger's foot has on the original foot "pegs" and makes it slippier for them to try to keep their feet there.
Since I don't intend to have a passenger for at least a year of riding if not more, I felt I didn't need to be concerned with passenger feeting areas. However, I will most likely have to put the pegs back on and learn to ride with them AFTER I've learned to ride and BEFORE I attempt carrying a passenger.

[Christy]

not always...I bought my cowl protectors from the dealer and it came without the footpegs. I added them about a week later.

from scooterworks, they only sell the pair. I had to order the footpegs from a dealer as scooterworks wouldn't sell just the pegs. strange that was.

[weaseltamer]

my passangers loved the footpegs and i only made a minor seat adjustment to avoid entanglement, but again this might not fir everone's style (super baggy pants ppl..)

[anndelise]

not always...I bought my cowl protectors from the dealer and it came without the footpegs. I added them about a week later.

from scooterworks, they only sell the pair. I had to order the footpegs from a dealer as scooterworks wouldn't sell just the pegs. strange that was.

ha, i stand corrected.
what an odd way of doing things, some places this a-way, some places that a-way

[MarsR]

Gee, I just wish the foot pegs could be folded up out of the way...

[BladeGirl]

BUT....
The darned things kept catching my pants.

Ya gotta stop wearing those bell bottoms! They're so 80s anyway.

[SCOOTERSOLDIER]

I had the same problem and hated the stock Cowl gaurd foot protectors, I mean how stupid to have handle bar grips on the foot rests that stuck out way too far causing a safety hazard so I modified mine, here is the link to the what I did long ago, this is my old user name on Modernbuddy as Iceman and this is my scoot in its early days, a simple hacksaw cutting off a few inches, some clamp on foot pads from a motorcycle shop and some cool handle bar end caps which made the job look factory!

viewtopic.php?t=1684&highlight=cowl

[anndelise]

Ya gotta stop wearing those bell bottoms! They're so 80s anyway.

hmmm, maybe I should switch to bell bottoms... at least they'd allow my feet to reach the floor even WITH the pants caught on the footpegs


SCOOTERSOLDIER, I am saving the link to that thread, that's a nice alteration. I'm not all that constructively inclined, but I'll show it to someone who might be able to follow your instructions and do it for me. Good idea you had!