Malaguti Spidermax - a footrest to straighten the legs

Warning - contains a red bike and a naked blond girl

I enjoyed stretching my legs once a while when I had my Burgman 400.
The European scooters are mostly without the extra stretch room because of the difference in riding style. When I tried out a 250 MP3 I felt totally cramped with my size 45 (12 US) feet. The Spidermax has adequate legroom but when cruising through the mountains with some nice tunes I missed the sit back and relax feeling.

I wanted to try out first what would be comfortable and safe before installing some footrest bars.



I brutally misused a water hose hook for my road test and found me more and more enjoying the stretched leg experience.
The Malaguti Spidermax has under the floor mat a couple M5 screws what connect the plastic to the frame with a sturdy connection.

Wandering through the hardware store to get some ideas I saw these book shelf holders what had the right length. To be on the safe side I got four in case a single one was not sturdy enough.

I cut and bend a piece of the holder to make it  a bit thinner and also to secure the rubber floor mat which now looses two front anchor points.

I decided to use 2 metal arms and to stick one into the other. So with a nice  mallet - no problem.

The flattened part is the one which has to be under the rubber mat.

Drilling a hole for the M5 screw.

Here you have a good idea what happens if the footrest encounters an obstacle. It just swivels inwards. 

The finish product. A little black spray paint hides the floor mat security hook.
The footrest is sturdy enough not to flex when I put my foot on it.

For 4.40 Euro and a bit of work I have now 2 nice and barely visible footrests.

Why not conventional bike footrests you ask?
That would have resulted in either a bendy metal contraption to create a mount for the footrests or some welding and drilling holes into the side fairing, Both solutions more complicated, time consuming and much more expensive.


And now comes the fun part.

Since this is a birthday celebration post (2 years I have my Spidermax now) I thought I share my joy with you and what does a biker likes most after riding his bike?
Right - chicks and nachos.
Enjoy, but you have to get your own nachos...

This is one of the 2 normal positions. Foot slightly in the back.

This is the second one of the normal positions. Foot slightly in the front.

This is one of the 2 extended positions. Heel on the floor mat and foot on the footrest.

This is the other of the 2 extended positions. Heel on the footrest and leg fully extended.

After a first test run my favorite normal riding position is the heels on the floor mat and the middle of the foot on the footrests. Trying out several positions this one comes naturally without thinking now.
When the Spidermax goes into extreme curves so that the center stand scrapes the footrests are still a fair amount away from the street and the heels also.
The footrests feel in no way slippery at all, the foot rests secure. If they ever feel not safe, I have some anti slip tape what will take care of that.

Update 2010-9-20
Since the footrests are on the same level as the floorboard they act as an extension of it. There is a surprisingly flexible positioning of the feet possible.
If I would have known what impact on cruising this mod had, it would have been my first.
Highly enjoyable.

Update 2014-8-27
They still work like on the first day.
I tipped the Spidermax once and bend the foot rest. Re-bending on the fly fixed that.
Every time the bike goes to inspection somebody asks about the foot rests. Then I demonstrate the swivel inside at impact and they all are satisfied.