Slow nite here at work so my mind is wandering (on two wheels). Whether it's the bow-legged riding position, peg placement, seat position or some combination of all, I find that alternating between upshifts/downshifts on my DWG requires a conscious and exaggerated ankle/foot repositioning that used to be instinctive, unconsciousand effortless on my Vulcan which had moderately forward controls. The idea of floorboards and a heel/toe shifter doesn't appeal to me, but my creative side came up with an idea I'd like to run up the ol' flagpole and see if anyone salutes it. My idea isto take a second shift lever and bias-cut it to remove/discard about 1/3 of the splined end. The remainder would be welded to an unmolested shift lever, forming a stretched-out letter "Y" laid over on its side. The bias-cut and welding would be so as to end up with a comfortable gap, top and bottom, between the toe and sole of your normal riding footwear. Of course, the style/size of the two shifter pegs would have a direct bearing on the angle and length of the two shaftsneeded to allow forcomfortablegaps...I wouldn't want the two pegs in constant contact with either top or bottom of my boot. Of course there would be grinding, filing and re-chroming involved inmaking this new shift lever.
As I was typing this, anothersimpler idea came to mind. Instead of chopping-up and weldingone shift lever to another,what about grinding away 1/2 of the thickness at each splined mount, and "spooning" the two levers, butclock them 1-2-3 splines from each other to accomplish the same function at the pegs. This one would look like a long letter "V" laid over on its side.This methodmight require some torchheating/bendingso the shafts didn't interfere with each other near the spline ends. Once the clocking position was confirmed, the two half-thickness splined ends could be tacked or solidly welded to each other to make a monolithic piece. May still involve a little grinding, filing and re-chroming, but far less than the other way.
My brain likes the simplicity of "toe-up, toe-down" shifting, instead of "ankle-out, toe-down, ankle-in, toe-up" for an upshift, and "ankle-out, toe-up, ankle-in, toe-down" for a downshift. What do you think of my forkin' idea? Gimme both barrels if you think I'm all wet with this one.

 

might save you a little aggraviation...
http://www.deweyspegs.com/products.html#heelhammer

 

I would like to see the prototype.
I like the concept.

 

you know i have often had the same thoughts about how stoopid the whole gearshift thing is,, like when your headin into a bend and you have you foot hovering around for a shift but at the same time you need to tuck it in ready to pitch into the bend etc etc its all wrong,, i like the sound of your idea, never came to that conclusion myself so feeling pretty stupid here as i am meant to be an engineer would love to see proto pix

pete

 

Good idea kelly.

Keep us updated.

If I had an extra shift lever I would try building
either your idea, or the Dewey typedesign.

mud

 

Hey Mud, shoot me an email with your shipping info and I'll send one out to you

Punty

 

Good idea. The link from moosh is really just a heel shifter. But, you're idea makes sense.

Here's another design idea. Remove the threaded shift peg, keep the fork. Drill and tap two holes using the same size and thread as the shift peginto a flat, narrow steelplate. The holes should be the distance you want the Y or V to be.Weld a threaded rod or bolt the size of the shift peg to themiddle of the plate on the other side. Now screw the welded contraption into your shift fork. And, screw two shift pegs into the holes in the contraption.

Voila! The two-toed shift contraption is born!

 

Righteous;
My boss at work this morning had the same idea as you...it is a lot simpler concept than either of my ideas. He's not a fan of the ol' Heel-Toe either (is anyone?). I think I'll make a stab at your improved/simplified idea. Anyone else with the fabrication bug; please post pics of your in-progress and finished creations.

 

I can't wait to see the finished result. But, you must call it the "two-toed shift contraption". As it is written, so it shall be done.

 

Fair 'nuf, Greg. I got in 20 miles making a run to the Tacoma dealer for a second shift peg to match my narrow-band billet. I'm having to rein-in my brain from over-complicating your idea. Been thinking of a boomerang, crescent, or "Y"shaped "splitter" that could move both toe-pegs forward, aligned or offset, upper peg behind the toes / lower peg near the tips, ad nauseum....hope it's another quiet nite at work .
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The Two-Toed Sloth Shifter? Just thinkin' out loud.