I like classic bikes and the look of the suicide shifter. I would love to ride one sometime, but probably not as an everyday rider. Where I live is very hilly. Most of the times you stop you are at some odd angle on a hill. I can only see problems with one foot and hand to balance with.

 

OP should post this question on the Nightrain picture forum, a few guys on there have got them, beats me why.

 

My understanding is they are called suicide shifters because you have to let go of the handlebar in order to shift.

 

Would like to try one sometime. Wouldn't go out and buy a kit before I did.

 

I thought the correct terminology was suicide clutch and jockey shift?

 

OK, I'm a curmudgeon. And I know descriptive terms vary from area to area. That said, I'll toss this out - It ain't "suicide shift", it is "suicide clutch." My reasoning, besides being taught the terms and whys by my father who started riding in the 1930s, is this:

There are essentially two types of foot clutches; the rocker clutch and the suicide clutch. The rocker clutch is designed so that it stays where you put it, engaged, disengaged, or any point in between. The suicide clutch is always engaged (clutch coupling the engine to the transmission and the bike is moving!) unless the rider depresses the pedal, just like the standard transmission on a car/truck.

The shift lever mechanism was (generally) known as a hand shifter, sometimes called a "tank shifter" due to where it mounted on a stock bike; sometimes being mounted directly to the transmission top, aka "jockey shift", and sometimes mounted to the frame (late model stock hand shift), or wherever else a customizer decided would work for him. Bikes before the foot shift had a hand shift top on the transmission, while most bikes customized to being foot-clutched/hand-shifted used the foot shift tranny top, known as a ratchet top, and later the Maytag top, and now the various 5, 6, 7 speeds available. At any rate, the hand shift top causes the shift lever to be in one particular position for each gear, similar to a stick shift in a car. A ratchet top, whether the original style, a Maytag, or the later versions, acts on the hand lever just as it does on the foot lever - lever stays in one position until a shift is made, then spring returns to that same original position.

The suicide clutch really took off when the chopper/no front brake stuff started; I'd say it truly earned the suicide mo****r (LOL, gotta love the censors - m o n i k e r was the word I used) - pull up to a stop sign/light at the top of a hill, gotta have the left foot on the clutch pedal, need the right foot on the (only) brake pedal, so how do you stay upright?! Here's a couple techniques - If you're good, you slip the clutch to hold your position, and that allows you to put your right foot on the ground. If things don't work out, maybe you get lucky and have a car behind you so you can ease your back tire into his bumper.

Or maybe you just kill the engine, get into neutral, put the bike on the side stand, kick it over to get it running, side stand back up, and now try to be a three-legged monkey - right foot on ground, super-quickly push the clutch in, slam it into gear while revving the motor, and dump the clutch. Successful - you shoot across the intersection mostly out of control. Unsuccessful - you stall the bike, fall over, and the car behind you runs your raggedy carcass over.

I had a 1978 FLH with a 3 speed and reverse transmission, frame mounted "Police" hand shift lever. This was a factory bike, and the unverified tale was that it was the next-to-last 3 speed transmission HD installed on a bike.
I converted a 1972 XLCH to a left hand throttle, right side jockey shift, left side suicide clutch. Y'know, you can really screw up moving back and forth between left and right throttle bikes!
I installed a rocker clutch and hand shift (mounted off the top motor mount) on my 1987 FLST; I have a lotta stories about that rig because the crappy Taiwanese aftermarket rocker assembly ate cables and broke at welds. The bike now has a suicide clutch and jockey shift on a Baker transmission with an N1 shift top - neutral is at the bottom so the pattern is a straight N-1-2-3-4-5. Having the neutral at the bottom makes it easy to find, always a problem especially in older HDs with the old 3-stud clutches.

I converted my Nightster to a suicide clutch/jockey shift, too. It's back to stock 'cause THE MAMA rides it and she ain't doin' no suicide, LOL.

Once you get the hang of it, a foot clutch/hand shift isn't that hard to ride. It becomes second nature, and just gives you a feeling of accomplishment every single time you reach down and slap a gear. Keeps idiots from asking if they can ride your bike, too ...

Pic below is my Dad on an Indian 30-50 in Balboa Park during WW2 while he was stationed in San Diego.

 

No & no...with today's massive amount of "crazies" rolling on the pavement with their distractions, last thing I need to add into the mix is taking hands off bars to shift. Maybe years ago this was a great thing and entertaining to ride, but times have changed.

 

I have what I refer to as a "foot clutch" with a "jockey shifter" on my bike. I like it and it works just fine. Every now and then I'll stall it but that don't bother me none. Just last week one of the guys at work asked me if it was an automatic because it doesn't have a clutch lever on the bars.

 

Ah yes. I remember now. Suicide clutch and Jockey Shift. My Indian also had a suicide throttle. It did not spring back. It stayed where you put it.

 

Wow—great post! Starting on a hill with the suicide clutch and no front brake sounds scary as hell!