I'm riding a Street Bob and this weekend I rode several demo bikes that have the heel toe shifter. I found that I had to pick up my leg and move it back in order to put my heel on the shifter, also i found that my feet were extended further forewords than I am used to, which made up shifting with my toe "unFun"
Back in the 60s, I would go rent bikes in Corpus and they also had the HT shifters; however all that I did was pivot on the ball of my foot and I could easily use my heel on the shifter.
My question is; is the "normal" method really having to raise my leg up to be able to shift, or would there be some sort of adjustments made to be able to simply pivot my foot to reach that heel shift lets say on a Heritage and wearing EMT boots?
Thanks for any advice.

 

It's called a Belleville washer.

 

I found the same. I had to lift my leg to position for a heel shift and then reposition for a toe shift. I shift a lot when riding in the mountains and I just never settled into a comfortable shifting position. After giving it a go for eight month, I removed the heel shifter. Just the toe shifter is working much better for me now.

 

All this bash about heel shifters. Damn....I love mine. I don't really need to find it just cause I am used to it. It does not cramp my foot cause I guess I am used to it. I love it.

 

That is because from the factory they are mounted like 4" above the footboard. I moved mine and now it is easy to shift.

 

took my heel shifter off also my big feet would not fit between them thinking of getting one with a longer shaft

 

I picked up an extended shift lever from ebay and now I have plenty of room for my size 14 boots.
Blue Loctite and no worries.

 

Ditto....

Any helpful hints??

 

No big deal.
I took mine off to give a good cleaning over the winter.

Found a few washers and cut a rubber spacer out of a piece of heater hose.


It's still loose enough to move without linkage hooked up, but no rattle at all.

plus I packed it with grease as it looked like it was starving for lubrication.

 

Had a HT shifter on my last three bikes since 2000 and never had any issues with them. None ever came lose or fell off.

Course I do check them every time I clean the bike. My latest bike I did have to put an additional urethane spacer I made at work on there. But that was just for my own peace of mind.