Suicide Clutch Jockey Shifter

G

gasserbiker

New Member
Anybody know if I can purchase a Suicide Clutch Jockey shifter instead of using the typical hand clutch lever that mounts on the left side of the handle bar?
 
Why would you want to?

I am sure you could fab something up, but I would think that would be extremely dangerous with only one hand on the bars when they are most needed.
 
I want the Old School look of a jockey shifter. Early model Harley and Indian motorcycles all had jockey shifters back in the day.
 
Yeah true.....not sure what I was thinking about...unsure if you could find something out not.

What about making one?
 
woogie_man said:
Yeah true.....not sure what I was thinking about...unsure if you could find something out not.

What about making one?
Click to expand...

Yep, will most likely end up fabricating a home brewed shifter. The motorcycle catalogs sell them but they are around $150 and they are designed towards certain year engine models on a Harley. I'm fabricating a retro pedal bike to look like an early 1900's model with olive green paint and cream balloon tires. Thus the reason I want to install the shifter to preserve that old school look. Have never come across a modern day motorized pedal bike with a jockey shifter. Maybe mine will be the 1st.
 
...I would think that would be extremely dangerous with only one hand on the bars when they are most needed.
Click to expand...

Seems so & that's been cautioned before... but it's really no different then what we're expected to do anyway for safety lol;

 
I think the OP is talking about a clutch that's applied by the foot.

But I wonder how that can be done on a pedal bike?

But maybe this bike doesn't have pedals.
 
Old Schwinn Stingrays has a 5-speed shifter that might be adaptable.

KGrHqFoME8VonTOQEBPJhNcc4Z60_3-1.jpg


images
 
I'm afraid your confusing two different things. A jockey shifter is simply a shifting arm clamped on to the end of the shifting forks on a transmission. Some of the earlier bikes like Harley's and Indians had foot clutches and a shifter on the gas tank.

It was considered cool to remove the tank and shifter especially when building a chopper and you removed the tank and shifter and replaced it with a different tank and added the short shifting arm to the shifting linkage so you could shift the transmission. You looked like a jockey whipping a horse when you reached down to shifted hence the name. Usually on the right side and placed low on the frame.

If you don't have a transmission to shift you won't need the jockey shift and if you have a multi speed rear hub you could mount the shifter low on the seat tube so it pulls the hub shifter through the gears much like the cross bar mounted shifters.

Steve.
 
fasteddy said:
I'm afraid your confusing two different things. A jockey shifter is simply a shifting arm clamped on to the end of the shifting forks on a transmission. Some of the earlier bikes like Harley's and Indians had foot clutches and a shifter on the gas tank.

It was considered cool to remove the tank and shifter especially when building a chopper and you removed the tank and shifter and replaced it with a different tank and added the short shifting arm to the shifting linkage so you could shift the transmission. You looked like a jockey whipping a horse when you reached down to shifted hence the name. Usually on the right side and placed low on the frame.

If you don't have a transmission to shift you won't need the jockey shift and if you have a multi speed rear hub you could mount the shifter low on the seat tube so it pulls the hub shifter through the gears much like the cross bar mounted shifters.

Steve.
Click to expand...

You learn something new every day... Thanks Steve.
SB
 
I should have added that sometimes you had a very short stub on the transmission and a rod went back to the shifting arm. To shift a lot of English bikes that had the shifter on the left mounted directly to the transmission and you wanted a jockey shift you simply had to make the make the shifter cross to the other side of the frame and run a linkage to a short stub clamped on to transmission shifter arm.

I had one on my chopped and raked Triumph and I took it off because of the rake and stretched front forks. It looked really good but if you took your eyes of the road for a second to shift your were hunting the ditch due to the twitchy front end.

Steve.
 
Your welcome Silverbear. I have heard the two confused many times over the years and as we move away from chopper builds it gets mixed up more and more.

Steve.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top