heel/toe shifter
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 32,934
Likes: 36,032
From: Carlsbad, CA
It'll just upshift...
OP: Don't do that....you'll be cutting constant pressure on the shifter forks...and that can't be good. Take it off invites in the way.
OP: Don't do that....you'll be cutting constant pressure on the shifter forks...and that can't be good. Take it off invites in the way.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 3,395
Likes: 266
From: Southern California
You do not want to keep a constant pressure on the shift linkage. Doing so, will result in extremely rapid wear on the gear shift mechanisms within the transmission.
I happen to like having a heal shifter. I use it for finding neutral with just a lite tap from my heal. It's about the only thing I use it for, but for that purpose it's really nice to have. The challenge for me is/was that my size 13's will not fit comfortably between the stock toe and heal shift levers. So what I did was to replace the stock heal shift lever with a V-Factor Chrome Extended Shifter Lever P/N 44217. At 8 1/2" It looks and works exactly like the stock lever, only it's quite a bit longer. The pinch bolt is slightly smaller in diameter than what the stock shift lever uses, but you'll have to be pretty **** to notice that. DennisKirk has it for ~$21.00 and there are probably other folks who sell it.
https://www.denniskirk.com/v-factor/...prd/579080.sku
I happen to like having a heal shifter. I use it for finding neutral with just a lite tap from my heal. It's about the only thing I use it for, but for that purpose it's really nice to have. The challenge for me is/was that my size 13's will not fit comfortably between the stock toe and heal shift levers. So what I did was to replace the stock heal shift lever with a V-Factor Chrome Extended Shifter Lever P/N 44217. At 8 1/2" It looks and works exactly like the stock lever, only it's quite a bit longer. The pinch bolt is slightly smaller in diameter than what the stock shift lever uses, but you'll have to be pretty **** to notice that. DennisKirk has it for ~$21.00 and there are probably other folks who sell it.
https://www.denniskirk.com/v-factor/...prd/579080.sku
Last edited by Bluehighways; Jun 21, 2017 at 04:12 AM.
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Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,898
From: Bedford UK
Now why would you want to do that? I don't use my heel shifter, except it stops my foot sliding backwards on the floor board, so the rubber is worn, but I don't deliberately touch it or rest my foot on it.
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 6,175
Likes: 1,966
From: Great State of Canada
Technical terminology escapes me so please be patient.
There is a fork shaped thingy which fits into a circumferential groove machined into the outer surface of a cylindrical part, (selector ??), that is moved back and forth along a shaft as dictated by the fork when you shift. This groove will wear prematurely making shifting sloppy or worse in time if you ride the heel shifter. My Indy was able to show me the actual groove wear in the transmission he had torn down specifically because of this,,, "expen$ive" !!
Apparently this sort of wear was common in old standard transmission 1/2 ton trucks with a floor shift. This was due to drivers resting their right hand on the shift **** as they drove. Apparently this caused the same type of wear as now seen in motorcycle transmissions when riders rest their heel on their shifters.
FWIW
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 6,175
Likes: 1,966
From: Great State of Canada
Per my post above, apparently the heel shifter / heel contact is more or less an unconscious thing with some riders and not that they're using the shifter as a heel rest. Apparently it doesn't take much for this unintentional contact to do the damage. This is why my Indie was warning me.