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  #1  
Unread 01-31-2008, 09:03 PM
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I didn't anticipate on spending the money on some bling for the Aprilia but I got a killer deal on a set of Sato's. I was going to get some Woodcrafts since they are affordable. The main thing I want is the reverse shifting or GP shift pattern. The Sato set can be fitted for both regular and GP shift so it's even more attractive. The footrests are pretty damn important when you are doing wheelies and pushing the limits so it's basically a great investment. The ball bearing pivots and heim joints are very smooth and damn they look great.

The New Sato


Compared to the stock set (in same box!)


Quite the difference. The bolts need a little refreshing but at least the corroded ones on the heel guards are no longer in sight.
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Unread 01-31-2008, 09:57 PM
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And once installed on the bike it can be seen that it was money well spent. The old tired set on the left and the new blood coming in on the right side. There is an upper and lower hole to attach each side of the shifter adjustment rod. I'll have to play with those later. Note that the peg mounts are on the upper end of the middle row of mounting locations.



Here is an even better shot from above. Plenty of adjustment all over the place in these boys. The Sato's offer a whole lot more grip for your boots over the stock set. I didn't feel all that comfortable when my shoes would bend over the small stock pegs. I could really tell that the stock pegs were short and not very grippy.
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Unread 02-05-2008, 09:31 PM
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Here is a shot of the powdercoated kickstand I just installed. I couldn't stand looking down at the faded/rusty black kickstand anymore. Now it's bright and shiny black for ever.





It's good to have some new grease on it and to also clean out the switch mechanism since it was all pretty packed with grease/dirt. Better than new now.
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Unread 07-25-2008, 01:12 AM
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Since I installed these I have lowed the pegs one hole down which is much more comfortable. Just that small change made a huge difference. I also had a nice slide off the side of the road one morning out with some friends so I bent the left triangle bracket pretty good. The actual peg held up VERY well and just scraped the end a little. I filed it nice and smooth and no one has ever pointed it out so you can't even tell. I milled up a piece to replace the bent part. And by just flipping the CAD design I knocked out another one to match for the other side. Pretty nice eh!



I'll update this later on. I love these rear sets. They are the best and now that I have experienced them, I say they are worth it indeed. The stock ones were slippery so you gain a lot more confidence with the Satos. They are fine jewelry for your Aprilia! Everyone loves them who checks out the bike.
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Unread 08-07-2008, 10:12 AM
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Just updating this thread a little bit. Had a question or two about the angles of the Sato product. Just so people know I LOVE THESE THINGS. Besides the full-floating iron brake rotors I installed these are the #2 upgrade I recommend for both style and safety. Once you place your boot or shoe on these they will NOT move anywhere. Super sticky and you can maneuver much more comfortably on your Aprilia with these. Huge difference from stock. The stock rearsets are too smooth and small. I was instantly annoyed by them when I first rode my Mille.

Ok less talk, more pictures:






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Unread 10-22-2008, 09:33 PM
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Alrighty then! The rearsets have been awesome for miles on miles now. The ONLY thing that I have to complain about is the position of the rear master cylinder but that is resolved by the release of the Sato II rearsets for this bike. I will be able to buy the parts to upgrade the right side and get the master cylinder up and out from under the hot engine. This is the sole reason the brakes don't work well on the older Aprilia Mille bikes. They just kind of threw the braking system together as it definitely screams, "last minute" design, without a doubt.

So if I want to nit-pick I would bitch about how the rear set shifting position causes me to miss a shift from time to time. Well if you increase the stroke of the shifter in which more leverage is applied by the position of the heim joint mounts, then yes, the gear might not fully engage. If you get more leverage on the shifter pattern the amount of movement needed is also increased. This caused me to not fully engage the next gear from time to time. I needed a change.

FYI: I had my buddy Danny Hull trick out my suspension settings as well as the complete bike setup. The bike couldn't be better, long story but it's perfect now. He also noticed that the shift rod for the Sato shifter was at it's full extended position. He recommended that I find a longer rod so that there would be no chance of stripping out the last few threads on the rod with my super powers. Then he started digging around in a box of goodies in his shop and he found a purpose built heavy duty shift rod and handed it over to me. Once we found the correct threaded couplers I threw it in my bag so I could install it later on and also make some adjustments while I was at it.

And that's just what I did. Here is the piece compared to what it replaced:


Here is the front heim joint as I moved it up one notch on the shift arm thus, decreasing the amount of throw required to shift gears... very smart move on my part as now my shifting is my smoother and much more satisfying.


And here we have the job all finished up and ready to perform. The shifting is MUCH easier and I never thought such a small adjustment would make a difference in shifting action. Who knows? Maybe the shift rod being much more stiff also helped smooth out the shifting as well...


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Unread 10-29-2008, 10:35 PM
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Soooo it's time to update. Last weekend I dropped into a left hander at a pretty decent rate of speed and went to shift down a gear... but my shifter wasn't there. I guess I didn't put enough lock-tite on the rear bolt that connects the rear heim joint. Another rider in the group had some spare metric allan bolts so it wasn't much of problem and gave us a second to stretch out. Being in such a hurry I assembled the linkage by attaching it on the outside of the shift arm. This kept me from getting a firm upshift 20% of the time which was annoying. But once I got back I made sure to get the correct bolt and to re-assemble the shift linkage on the inside of the mounting locations so there is no chance of interference with the shifter.

I'll get a pic up tomorrow. It's much better and having the correct bolt is nice too. Sato didn't include a correct pair of bolts in the first place. My rearsets are the older versions so maybe they have corrected the hardware which is included.

As you can see the Titanium bolt I got to replace the one supplied by Sato has a nice shoulder on it for the heim to ride on. The bolt from Sato had threads all the way up the bolt and it was just long enough to screw into the linkage mounting position. Well the new one I have installed is long enough to go through the mounting location on the shifter and also long enough for a lock nut to fasten to it which eliminates any chance of the bolt coming loose again.

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Unread 11-04-2008, 12:55 AM
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Ok here we are. Today was a fun time spending a couple hours fitting titanium bolts all over wherever I could. Check out the results here if you haven't seen the new jewelry already: http://www.fourwheelforum.com/index.php?showtopic=255 I also got another nice shot of the rearsets with the new hardware. I've done a lot of adjusting on them and this is where they are going to stay. I got the shift rod installed on the inside which is the best way. I had it like this before but then when I was messing with it again (see a couple posts up) you can see that I had the front mount on the outside... not good. So this is finally the way to have it together.

I REALLY like the shifting action with the shift rod mounted in the holes that you see here. Every shift is perfect and smooth. I can also find neutral without any problems. Before it was king of a pain before I dropped the rear heim mount down to the lower hole.







http://www.fourwheelforum.com/index.php?showtopic=255
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