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Bultaco Gear Lever From Right To Left Brake Pedal Conversion ?


davdeborg
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as the gear selecter shaft on my 350t has the splines showing on left and right side of engine I take it I can change gear lever

from right to left ?

is there a way of changing brake pedal from left to right ? or is there a kit available to enable this

so I can have gear lever on left and brake pedal on right

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There should be a brake-cable holder welded on your frame, about 5 inches above your RH footpeg.

Then there should be, or you will have to make a brake-cable holder right above the swingarm spindle on the left side.

Venhill makes brake cables for this conversion.

Take a look at some pictures of Bultaco's and you will see what I mean.

By the way, BultacoUK has some nice aluminium gear levers. They are better than the standard steel ones because they will bend instead of bending your gear-lever axle if you should hit something..

Edited by guys
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Don`t do it, gear lever on left= every other time you kickstart bike you knock it into gear (becomes a real pain in the a***).brake lever on right bends every time you hit a rock!. brake lever on right = naff all braking power,combined with the wonderfull bultaco front brake!.stick with what you have.

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it was just a thought I will prob keep as it is just strange I expect after time I get use to it

bike was ty175 before this but must admit I love riding the bultaco I think its first class thought my ty was nice to ride but now im deffinatly a bultaco

man

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Don`t do it, gear lever on left= every other time you kickstart bike you knock it into gear (becomes a real pain in the a***).brake lever on right bends every time you hit a rock!. brake lever on right = naff all braking power,combined with the wonderfull bultaco front brake!.stick with what you have.

Somewhat exaggerated. The left foot brake is really better then the right one, but for the gear lever it's up what you are mostly used too.

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If you can get used to the left hand pedal stay with it.

To fit a cable you need to put a cable stop on the frame above where the pedal locates and another on the swingarm. It's a fiddly job. If you search this forum you'll find a similar topic with pictures

The Venhill rear brake cables are rubbish and have too much flex in them. I've ridden on one leg using the rear brake as the footrest with all my weight on it and I don't think it even moved the shoes into contact with the drum, never mind slowed it down. All that seems to happen is that it takes up flex and then stretches.The brake works perfectly using a left hand lever / rod so the cable appears to be at fault.

The orginal Bultaco cable had a stronger inner cable and the outer cable had a solid bend where it bends onto the swingarm. This helped keep the cable from flexing when using the brake. The venhill cable doesn't have the solid bend, so not only is the inner cable too weak, the whole cable flexes when the brake is applied. I asked Venhill to make me a copy of the original, using an original as a patern but they won't do it.... !!

I looked at making a cross shaft, like Aprilia, Fantic, Armstrong, but don't think it is possible because there is too much in the way to get the shaft from one side to another.

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Don`t do it, gear lever on left= every other time you kickstart bike you knock it into gear (becomes a real pain in the a***).brake lever on right bends every time you hit a rock!. brake lever on right = naff all braking power,combined with the wonderfull bultaco front brake!.stick with what you have.

The kickstart hitting the gear lever is more of a problem on the 199a and b models because they have a shorter kickstart shaft with the 'thumb' timing cover. Therefore the kickstart is closer to the frame than on the earlier bikes. On both my 340 bikes, the kickstart actually touches the frame.

I've broken off two right hand brake pedals on rocks on my 340

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If you can get used to the left hand pedal stay with it.

To fit a cable you need to put a cable stop on the frame above where the pedal locates and another on the swingarm. It's a fiddly job. If you search this forum you'll find a similar topic with pictures

The Venhill rear brake cables are rubbish and have too much flex in them. I've ridden on one leg using the rear brake as the footrest with all my weight on it and I don't think it even moved the shoes into contact with the drum, never mind slowed it down. All that seems to happen is that it takes up flex and then stretches.The brake works perfectly using a left hand lever / rod so the cable appears to be at fault.

The orginal Bultaco cable had a stronger inner cable and the outer cable had a solid bend where it bends onto the swingarm. This helped keep the cable from flexing when using the brake. The venhill cable doesn't have the solid bend, so not only is the inner cable too weak, the whole cable flexes when the brake is applied. I asked Venhill to make me a copy of the original, using an original as a patern but they won't do it.... !!

I looked at making a cross shaft, like Aprilia, Fantic, Armstrong, but don't think it is possible because there is too much in the way to get the shaft from one side to another.

You can get these cables still on the continent, even with integrated brake light switch (or without). With the very strong inner cable around 2,5 - 3mm inner diameter, oiler and the solid bend where it is attached to the swing arm. Not too expensive: around 35 Euros when I remember right.

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You can get these cables still on the continent, even with integrated brake light switch (or without). With the very strong inner cable around 2,5 - 3mm inner diameter, oiler and the solid bend where it is attached to the swing arm. Not too expensive: around 35 Euros when I remember right.

Difficult to get here in the UK though as there is no internet or ebay shop.

The other problem with the right hand brake pedal is that if the footrests have been lowered, it is difficult to get the right leverage onto the standard brake pedal with your foot and this also contributes to the poor braking affect. Ideally the brake pedal needs to have a different shape when the footrests are lowered.

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Yes the left foot brake assembly works much better as it doesn't have to deal with the cable bow and can be actuated with a steel rod.

But you have to get used to the flipped operating elements. Here I have my (personal) problem I can't switch with ease as my other bikes have the brake paddle on the right side.

Therefore I am still using the brake set up on the right side. To avoid as much flex as possible got these cables which are NOS / 100% clones and work very good, (the upper one with the brake light switch integrated works even better then the lower one where the brake light switch is detached).

DSC08152.JPG

While rebuilding the bike I tried out different Bultaco levers for the foot brake, the black painted earlier ones are much fragiler as the later polished ones:

Bultaco+rear+brake+lever+199a.JPG

DSC09037.JPG

But you need different spacers for the shaft to mount them proper. (Sorry for the bad capture).

I manage to bent the black one with ease where the polished one is really solid and very resistant. To the foot pegs: I am still using the original foot peg position on my Bultaco and even on the SWM (The SWM also with the tiny original rests, I would otherwise have the problem of a not well placed front footbrake position on the SWM).

Edited by pschrauber
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To improve the foot position on the RH brake pedal and to give the pedal a bit more leverage, I'm making a new longer brake pedal. I use steel to minimise the flex in the pedal:

gallery_15723_158_3146976.jpg

gallery_15723_158_442874.jpg

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I converted my 199A to right foot braking with parts from Bultaco UK mainly because I do a fair bit of road riding and I find it instictive. Trial it regularly and never had any problems with fouling or damage. Brakes aren't the best by modern standards but it does help if you clean the drums and shoes regularly.

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