homemade shift kit?

Yes it's possible to make your own shift kit, but you may just end up spending a great deal more than $250.00. Due to parts availability, machining, cursing, cuts, scraps, bruises, divorce, alignment issues etc. etc...
SBP has already been through this. I believe they have already ironed out all the before mentioned problems. I personally don't think that's an unreasonable price to pay.

Pillow block bearings, keyed shafts, a few U-bolts. Why do you need plans? Thought you were making your own!

add in the costs of a mill and tooling
a press and forms to make the brackets
a tig welder to weld some of the parts togather
metalcutting bandsaw
lathe for work on round parts


sure you can make your own

A member here by the name of Russell built a bike with a custom jackshaft. Look at his page and you will probably find the thread of that build. It is a very nice bike.

I'm not going to say that it would be impossible to do, but it would be expensive and a big headache.
BUT....back in the 80's, schwinn made a 10 speed cruiser called the suburban, that did have an optional freewheeling set of cranks. (see pic.)

This would give you the freewheeling cranks and 2 sprockts that you'd need.
next, you'd have to make the jackshaft and figure out what size sprockets to put on it. the shaft itself would need bearings (at least 2 quality bearings)and you'd have to make a mounting bracket. you'd have to spend some time with the mount because the sprocket alignment would have to be dead on.
from there, it would be a peice of cake, because then all you'd have to do is run the engine chain to the jack shaft, the jack shaft chain to the pedal sprocket, and then the chain from the pedal sprocket to the rear wheel.
I'm not sure what the double 10 speed sprocket would give you as far as gear ratio tho...I have no idea if the sbp kits have 2 identical sprockets on the cranks, or if one is smaller than the other. you'd have to research gear ratios to see what you would have if you ran the suburban sprocket as it is.
I think the hardest / most expensive part would be making (or having a machine shop make) the jackshaft. you could probably get away with welding 2 sprockets to the shaft, and then running 2 bearings on the shaft itself. but that would cause maintanance problems. if one of the bearings ever needed to be replaced, you'd have to cut it poff the shaft.
There's probably a way to do it to avoid that, I'm just throwing things out there off the top of head.

This whole idea is just a shot in the dark, but i'm with you...$250.00 is a lot of money, but as others have said, they've taken all of the guess work out of it.
I mean if you really wanted to try it, i think the suburban sprocket and cranks would be a good start.
you'd probably have less than $250.00 in making it, but the big question is....will it work when you're done?

here's a couple of sets of the cranks with sprockets.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBURBAN-FF...707?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58921a3b53

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCHWINN-CRA...599?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2572b86f

NunyaBidness said:

A member here by the name of Russell built a bike with a custom jackshaft. Look at his page and you will probably find the thread of that build. It is a very nice bike.

Click to expand...

While for a chopper w/all the extra room such has, it also does away with the freewheeling pedal crank assembly for a simple & inexpensive BMX freewheel - defo worth checking out;

http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=12284

kzbesner said:

hello all, i can almost guaratee this has been posted before but i just spent about an hour looking for one and no luck.

my question is, has there been anyone whos atempted to make a shift kit and was successful?

i would love to have a shift kit myself but cant afford to spend 250 on something i could potentially make myself.

if theres anyone out there, can you share the plans or technical know how?

or even, if theres a shift kit that anyones seen for cheap ($100 +shipping) then could you please bring it up?

thank you all!

Click to expand...

So i hope that you have figured it out by now but seeing as new riders like myself are on here ill share my idea.
If your bike has a square tapered bottom bracket all you gotta do is get two cranks with the chain rings and cut the arms off so that they dont whack you. then bolt on the two and run the chains and you will now have a 21 speed or 18 speed or whatever. Of course your going to need to put on a pull starter cause you wont be able to pedal anymore, but lets be honest who pedals a motorized bike? You will also need to workout a place to put your feet but 2 L brackets bolted to the frame will work or if you have a welder just weld it on.

Btw im 16 this is my first reply and i hope it helps someone out! Good Luck

Pyroman2005 said:

So i hope that you have figured it out by now but seeing as new riders like myself are on here ill share my idea.
If your bike has a square tapered bottom bracket all you gotta do is get two cranks with the chain rings and cut the arms off so that they dont whack you. then bolt on the two and run the chains and you will now have a 21 speed or 18 speed or whatever. Of course your going to need to put on a pull starter cause you wont be able to pedal anymore, but lets be honest who pedals a motorized bike? You will also need to workout a place to put your feet but 2 L brackets bolted to the frame will work or if you have a welder just weld it on.

Btw im 16 this is my first reply and i hope it helps someone out! Good Luck

Click to expand...

You replied to a very old thread. You wouldn't have a 18 or 21 speed either what you'd have is a 3X6 or a 3X7 drive system. Yes there's 18 or 21 different shifting combinations but several of those ratios are redundant.

Oh wait, I have triple chainring shift kit and I also have pedals. I have a Staton Inc triple chainring shift kit. It also uses two freewheels instead of one.

The Sidewinder gets shifted like this:

1(1-3)
Steep hill climbing, load pulling.

2(3-5)
Around town general use.

3(5-7)
Open road use.

All shifting is done with the left hand. The only time a chainring is shifted is when either using cogs (3) or (5). I also use a color system on the shifters [red gears, yellow gears, green gears]. The reduction range is 66.79:1 to 16.25:1.

Another thing if you use a derailleur system you're going to need pedals to ghost shift. Using gas power to shift is going to mess up the gears and chain.

I would like to say I'm not trying to discourage you from innovative thinking. But rather bestow upon you experience.

All are born ignorant.

A fool never learns from their mistakes.

A smart person learns from their mistakes.

The truly wise learns from the mistakes of others.