it does look really mocho. last year, on the laughlin run, a young guy shot by me, chirpping the tires in 2nd and 3rd gear with a jocky shift, he works at a local bike shop. really blew me away. next time i saw him, in his shop, his leg was in a cast, that didnt look so cool. guess its like the guys that drive cars with automatic trans and see a guy with a 4 speed shifting. i remember when i was young, long time ago, i used to pretend to have a stick shift, well then i got a truck with a stick shift and have been driving them for over 20 years, then i got a truck with a automatic, love it, sit back and relax. still that guy look cool when he shot by me shifting with his arm down behind his leg and the bike jumping every time he let out the clutch. it wouldnt be bad if the clutch was set up the the original clutch, where you push it it will stay, in other words if you press the clutch in with your foot and took your foot off it it would stay there, depressed. but then if the old bikes came with foot shift then every one would want to convert there shifters to foot shift. kinda like the setup vennie did on occ, clutch on the shifter lever. as for making a ride exciting, well if i make it there and back alive that enough excitement for me. grow a beard, let your hair grow and turn grey and get the black leathers that will work.

 

I've ridden either a rocker clutch or suicide clutch and hand shift since 1981. After a few miles it comes naturally. The only drawback is with a suicide you really need to have things under control at a stop. If you are off balance it is easy to stall, or worse, lurch into traffic. Passengers must be educated, and severely punished for leaning to the left at a stop!

If you go the jockey shift route, keep the weight of the lever to a minimum. Too many of the store-bought kits have levers that are too heavy or unbalanced. Probably cause more wear on the bushings in the tranny top.

 

i love the way they look.................but not no but falk no!!

 

hey all! new to the forum... very cool stuff. joined cause i just got my 1st HD project bike... had others but never done ground up myself.. it's a 67 ironhead- right shift, left brake... but has disks and new forks.... anyway i was just dream'n about the clutch / shifter options... im kinda bent on keeping right shift / left brake.. so was considering a jockey, left handed crossover with a hand "grenade" clutch... yeah... high on the cool scale low on the living to ride again scale! i would dig some ideas on finding a cool factor that's safe enough (it's just gonna be a bar hopper, short D bike)

hotrod351 mentioned a clutch that would stay engaged after you left your foot off????... what that??? i was also searching and came across pocoj's left hand throttle right hand strieght up jockey shift..... now thats an idea....not to be a kiss A** but that guy apears to know this Sh**. or he's a really good BS'er.

anyway, great place to be and can't wait to learn from you folks.

ride safe

tr

 

the cluth that stayed down was a rocker. if you wanna make that sporty cool, restore it!!

 

gotta love those ironheads the shifter isn't hard to get used to but after 8,000 miles everyone elses shifter is that's my '74 in the sig.

 

I had a hand banger on my shovelhead chopper, once you got used to it it worked pretty good. I never worried about anyone stealing it and you just need to remember to put it in neutral at every stop. As long as you have a good front brake they're not that hard to ride.

 

The first bike I ever bought myself (in 1967) was a foot clutch/hand shift model. It was super cool back then, but I don't miss it. It's easy enough to die out there without adding unnecessary impediments to basic control....

You sure learn how to find neutral in a hurry though.....

 

rocker.. that makes sence... i'd love to respore it.. but the rod that had it before me chopped the frame... This was a 90% complete, albeit slightly frankinstiened, find at a good price.. i wanna make somethin unique.. custom maybe with a drag-bike feel.

thanks for the input, all... anyone with tech. advise please PM me.

tdr

 

I might be BSing you, but since you have disc brakes you can use the old brake crossover tube on your frame to get a hand shifter from the right side to the left.