man nice scoots on this thread totally sick all ya'll

 

is theirs a kit that you buy or what? i'm lacking the foot part and cable?

 

You buy a kit that comes with the Jockey shift lever, the foot pedal and the clutch cable. IT is quite simple to install. I run one too except I have a tank shifter as opposed to the jockey shifter. I love it.

 

i would love to have one....they look kick ***...but is it a pain n the *** to drive...???

 

Sometimes but you get used to it.

you can buy the parts in peices also... but it prob cheaper as a kit.

 

You get used to it fast. For the me the biggest challenge was splitting lanes on our Los Angeles freeways but i am now as comfortable with it as a regular bike.

 

thats great

 

Drew, you had any hairy moments splitting lanes with that thing? Man, even with both hands on the bars, it's sometimes dicey.
I think I'm too big a ***** to run that setup...

 

I copied this for The Horse Backstreet Chopper ... Fabricator Kevin wrote about a year ago... enjoy...

Live to Ride – Suicide!

Suicide clutch. Just the sound of it is scary: only a select few men and women ever born into this world that have the skills necessary to ride this way. It takes years of practice in order to master it. Mile after treacherous mile of danger and reckless abandon are sure to haunt anyone who tries to ride a machine with this mechanical nightmare intalled on it. Really? “Hell yes! My brother-in-law’s neighbor had a cousin who tried to ride one once. He died in the front yard of fright just sitting on the bike.” That’s probably more likely to happen than injury from actually riding a foot clutched bike.

In the beginning, before television and HOG, motorcycles were built without the need for gearboxes. Bicycle style pedals were the method used to start the machines, and they ran with a single speed leather belt that was slipped until the machine came up to speed and the belt could be fully engaged. In a short time, more powerful engines were developed, and the need for multiple gears became apparent. Clutches were used to help transfer the power to the gearbox, and the using your foot was determined to be the best method to actuate that newfangled clutch. As early as the teens, racing motorcycles started showing up with hand operated clutches, but the foot clutch remained popular for close to 50 years on production motorcycles. Even when hand clutches started to become standard equipment, Police bikes were still built with a foot operated clutch mechanism. Why? Why was this dangerous, inconvenient way of transferring power still employed when the hand clutch was becoming all the rage? Is it possible that a foot clutch offered some benefits that a hand clutch didn’t? I’ve heard that it was so an officer could draw and fire his weapon while riding, without the worry of having to operate a hand clutch. I don’t know about that: I just think a foot clutch is more comfortable and easier than a hand clutch.

“Easier? Are you kidding, man? How could that possibly be? When stopping at a light, if I put the wrong foot down – I will surely fall over and die.” Whoever would make a statement like that has probably never even tried to ride a foot clutched bike.

Lets first break down a few terms.

Rocker clutch refers to a mechanism that is operated (at least on a Harley) using the heel and toe to operate the clutch. The heel is pressed down to disengage the clutch, and the toe is pushed down to engage it. It pivots on a friction disc so that if you disengage the clutch and remove your foot, it will stay disengaged. Note – this is “usually” the case, as too loose of an adjustment on the rocker can allow the pedal to disengage as the bike vibrates. These pedals were used on most all foot-clutched bikes leading up to the hand clutch era. Some consider this to be the ultimate foot clutch arrangement.

Suicide clutch, or foot clutch. This is a method where the foot is used to depress a lever that disengages the clutch, and when you lift your foot – the clutch engages. Its been termed “suicide”, because if you are at a light with the clutch disengaged and you slip your foot off the clutch pedal – you rocket into traffic and die. Well, it seems if I ever side-step the clutch on any of my bikes – the bike simply stalls. And then I have to push the bike to the side and kick-start it back to life. Even for an uncoordinated dork like me, it doesn’t happen too often. It mainly happens if there are a lot of people around for some reason. Most riders I know pop the transmission into neutral as they roll to a stop, so there is no reason to stop in “suicide mode” or with only one foot down. It isn’t a very hard thing to do. Almost anyone with a pulse can learn it within one or two stops.

Jockey shift. This is a method of shifting a transmission that has a lever attached directly to the shift drum, and the rider reaches behind his leg to shift – mimicking the motion a Jockey might use as he is coaxing his horse to run faster. It too is a very natural thing to do, and a motion that takes only a few minutes to get comfortable with.

Another way of hand shifting is to have a lever in front of the rider, on the side of the tank. This is called a tank-shift. Early HD’s had a shift lid that called for the rider to select the gear by the position of the lever, and the shift gate for the lever was incorporated into the side of the tank. Later model transmissions have a “ratchet” style shift movement: the gears are selected by ratcheting the shift lever in the same motion a repeated number of times to reach the desired gear. Shifters can be fabricated to still be on the side of the tank and operate a ratchet style trans through a linkage system.

Now that we’re all speaking the same lingo, what is the draw to this ancient way of transferring power to the rear wheel? For me, it adds to the overall riding experience. It is simply: fun. For those thinking of trying it, I’ve developed a few questions that you can use to decide if a foot clutch is within your skill level:

1). Do you frequently spill your chocolate milk all over your bib when you try to drink it?
2). When chewing bubblegum, do you need to spit it out before you try walking?
3). Can you tie your own shoelaces, or does your mom still help?

If you answered no to at least two of these questions – you CAN ride a footclutched bike.

Alright, you can probably do it if you answered no to just one. In all seriousness, footclutched bikes are a blast, and far easier to ride than anyone who’s never done it can imagine. I have given dozens the opportunity to ride this way, and have never had a single pupil tell me it was “too hard” to do. It is one of the biggest misconceptions I know of. I’ve converted (or at least helped convert) hundreds of hand clutched bikes to a foot clutch, and never converted a single one back to a hand clutch. On average, it takes a rider one or two trips around my industrial complex before they are ready to head out for an extended ride.

Kits to convert your HD to a jockey shift are readily available. Rick Labriola of Labriola Machine makes some very high quality kits for late model 5 speed big twins and Sportsters. Every aftermarket M/C catalog on the planet sells kits for 4 speed HD’s.

I have a couple basic rules to a conversion, and I will share them. These rules apply no matter what bike you are trying to set up. I like to set up the foot lever so I can rest my heel on the foot peg, and rock my foot to work the clutch. This gives a greater amount of control than if you have to lift your foot off the peg. I set up the linkage so I have the maximum amount of foot travel to actuate the minimum amount of clutch travel: a lever with short throw makes it difficult to feather the clutch properly, and makes you look like you’re trying to wheelie on every take off. Take a look at the amount of action your hand lever moves your clutch currently, and set up the foot pedal so the toe lever moves 3 or 4” to get the same amount of movement in the clutch cable.

For the shift lever itself, there are a few things to watch out for when making your own conversion. Have you ever seen the guys who want to use a long sword as a shift lever? Mounted directly to the shifter shaft on the trans? Considering that a foot shift lever is 6” long, and the toe peg travels 3” to switch gears, how far do you think a 30” sword has to travel? And, what about the stresses placed on the trans with all that weight and leverage working away on it. Ever heard the term: “ghost shifting”? That’s where the length of the lever forces the trans into a different gear when you hit a bump, because of the weight and leverage. Keep the lever short and the **** in a spot you can easily reach, and you’ll enjoy the ride much more.

Next is my biggest pet peeve: Hand shift levers with the clutch lever attached to them. I field several calls a week asking if I will set them up with a system like this. My reply (unless the rider has a handicap that prevents using their foot) is always NO. 99 percent of the time, the potential customer is afraid of trying a foot clutch, and thinks this will be easier. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Imagine trying to launch your bike hard with only one hand on the bars, and trying to feather the clutch – all while keeping the gearbox in the intended gear. Now imagine that you are rocketing down the road, and Mildred pulls out into your path in her Dodge Dart. You have to make a panic stop, again with only one hand on the bars! Sharp turns on take-off will also give you a lot more grief than you think. If riding a foot clutch were the least bit difficult, this option may be viable: but it isn’t. Lets face it: Vinny from OCC built a bike with a clutch on a hand shift. Need I say more?

There is one instance when I feel a hand shift is inappropriate: if you plan on racing in the AHDRA and your name isn’t Rob Moore, then stick to a hand clutch. Trying to keep up with Matt D will take a lot of practice for a jockey shifter – and that’s not the reason to have one anyhow. Enhancing your overall riding experience is what it’s all about. Think it over and give it a try. My bet is that just like the rest of us - you will enjoy the ride even more than you do already.

 

Anyone making a setup for hydro clutches? Maybe mount a hydro lever on the shifter?