Anyone ever convert to a jockey shift?

I

Ivan John Chin

New member
I had a '47 "W" series with a transplant Pan head, took a lot of doing for the previous owner to fit the engine so he gave up incompleted and sold the basket of bike parts to me. The end result was a under the seat shifter, a right hand advance , a left hand throttle and a load of s**t every time a d****ss decided to drink a beer before he rode; this d****ss.

Bike was a leftover Army sidecar P.O.S. and had a lot less going for it than bad looks or bad operation!!! Threw oil,(auto chain lubricator), ate oil, had trouble keeping the shifter together and harder still to manage the throttle/advance and shift but I loved every minute of riding even as I had to stop every 50 miles and tighten s**t back down!

Suicide or jockey shift, not for me not ever again!! And always remember, when you come to a stop, put it in neutral, put your feet down, that is in FEET not foot and worry about shifting as the light changes or the traffic clears!! Memories of being a D****SS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I really like the looks of a foot clutch and jockey shift (whether it be a tank or behind the knee) on a road king. I know a guy that runs that setup on a nostalgia springer. It would be like driving a car...mechanically.

All this talk of Suicide clutches and nothing remotely close to what I understood a suicide clutch to be has been pictured (but maybe mentioned once "you must be crazy man" would certainly describe it). I rode with a group once and one bike had a suicide clutch as I understand them to be. It was a jockey shift and the clutch lever was actually on the jockey shift handle....you can only take off from stop with one hand on your handle bars! Crazy to watch.

Looked something like this




Adam
 
You made me have to stop and think about that one for a bit,, luckily, I had my first cup of coffee this morning, so the cob webs have had a chance to clea up! LOL
Anyway, in regards to your concerns about taking the hand off of the right handle bar to shift, it only takes a second or two, but in an emergency situation, you can still keep both hands on the bars and shift with your left foot, as per usual. So it basically offers the best of both worlds. He did mention that it took a bit to get used to the hand shifter, but it was easy to catch on to. At stop lights, I notice that he does foot shift at times.
This set up is more for the nostalgic look, it does function rather well, while keeping the bike primarily stock. My sister's ex had done the same thing to his 1700 road star and loves it too.
Personally, i would find it a pain to use a foot clutch, especially the drivers we have in this part of the country, you have to be on your guard, always! But more than usual.

Anyway, that's just my take on this subject. Bikes are as unique as the owners them selfs. Which ever way you, hope that you enjoy the ride!
Cheers.
 
I actually thought about that. I was thinking more of a Hurst pistol grip shifter attached to the tank shifter.



I really don't find it to be such a big deal. I find it more to be "in our head" because this is the way it has been for some time. If we were taught to ride with a suicide clutch and tank/jockey shifter, we would be saying how odd our bikes are set up now. Of course that is JMO.
 
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