Has anyone ever put a jockey shift on thier XS11?

[joceiphus]

Foot clutch tht doesn't stay down though, well that could be a HUGE safety issue if in a panic you let off the clutch to keep from falling over and shot out into an intersection. THAT would be suicidal.

Unless you have it revved, It just stalls.

[fredintoon]

- - - just ponder it a bit,, is it really THAT dangerous, an act of suicide, to take one hand off of the handlebars? - - -

Hi Lunatic,
suicidal? well, I'm still here and all of my 12 years of riding in the UK were before there were bikes that had flashing turn signals so one gave hand signals.
Admittedly in 1957 when I took the driver's test the British Highway Code still contained sketches of the correct way for a horse & cart driver to give signals with his whip.
But back to taking one hand off the bars. You have to do that to give hand signals. In the UK where one drives on the left this meant letting go of the twistgrip which is why Britbike twistgrips had friction dampers so they don't close when you let go of them and the twistgrip as we know it today was called a "racing twistgrip."
And did I forget? Hand signaling while using the tank-mounted gate-shifter on your pre-war Norton.
"Was that a left turn signal or a right turn signal or were you just scratching your balls, Laddie?"
"Sorry Officer, I will be more careful in future."

[Lunatic]

Think HD

Unless you have it revved, It just stalls.

Not really. Many high-torque, low-Rev Harleys will pull away quite strongly from idle with no application of the throttle at all. Think back at the age that the term comes from, of course.

[Lunatic]

Fred

Hi Lunatic,
suicidal? well, I'm still here and all of my 12 years of riding in the UK were before there were bikes that had flashing turn signals so one gave hand signals.
Admittedly in 1957 when I took the driver's test the British Highway Code still contained sketches of the correct way for a horse & cart driver to give signals with his whip.
But back to taking one hand off the bars. You have to do that to give hand signals. In the UK where one drives on the left this meant letting go of the twistgrip which is why Britbike twistgrips had friction dampers so they don't close when you let go of them and the twistgrip as we know it today was called a "racing twistgrip."
And did I forget? Hand signaling while using the tank-mounted gate-shifter on your pre-war Norton.
"Was that a left turn signal or a right turn signal or were you just scratching your balls, Laddie?"
"Sorry Officer, I will be more careful in future."

Fred, go read the Wiki link.
My post was sarcasm directed at those the Wiki link that stated that "suicide" term came from the act of removing one hand from the bars to shift. Scroll back and read the Wiki link, you'll see what I mean.

[DGXSER]

I know this may come as a shock, but not everything you read on Wikipedia is accurate.
Over center clutches were standard on most foot clutch HD's.
"Oh no's I took one hand off the handlebars, now I'm gona die!"
just ponder it a bit,, is it relaly THAT dnagerous, an act of suicide, to take one hand off of the handlebars?
That makes little to no sense.
A foot clutch that stayed down when depressed ... nothing suicidal there either. One hand off of the bars only briefly, and both feet able to be put on the ground at stops. Not a big deal ther eeither.
Foot clutch tht doesn't stay down though, well that could be a HUGE safety issue if in a panic you let off the clutch to keep from falling over and shot out into an intersection. THAT would be suicidal.

Yeah, shocker that the internet ain't always correct. Take some of the post you read on some message boards for instance.
Not really intending to bust your chops, just struck me as off to go on about how the term is incorrect when I have heard it since about birth for this type of shifter. That would be kinda like saying that there is no such thing as suicide doors, or a kick stand. I suppose it may not be the technically correct term, but that does not mean there is no such thing.

As to how dangerous it really is, well I guess like alot of things that would depend on the rider. I had a VW beetle that had a really bad MC. The only way to stop the thing was to pump the crap out of the brakes and then if you were on a hill you had to use the clutch to hold it cause the brakes would not. Was that suicidal? well it wasn't very efficient for sure. And it was alot riskier than driving it after I fixed the MC while it was down for replacing the clutch. Nothing seems suicidal when it is what your used to, but it is amazing what you can get used to.

[Lunatic]

Suicide turn signals?

Suicide turn signals?
As even Fred points out, taking one hand off the bars was the norm for signaling turns right up till the 70's. But the term "Suicide turn signal" isn't very common.
Kind of liek hwo the terms Chopper, hog, springer, Rigid, etc are getting misused a lot. Doesn't mean that the definition has changed, only that folks have gotten in the habit of misusing them.
Since the fellow is asking about foot clutches and hand shifters, it might be a help for him to get that information if he were using the correct terms.
its not snark, its trying to help the fellow out.

[Bigfoot]

Use the rear brake 'system' from an XJ (foot activates rear and one front brake). Convert right front handlebar m/c to activate hydrolic clutch (search forum for that mod). This leaves left hand free for shifting. Comvert/modify a set of 'rear-sets' for the shifting mechanism. Whole thing could be (nearly) bolt-on in case you want to go back to original.

Wouldn't that make it pretty tough to operate the clutch and throttle at the same time? Seems like you would always be stalling it or popping the clutch. You could take this one step further and put a gas pedal on the left side.

[Pat Kelly]

I vote for leaving the controls where they were originally. Add a fake lever to operate in sync with shifts when you want to look cool.

[Bigfoot]

LMAO... best idea yet.