suicide shift, jockey shift

[Nightengale]

i have been thinking for a while about doing a suicide/jockey shift. i have done alot of reasearch into it and think i have come up with a way to do it and not be a total death trap. i know that i will hear alot about how unsafe it is, but with the way i came up with its not as bad. heres the idea, moving the the clutch to the right side of the handlebars, and putting the brake and throttle on the right side. i have found a left hand brake set up and, am gonna set the gear shift to use the natural movement of the gear shifter(down for first and the rest up). in other words push and pull instead of the usual back and forth of the jockey shift. i will post a scetch of how the gear shift will work. i just want to post this to see if anyone had any ideas. it it will work or not.

[BA80]

There IS a reason they call it "suicide".

[crazy steve]

Any set-up that requires you to remove a hand off the bars for shifting is inherently unsafe...

[Cuda 69]

magic words,,,UNSAFE,SUICIDE......enough said?

[BA80]

Just reach down and scratch your ankle while your doing 70 mph. If you don't crash you'll understand. BTDT.

[DGXSER]

It is funny how the folks who lived through all those nostalgic devices speak of them as abominations of man. And those to young to have experienced them see them as cool features. What experience has taught me that I never listened to from my parents experience is that most things that you don't see anymore went extinct for a reason. My dad "they used to make brick roads when I was a kid. They don't make them anymore. Why, cause they were sh!tty!!"

[TopCatGr58]

Suicide isn't always painless!

Hey John,

I hate to say it, but I agree with the others comments....designs go extinct for a reason or two. If you have a TRIKE, then I wouldn't be as concerned about taking your hand off the bars to shift. Do you remember my forward controls shifter setup? There's a way you can rig up the shifter to control the shift lever without loosing the actual foot control, so you could rig up a trial run of just the shifter function. You could just move the clutch lever to the right bar but leave the throttle there, either temp move the front MC to the left, or just slide it closer to the TT center clamp just to make room for the clutch clamp. You still have the use of the rear brake don't you?!

And with the hard tail design, you'll have to have some sort of buffering or cushioning for the shift lever so that bumps won't cause it to accidentally shift the lever!

A bar hopper and conversation piece is what you'll have, but I would not feel safe or comfortable trying to take it into any kind of heavy stop and go traffic, or hills and curves! Is your WILL complete and up to date?

T.C.

[Lunatic]

Let me help you out a bit

many years ago, bikes werent' equipped with turn signals. Taking one hand off of the bars to signal a turn was something you were either taught during the MC training course, or you were instructed to to by the police. Interesting how it is now considered suicidal to do it now.
Next, lets discuss the term, "Suicide shift". OK, lets just stop that. The Term Suicide CLUTCH is what you're thinking of. See, there used to be two kinds of foot clutch. The over center kind, that stayed down when it was rocked over center. This way you could put your left foot on the ground when you came to a stop. (right foot was busy with the rear brake). THen there was the SUICIDE CLUTCH, this clutch did not stay down and ONLY engaged the clutch if you kept your left foot mashed. So, if you ran a SUICIDE CLUTCH, you had to find neutral while coming to a stop so that you could put your left foot on the ground, if you didn't find it, and pulled your foot off of the clutch to put it on the ground, the bike could lurch forward into traffic. Scary.
SO a foot clutch that stays down, is over center or rocker clutch. And one that only engages when you keep your foot on it is called a SUICIDE CLUTCH. As far as hand shifting goes, there was tank shift, and jockey shift, depending on where the shifter handle was mounted. There has never been something called a 'suicide shift'. Only hand shift. Two kinds of hand shift, sure, but no, no, no, not 'suicide shift'. Stop calling it that.
Nothing suicidal about taking one hand off of the bars. Not the best thing in the world, but certainly not 'suicidal'. It was the NORM for the first 80 years of motorcycle riding.

[Nightengale]

just a thought

it was just a thought, i think i will keep the standard set up since this is my daily driver when the warm weather hits. thanks again guy for getting for your honest opionions and bringing me back to reality. thats what i like about this site and the people here they speak their mind and dont hold back. thanks again guys

[Crusty Snippets]

Tradition

If you want to be traditional, put the shift lever on the right hand side where it is supposed to be.
The Yamaha production road racers were set up so we could switch.
I actually went faster with the shifter on the right.
In the meantime I would give up on your original idea.
Unkle Crusty

[JerseyJon]

Thanks, John

John,

Thanks for laying it out there. This thread was a fun read.

[Nightengale]

oh well

yeah sometimes i get these ideas in my head and and start talking before i really think it through. thats why i value everyones opinion on here, they tell me like it is.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

yeah sometimes i get these ideas in my head and and start talking before i really think it through. thats why i value everyones opinion on here, they tell me like it is.

Hi N.G., I get the nostalgia thing and thinking of cool things to make your bike "yours" For your daily driver, maybe not so much. glad to see you love your bike and are always thinking of new things to try, good luck with your bike

[Nightengale]

do love it

yeah i do love my bike and how it turned out, most people would not use my bike as a daily driver being a hardtail, but when it warms up, i put over three hundred miles a week on her. and i love every minuite of it. i wouldnt have this freat bike on the road without the help and support of everyone here.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Cool

yeah i do love my bike and how it turned out, most people would not use my bike as a daily driver being a hardtail, but when it warms up, i put over three hundred miles a week on her. and i love every minuite of it. i wouldnt have this freat bike on the road without the help and support of everyone here.

I think your bike is cool and an expression of you. I am sure it gets looks and talk every where you go. I like the OEM for me, but that is in part because I tried to buy a 79 Special back in 1979 and didn't have the $$$, so i got one now, love it and would probably be dead if I did get it when I was young