Agostini rearsets fitment question - 850 Le Mans

[wicks]

Has anyone fitted the Agostini rear sets to their Le Mans 1?  Just did today, and I'm really looking forward to the improvement in the gearchange and brake linkage. Seems far better than stock.

I've got everything together (had to cut even more off of the Lafranconi brackets to get them on (I got the set with rear footpegs), but the enlarged rear (+front) lever on the master cylinder hits the side cover (the outer shell plus the mounting ring where the cover goes over the pin.

Wonder if anyone found a crafty way to solve this problem?

[Frenchfrog]

It took me ages to get the brake lever biting point just right....and zero difference noticed in the gear shifting ! Much ,much more comfortable though.

[blackcat]

I have Agos on the CX and it works fine with the mufflers on that bike but taking some measurements on the LeMans and I see that there is over an 1" difference between the mounting hole and the muffler bracket. I'd assume a piece of flat metal stock cut in an artistic pattern would solve the problem.  The shifting did help on the CX with the Agos and I have less knee issues compared to the stock brackets. 

[wicks]

Well here's what I've done. Had to bite on a stick to cut away some of the original side cover. (this is a 2K mile original barn find that I mechanically restored maintaining all age patina) But I made a shape that could pass as original. The new lever clears the cover but the spring still caused interference. So I have done a temporary fix to get the spring functioning, since it does seem necessary as the lever is just too soft without it. Removed the caliper bolt and drilled a hole in one side of the head to catch the original spring. (spring supplied by Ago far too bulky). Ordered some fresh touch up paint to fix up the side cover where modified.

I also had to remove some of the Lafranconi brackets and touch up the new edge, in order to clear the rear foot peg brackets. I imagine nobody gets these with rear pegs so most don't have this problem. I also decided to use the original rear pegs instead of the supplied Agos which are the same size as the main pegs, far too bulky. Just have to order some new bolts in the original design. Sadly, Ago mounted the left side rear peg bracket upside down so that side the nut is on top, the other side the nut is below.





Things I want to do next 1) find a euro headlamp to dispense with the US cyclops ring 2) get a set of tires that fit more correctly than these contis (without rubbing the drive shaft or front fender)

[Stevex]

Why would you cut away part of the side panel?
I fitted the Ago's to my LM2 and found the same problem and the solution to me was easy.
I added a 10mm threaded extension to the side panel mounting spigot (at the threaded end) to move the bottom of the side panel out enough to clear the Ago brake rod. It works and you'd never know it had been moved out a bit.
I also fitted rose joints to the gear change as they're better than the supplied ball and socket things and added grease nipples to the pivots.
Also, to remove all play, the levers need shimming to the mounting bolt/footrest. I filed both ends of the levers to remove the plastic coating and some metal, then fitted a copper washer between the lever and the the footrest end of the mounting bolt.
I have to say, as standard I found the fit and function of these rear sets pretty poor, but with the work I did, theyre now perfect.
I've also removed the rear footrest brackets from the silencer mounting frame to clean them up; I can't see that a passenger could ever be carried with the front and rear pegs so close together.

[blackcat]

I like the grease fittings but have never had an issue with the ones on my bike. Did something happen that made you want to add the fittings?

[wicks]

Oh the rose joint setup looks much better indeed. Hmm where can I buy those pieces...

The cutout on your side cover is not what my original looked like at all. Should have taken a before picture. The cutaway on yours is quite similar to mine after modification. Perhaps they made a revision by that time to make room for an improved brake rod and lever.

The cutaway as original was a simple semi-circle just about 15mm into the cover - no way the lever would have cleared by moving the cover outward with a spacer. This is a 77 Series B so things were different.

I just used plenty of HD grease on the bushes and they don't have much play, maybe this will develop though.

[wicks]

Also just noticed something is different on the gearchange looking for a rose joint setup...the lever from shift shaft is either longer on my set, or it's a different gearbox...wouldn't require the extension on your setup to hold the top rose joint in a vertical position...





(a solenoid cover is en route ;)

[Stevex]

I like the grease fittings but have never had an issue with the ones on my bike. Did something happen that made you want to add the fittings?

Nothing happened. As a retired aircraft engineer I'm just anal about stuff like this ;)

[wicks]

Steve, you're right. After upgrading the junky linkage came with the set to rose joints, have noticed those levers slopping around on the bushes. If nothing else that will definitely work the grease out of them much more quickly.

I wonder if a spring washer of the right size is the solution there, or just some nylon rings on either end to take up the slack. Or copper as you did...suppose i could use a copper sealing ring.

The shaft is 17mm, so looking for 18mm ID spring washers or something that will work. The original equipment spring washer doesn't fit, smaller shaft on the original assembly.

[Stevex]

Ago's rear sets appear to be the best of a bad bunch.
With a bit of work they can be changed from adequate to outstanding; it's just a pity Agostini's couldn't be bothered to go the extra 0.5 mile to make their product
outstanding from the off.

[wicks]

Doing more test riding I'm not happy with how the Ago's extended the shift stroke. It seems to make a more positive shift at first, but after some shifting during corners, I notice the throw is too long now.

I'm noticing on the 1000s (16 years forward improvements) the shift lever is far smaller and the throw very, very short. The shift lever is positioned right underneath the lever right next to the gearbox providing nice direct geometry in the mechanism.

How to improve this Ago setup to get closer to that? Seems a problem, they made the shift linkage much farther away from the gearbox even than the stock levers.

I'm thinking about spacers over longer M6 bolts, maybe I could even get back to the original shift shaft lever. Might even try bending this ago link lever.

These aren't tested, engineered, etc, they are just something to start from that's better than stock for getting around Lafranconis and moving feet back a bit.