From time to time someone is unlucky enough to drop the bike and damage the gearchange or shift lever. Unlike a lot of levers ours is made in 3 pieces and each one is replaceable individually. For example the rubber peg is held to the main body of the lever with a specially-shaped M8 bolt they call a "pin". This is usually not much help because even a slight drop can break the lever at the threaded portion where the pin is screwed on, rendering the lever scrap.
If you can tolerate a shorter lever, by some 15mm or so, a repair can sometimes be made by re-drilling and tapping a new M8 hole for the pin and rubber a bit further back from the original position. This is assuming it has broken at the threaded part.
Replacements are not cheap, here's a breakdown of the costs:
Pedal ..................... Part Number T2081144 Price: £89.26 ($142.94)
Rubber .................... Part Number T2080766 Price: £4.70 ($7.52)
Pin ....................... Part Number T2080696 Price: £4.96 ($7.94)
Screw gearchange M6x20......Part number T3050332 Price: £0.55 ($0.86)
This makes the total cost for the complete lever asembly: £99.47 ($159.26) +taxes.
Seems a bit steep considering the same lever has been used on all Bonnevilles, T100, Scrambler and SE's from the beginning. I think the tooling and development costs must have been recovered by now. The thing appears to be a forging although I suspect it's more likely to be a cheaper casting, it's nicely polished only on the surfaces that can be seen, a bit of value engineering there!, and incorporates the anchorage to the 11.60 mm diameter, 30-tooth splined gearchange shaft. A thoughtful feature is the extended tab on the top to avoid your boot being trapped under the bulge in the primary case.
We have had a couple of posts vaguely suggesting far cheaper or cooler alternatives. These are after-market levers sold as accessories for small Honda dirt or pit bikes. Things like the XR and CRF range, eg. CRF80, XR80, CRF100, XR100, CRF150, etc. No further details or photos were given to confirm their suitability though, so this might inhibit people from trying these alternative levers, so this is where I come in, as I was looking for some more bling for a couple of my little pit bikes, and decided to try them on my Bonnie first to confirm that they'll fit and pass on the good news.
Those after-market levers are very good value for money, most are genuinely forged or CNC-machined alloy, and also incorporate a useful feature if you're in the habit of dropping the bike, namely a hinged or pivoted peg that folds up on impact. This could save you from not only damaging the lever, but also from bending the gearchange shaft itself, far more serious, and requiring some engine dismantling, although strangely enough, the cost of the far more complex gear change shaft is just £76 ($121).
This fold-up feature could be useful, specially on Scramblers used in the dirt, where you could hit obstructions and easily break the lever.
Some are also available in bright anodised colours and can cost up to 91% less than the OEM part. There are lots of them on ebay and pit-bike after-market sites.
The total length, that's centre of shaft to centre of peg, is a tad longer that the 110mm of the standard component at 113mm. Don't think this will make much difference though. For anal types they're half the weight of the OEM item at 75grams against 150 grams.
I've tried two types on my 09 SE, and I'm happy to announce that they both fit and work perfectly:
One for the little pit bikes, the XR50, CRF50, etc at just £7.40 ($11.99), that's -91% less than standard, bought on ebay from Hong Kong. Nicely and strongly made from billet CNC-machined alloy:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-BILLET-SHIFTER-SHIFT-LEVER-HONDA-XR50-CRF50-BLACK-/260726468186?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI %26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D2%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clki d%3D3651946194155364929
Another for the larger CRF150 (years 07-11), lever model number GPF112. This one came from the UK, has a smoothly finished and anodised forged main part, a CNC-machined and anodised folding peg in a contrasting red colour, and costs a little more at £14.99 ($24)inc.tax, still -83% less than the standard lever though, from this ebay listing:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORGED-GEAR-LEVER-RED-TIP-HONDA-CRF150-CRF-150-07-09-/370326037646?_trksid=p4012.m503&_trkparms=algo%3DR IC.CF%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D2607 26468186%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3651977477889271536
A couple of images showing the levers fitted to the Bonnie:
As we now know for sure that some Hondas share the gearchange shaft dimensions with the Bonnies, and that some people have asked about the possibility of fitting a heel-and-toe gearchange lever for various reasons, like limited ankle joint movement because of an old injury, there's also the possibility of adapting a heel-and-toe lever from one of the small Honda Quads. These vehicles often come fitted with such a lever and alternatives are also available in the market. The chances are that they'll have the same gearchange shaft spline measurements.
I did try to help a poster with this sometime ago, but it turned out to be one of those rude and ungrateful "ride-by" posters. Don't know if he even bothered to look at my reply, consequently I could have wasted 15 minutes of my life on this thread:
http://www.triumphrat.net/the-welcom...e-shifter.html
