Rear Brake Light Switch on Slipstream Cycleworks Rearsets.
This thing has been bugging me for a long time now, and today was the day.
Jarrod at Slipstream Cycleworks does very neat rearsets for the CX500, and he has an option of ordering with or without brake switch assembly. For some reason I ordered the "without" option.....more likely than not because I didn't know at the time that one belonged there!
Anyway, he will do a retrofit if you send him the components at your expense, and he will charge for the retrofit, which is a fair thing. Thing is that the postage from Australia to the US and back was way more than the cost of the addition, so there I was...stewing over how to do it myself.
This is my answer....
I did it in cardboard first but it was a trial and error thing to get it just right.
Pedal removed showing the mounting plate......
I went with the type of switch commonly found on brake and clutch hand levers. It's a "normally closed" switch and it has one mounting hole (4mm), a right angle cut-out to engage with mounting bracket, and small round lug sticking out to the mounting side to also engage with mounting bracket and provide stability to the switch housing.
With the help of some cardboard, and some trial fitting, I made a mounting bracket from a piece of 3mm aluminium, and the right angle locking piece is 5mm aluminium welded on.
There are 3 holes (below).
The bottom one is a blind 4mm hole to allow the lug to sit in.
The middle one is a 3mm countersunk hole to allow fixing bracket to rearset mounting plate with a countersunk 3mm screw leaving a flush surface for the switch housing.
The top one is 4mm hole that lines up with the mounting hole in the switch housing.
Again, through trial fitting, 2 tapped holes on the rearset mounting plate....3mm on left for the aluminium bracket, and 4mm on right for the switch mount (and through bracket also).
Pedal mounted as well as the aluminium bracket via the 3mm countersunk screw. Note also the outside shape of aluminium bracket wraps around mounting plate components for anti-rotation effect ( file a bit...try a bit).
The pedal has a large connecting that you can't see, under the switch, which also acts as a stop for the pedal travel. At rest position, that connector is pressing on the switch button on the bottom of the switch, and breaking the circuit. The 4mm Allen head screw I used in the photo below is too big and interferes with the full travel of the pedal. I will need to replace it with a flatter head screw and it should clear nicely. I did test it and it works.
I could have welded the aluminium bracket onto the mounting plate, but this way, if it doesn't work, I can easily remove it and go back to the drawing board.
Now I only hope 2 things...that I DID get a "NC" switch, and that it's waterproof.