Anyone ever convert to a jockey shift?

D

d cool

New member
Now this is the type of clutch I was refering to in my earlier reply. One of these on an Electra Glide would not only look retro but would perform much more safely and easily.

As for the gear shift, to make it look proper but not have to do tank modifications, a properly shaped lever pivoted on the horn bracket bolt with a rod connecting to the trans lever (the trans lever could be extended upward some) would work good with the lever running right along side the tank, similar to the originals. Just pull back once to put in 1st, then shove forward and release for each shift. I can't believe someone hasn't made a kit like this already.
 
There are a few "gotcha" situations with a suicide bike that you have to be aware of and adjust your riding to. In traffic I try to leave enough space to the car in front that you can just feather the clutch (if it's adjusted right) enough to balance without touching your feet down. Same thing coming up to a stop light. Anyone who is thinking about a jockey conversion should practice balancing at very, very slow speeds. It will help a bunch when you make the change.

Like Fatboy said, you just have to think about what you're doing (and what you're going to do) more and try not to get yourself into the gotcha situations until you have some miles under your belt.

Obviously, the worst situation is stopping on a steep hill on a bike with no front brake. You can't keep your right foot on the rear brake and push the clutch down with your left foot at the same time. You have to keep the bike in gear and the clutch in the friction zone to hold the bike in place. Think what you will about Outlaw MC's, but those cats back in the day could RIDE. I get the willies just thinking about tear-assing around San Fran's hills all the time on a suicide bike w/ no front brake.

If you do get in trouble and need to put your left foot down, you can sometimes grab a quick stab of front brake to try and stall the bike. If you do it right you should be okay. If not.... That's why they call them suicide clutches
 
Same idea but different set up, in my mind at least. I wouldn't want the "L" shaped lever like that, but just run the lever up with somewhat forward angle and shaped out from the tank so it does not contact it. Then the bottom half of the lever can go downward to clear the horn, with a hiem ended rod (like the H-D shifter rods) to connect to the stock trans lever. Maybe a bolt on extension on the trans lever to raise it up and outward a bit.
 
Nice lookin' scoot BTW Doc!!

There are a few ways i've seen to do a tank shift linkage and that sounds like it would work.

A Police style shifter kit could also be adapted to do what you're describing.

Technically, there are 3 types of hand shifters: Tank shift (in front of the leg), Jockey shift (behind the leg), and the Police shift which is a bracket that bolts to the front downtube of the frame and puts the shift lever further forward than a tank shift.

Here's a pic showing a Police kit on the left.




PS: Chicks dig handshifting!!
 
That is one of those situations I'm talking about. I usually cruise to a stop light in neutral anyways so hopefully I'm already ahead of the game. Like people with experience are saying, you just have to think!



I like the thought of getting rid of the shifter rod. If you look at Drew's bike, it cleans it up near the primary, but on the other hand, all those bends kind of look cookey. I think because he has his chrome, it's more noticable. I plan on powdercoating mine flat black like my bike, but because I have an EGS, my motor is silver so mine might stick out as well. I actually plan on trying to come up with a better looking tank shifter as far as routing is concerned. We'll see when it gets here. I don't think it would be hard to come up with something once I see it installed.
 
i'm still looking for some pics of my setups that i had guys.sorry.

when i had the suicide clutch on my road king, i made my own shifter. i took a stock shifter lever and welded a car style shifter arm to the top of it. picture the shifter lever turned straight up mounted to its usual position. i found a nice rubber boot to cover the weld between the two. it looked and worked great. i did have to put a spacer where the inside lever would go and mount the new shifter arm on the outside so there was no chance of it hitting the gas tank.

head
 
found the pics. one shows my homemade suicide shift and tank shifter. the other pic shows my kick start. this was on my 98 flhr. sold this bike just a few months ago with 130,000 miles on it.

i had spent hundreds of dollars modifying and putting the rocker clutch and more conventional tank shift on it. i rode the bike from south carolina to sturgis(4200 miles in 6 days). 100 miles out of sturgis coming home,the shaft on the rocker clutch broke in half.

so, i decided to make my own suicide setup. the beauty was that it could be changed to stock setup in 10 minutes max. this was before i had apehangers. the stock clutch cable and lever and perch were re routed. they mounted at the bottom of the engine gaurd. used a footpeg mount. cut a peice of handlebar. ran a long bolt through the peg mount and through the bar that thread into the actual other end of the peg mount. a nostalgia pedal had an extra holes drilled in it. two clamps attached it to the stock clutch lever. you placed your heel on the floorboard and your toe end worked the pedal for the clutch. the shifter itself should be self explanatory from my other post. this was a smooth simple setup that worked great. a lot of fun to ride and real cheap to make. i could walk in my shop and mount this on my 2006 flhri in 15 minutes max.

head
 
Nice work man! Very creative and can be quickly and easily put back to stock. My bike is still under warranty and I don't use the dealer for anything other than recall and warranty repairs. One thing I thought of that makes me cringe is picturing the kid (Technician) at the dealer taking my bike with the rocker/jockey setup on a test ride. So being able to quickly return it to stock if it has to go for warranty would be a big plus...

I really like all the trick details you did to the bike you pictured. The old style heat shields look great too. I had thought of doing the same to my bike but could never come up with a clean way of doing it.


PS: Tell the truth; how many times did you choose to kick start it rather than using the magic button?
 
Back
Top