Sturmey Archer Foot Shifter for Pegs!

[16v4nrbrgr]

Hello, just thought I'd share this for those of you rocking pegs instead of pedals, and a SA three speed hub. It turns out that the current standard thumb shifter makes an excellent foot shifter like on a side shifted engine! I was jamming my thumb on trails on my MX, and got sick of it.

The detents on the shifter are really stiff, although I wouldn't use this for crazy out of control dirt ripping and jumping, an accidental half shift under power can wreck things. For the street and mild trails this is perfect, and it's out of the way enough to not be obtrusive. Putting it so close to the rear hub makes it more precise at the selector.

I'll load up pics once I find my phone. It's really cool how easily it all bolted together on my MX1000 (MX650 modded), you could do similar easily with a 10mm bolt, a 7/8 OD axle clamp collar with the grub screw, and a fat fender washer to retain the lever clamp on the collar. Simple and classy, perfect for a chopper. I think for racing, some grip tape on the lever would make shifting easiest.

Cheers!

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

I haven't used it yet since the dirt wheels aren't on. A nice thing is you can loosen the bolt and tilt it under the bike. A not so nice feature is that it now can't sit on an office chair because it tilts the shifter up with the peg. I need a bike stand.

Another shifter that would make a cool foot shifter is the Sturmey suicide shifters for muscle bikes. That one looks much more the part for a classic bike. I'm surprised nobody's done it before. The detents just need to be strong enough to click positively, if not modded to do so.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

In case you're wondering what bike this is on here it is.

 

[JonnyR]

i spy a pocket bike

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

The beauty of this thing is that it's technically an electric bicycle! Pocket bikes aren't street legal, but this is. It's funny how the bikes are classified by law, if I put pocket bike fairings on it, it would be illegal.

 

[JonnyR]

yea the laws on MBs are realy dumb in most states i think some palms in washington need greasing in the right direction lol instead of just by the eco idiots saying anything with a motor is bad and needs to be destroyed

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

They discourage gas motors because they're afraid of the small engine smog problem like in China. If you've ever watched videos of a moped rally when they all take off it's the smokiest thing since morning engine warmups at Russell Racing School, with the old oil injected Mazda rotaries belching Napa auto parts oil smoke.

Don't get me wrong, I love 2 strokes. It would just be awful living in a city where everybody got around on them, because they are dirty unless tuned well and catalyzed running small amounts of synthetic oil. Not everybody is going to do that, and high performance four strokes are expensive. Electric bikes are great because they generate positive attention from almost everyone. I've had people shout out their windows how much they love this bike.

I guess that's a good thing since I need to sell it eventually!

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

Took her for a ride tonight all hooked up! It actually works great, the only thing I'll change is some grip tape on the lever. The plastic cover on the lever fell off somewhere, answers that question anyways. I managed to not mis-shift, although it is kinda disconcerting knowing that the welfare of the wheel hub is at stake every time you click. The clicks are loud and can be heard over the motor and tire noise with a full face helmet on, so if you're paying attention you should find each gear.

Overall I have to say it was a great mod, and getting rid of a ton of cable has made the shifter more consistent.

The hub doesn't like to hold the 75-90 gear oil I put in, I think I put in too much. After this ride I'm sure it found its happy level, it's all over the tire.

So far, I have to recommend lapping the gears and using differential oil in the Sturmey hub, it seems to make it more efficient.

 

[bigbutterbean]

Its not just about pollution. Although that may be a factor, if they knew how little pollution these little engines actually produced, it might not be such a concern. Its also about taxes. Its hard to tax a bicycle, because they dont have a vin number or anything else to identify them with for tax purposes (unless you live in a state where you can register your bike, and they issue you a vin number and plate). Most states, as well as the federal government, dont like things they cant tax in some way.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

I agree with you on the taxes, that's why they want you to register your motorized bikes, to at least get an $18 cut.

The emissions from the two stroke motors is actually quite bad, especially if you don't have a cat installed. The particulates, nox, HC's everything goes through the roof on a carbureted two stroke. If you run too much or too little oil, or its got carb issues, like most have to a small extent, it'll be worse. The cure for these things are oil injection, EFI, and a cat, but that's out of the reach of most moped or motorized bikers.

The electric bike thing is great because of the promotion of electric vehicles, saves me $18, the need for a M2 (I guess that's a tax too, lol), and an ugly ashtray plate. I really have trouble with the idea of selling this bike eventually, I'm gonna go with the flow and if it sells easily to the right person, then it'll be cool.

I wholeheartedly recommend these little Razor dirt bikes, mine has been an old faithful to me while my gas bike projects languish on for lack of time and machinery. If you can find a dead one cheap they're easily upgradeable and the new light batteries and motors would make it much better than a real XR50 in my opinion.