Footpegs & Foot Controls

Footpegs and pedals for your motorcycle

Footpegs and pedals are your lowest contact point with the bike. They carry your weight, operate the gears and rear brake, and determine how your body sits in relation to the seat and bars.

A badly placed footpeg makes itself known after twenty minutes. The knee ends up at a poor angle, your foot slips on the pedal, and you spend energy holding on instead of riding.

So the choice isn't just about looks. It's about leg angle, how easily you hit the gear lever with a boot on, and how much ground clearance you have left when you lean the bike into a corner.

This guide covers dimensions and mounting types, the difference between floorboards, footpegs and adjustable rearsets, materials, wear and actual fitting. You can use it whether you ride a cruiser, sporty road bike or offroad.

At Partsdenmark.com you'll find footpegs and pedals from Arlen Ness, MCS, Zodiac, Moose Offroad, Kuryakyn, Drag Specialties, Gilles Tooling, SW-Motech, Vity's Design, Emgo, Thrashin Supply Co., Scar, V-Twin, Performance Machine (PM) and Rick's Motorcycles.

Use Find your bike so you only see parts that fit your exact model and year. We offer free shipping on orders over €200.

Dimensions, mounting and markings you need to know

Footpegs fit by mounting type, not by brand. You need to know the bracket type, the dimension of the pin or bolt, and the space available to the part before you order.

Mounting types on street and cruiser

On American bikes, footpegs are typically split into male mount and female mount, where the pin sits either on the peg or on the bracket.

• Male mount: the pin sits on the footpeg and goes into the bracket
• Female mount: the bracket carries the pin, the footpeg clamps over it
• Clevis with clip: classic clevis bracket with pin and retaining clip
• Clamp mounts: for crash bars in 25.4 mm and 32 mm for highway pegs
• Foot Control kits: complete sets with brackets, pedals and linkages

The right-side brake pedal and the left-side gear lever share the same bracket, which is why they're often sold as a set together with the footpeg.

Mounting types on offroad and adventure

Offroad footpegs mount on a pivot bolt or pin with a return spring and are far wider than street pegs, because you stand on them.

• Width: standard around 50 mm, wide versions 55-60 mm
• Teeth: replaceable or fixed hardened steel spikes
• Return spring: holds the peg up after an impact
• Low mount: lowered position for tall riders on adventure bikes
• Rubber dampers: removable on many adventure pegs

Adventure pegs with removable rubber give you two bikes in one: damped on tarmac and sharp grip once the rubber comes out.

Choose footpegs and pedals to suit your riding

Riding style dictates the type. Long road trips reward big floorboards, while sporty riding and offroad call for narrower, firmer and more adjustable solutions.

Use the table as a starting point and hold it up against where you actually cover most of your miles over a season.

Riding style	Type	Advantages	Disadvantages	Brands in the range
Cruiser and touring on tarmac	Floorboards	Large surface, several foot positions, less vibration	Costs ground clearance, heavier	Kuryakyn, Drag Specialties, V-Twin
Custom and bobber	Foot Pegs in Billet Aluminum	Clean look, light, plenty of designs	Less support surface on long rides	Arlen Ness, Vity's Design, Performance Machine (PM)
Sporty road and track	Adjustable Foot Control	Precise leg angle, more ground clearance	Takes getting used to and setting up	Gilles Tooling, Rick's Motorcycles
Adventure and gravel	Wide Footpegs in Steel	Good grip with a boot, strong	Transmits more vibration	SW-Motech, MCS, Zodiac
Offroad and MX	Footpegs with sharp teeth	Maximum grip in mud, replaceable spikes	Wears boot soles quickly	Moose Offroad, Scar, Emgo

If you mostly ride solo but carry a pillion a few times a month, sort the rider's seating position first and then choose Passenger pegs that match the rear brackets.

If you switch to floorboards, the brake pedal and gear lever often need changing as well. The floorboard moves the sole of your foot further out, so a standard pedal ends up sitting wrong in relation to your heel.

Materials and variants explained

The material determines weight, grip and how well the part survives a drop or a winter of road salt. The three dominant materials are aluminium, steel and rubber combined with metal.

Aluminium and billet

Machined Billet Aluminum is light, stiff and can be worked into fine detail. It's the standard on custom pegs, adjustable rearsets and pedal arms, where weight and looks count.

An Anodized finish gives a hard oxide layer that resists corrosion better than bare aluminium. Black anodising fades slowly in sunlight, while polished and chromed surfaces need regular care to avoid tarnishing.

Steel and hardened toothed inserts

Steel footpegs are used where strength matters more than grams. They bend rather than snap, and a bent peg can often be straightened enough to get you home.

Offroad pegs have hardened spikes that bite into the sole. Replaceable spikes extend service life considerably, because you only change the toothed section instead of the whole peg.

Stainless and galvanised steel handle Danish winter weather better than ordinary painted steel, which rusts from the first stone chip.

Rubber, inserts and floorboards

Rubber inserts damp engine vibration and make long rides noticeably less tiring. On the other hand they wear, and worn rubber gets slippery in the rain.

Floorboards often combine a metal frame with a replaceable rubber insert. It's a cheap service part to change and the cheapest place to start if your feet are slipping.

Wear, service life and maintenance

Footpegs and pedals wear slowly but constantly. Play in the bushings and rounded edges on the pedal are the two signs most often overlooked until gear changes start to fail.

Footpegs and inserts

Check whether the peg can be rocked sideways. Play in the pin or the bracket means worn bushings, and that translates into an unsure feel when you stand up on the bike.

Rubber inserts should be replaced when the pattern is worn flat, or when the rubber has hardened and cracked. On offroad pegs, change the spikes once they're rounded and the sole no longer locks in place.

Brake pedal and gear lever

The ball joints on the shift linkage must be tight. Any play here and you lose the last few millimetres of pedal travel, which gives false neutrals and missed upshifts.

On the brake pedal, check free play and the return spring. The pedal must return fully on its own, otherwise the rear brake drags and overheats the pads. See the range of brake pedals if the arm is bent or the bushing is worn out.

Bolts, springs and lubrication

Return springs rust and lose tension. A spring that no longer pulls the peg back up must be replaced immediately, because a hanging footpeg can catch the ground in a corner.

Clean the pivot bolts and pack them with a heavy grease at every spring service. It takes a few minutes and is the single action that extends the life of the whole foot control the most.

Always re-torque the bracket bolts after the first 100-200 km on a newly fitted part. New mating surfaces bed in, and a loose bolt here goes from annoyance to failure quickly.

Fitting step by step

Most footpegs and pedals fit with ordinary hand tools in one to two hours. The important part is checking clearance to the exhaust, frame and brake light switch before you torque things down.

Start by photographing the standard setup. Note the pedal height and the length of the shift linkage so you have a reference point to return to if the new position doesn't feel right.

Loosen the locknut on the shift linkage and count the turns as you adjust the length. Many Shift Lever rods have right- and left-hand threads at each end, so you can adjust the height without dismantling anything.

Use thread lock on all bolts without a locknut, and torque to the manufacturer's spec. Over-torqued aluminium brackets crack at the edge of the bolt hole, and that's a common sight on machined foot controls.

Finally, check that the brake light switch still operates, that the pedal has free travel, and that nothing touches the frame at full deflection. Take a short test ride at low speed and re-torque afterwards.

If you're changing the foot controls, it often makes sense to match the look with levers and grips, so finish and colour line up all the way round.

Frequently asked questions about footpegs and pedals

These are the questions our customers most often ask before ordering footpegs, floorboards or new pedals.

Will footpegs from one brand fit my motorcycle?

Only if the mounting type matches. Male mount and female mount are not interchangeable, and on offroad bikes the pin dimension and spring location have to match.

Use Find your bike at Partsdenmark.com to filter the range down to the parts approved for your model and year.

Do I lose ground clearance with floorboards?

Yes, floorboards sit wider than footpegs and touch down earlier in a corner. On cruisers and tourers that's rarely a problem at normal road speeds, but it's clearly noticeable if you ride hard.

Why does my foot slip on the pedal?

Usually because the rubber is worn flat or has hardened. A new insert or a pedal with coarser knurling solves it in most cases.

If the pedal face is too small for your boot, there are wider Pedal versions that give more contact without changing the bracket itself.

Can I adjust the gear lever height without new parts?

On most bikes, yes. Loosen the locknuts on the shift linkage and screw the rod shorter or longer until the pedal sits where your boot naturally rests.

If the adjustment doesn't reach far enough, you need a different Gear Shift rod or an adjustable foot control that moves the whole assembly.

What should I choose for long rides?

Floorboards or footpegs with rubber damping, ideally with highway pegs mounted on the crash bar so you can change leg position along the way. The variation matters more for comfort than the size of the platform itself.

If you want to go deeper into the details, carry on to brake pedals and floorboards, where you'll find the parts most often changed together with footpegs.

All parts at Partsdenmark.com are covered by 2-year right of complaint, and we offer a European price match if you find the same item cheaper at a European dealer. If you're unsure about fitment, use Find your bike or contact us before you order.