Best Foot ... Er, Feet ... Forward

My el cheapo "highway pegs" arrived yesterday, and I could tell immediately they would require some work. Bare metal brackets, no "shims" of any kind included. And yep, once I had them on the Italica Bulldog 150's "crash bar" and tightened, they immediately slipped when I got on the bike and put my feet on them. I was busy with other things and left them for this morning.

This morning, I found an old bicycle tire inner tube and cut two pieces, each wide enough to wrap around the "crash bar" under the clamp and each tall enough to cover the surface area of the clamp and a little below where, when the pegs are down (they flip up when not in use), the inside bottom of the peg itself also comes up against the bar. So both a tighter grip and a less slippery surface than bare metal for anything to slip on.

Tightened everything down, got on the bike, ran down the street and back. Seems to have worked. So now I can lean back and put my feet forward while riding, just like I'm in a recliner watching TV or something. I think I'll like that when I'm out on the country highways without a stop sign every thousand feet. And if I don't like it, well, I'm out nine bucks instead of 90 bucks.

One of the nice things about having a cheap Chinese bike is that there's a lot of cheap Chinese after-market gear out there. I don't feel like I have to buy expensive name-brand stuff unless there are real safety or performance considerations involved.

Update: I took the bike out for a longer, more leisurely Saturday ride. I didn't use the "highway pegs" a lot because that ride took me into town rather than out into the country. To the extent I did use them, they held up without shifting position, etc. As to whether I actually like them, I'm not quite sure. They'll take some getting used to before I decide that I do like them, that I like the idea but want ones with more surface area, or that they're just not worth bothering with.