How does a jockey shift work? Does anyone know where to get the parts to change the stock arrangement from stock to jockey?

"A shift lever that is actuated by a rider's hand and which sits either behind the rider's leg (in which case the shifting motion closely resembles a jockey whipping his horse … hence the term "jockey shift") or is mounted on the fuel tank". :D

How do you disengage/engage the clutch?

http://www.bikernet.com/garage/PageViewer.asp?PageID=152 Hope this helps

How do you disengage/engage the clutch?
Usually attach the clutch cable to a foot peddle where the shifter used to be.

http://www.maverickcustoms.com/catalog.php?action=124&item_id=328

Gary

My question is why would you want one? :confused:


Bart

My question is why would you want one? :confused:


Bart

'cause they're SWEET!

i like them too! maybe some day ill have one

It is not as easy as you think riding with one hand in trafic and using a foot clutch. Tried my buddies out and it was rideable but on a hill it was a little scary. I am sure I would get used to it but it would not be my first choice for mods. Build the chopper first and then put the jockey shift on.

Like RR says, different, which is always good to strive for to make your own unique form of ride, but when it comes down to practicality, well...

You are stopped at a light, on a hill, and the path for you involves a slight right-hand sweep after the light on a not-so-good (or downright bad) road surface. This means letting out the lh foot clutch while at the same time feathering the front brake and almost immediately rolling onto the throttle while letting out the lh foot clutch. Running into a not quite good road surface while running through the gears could involve a less than "in control" situation.

Some veterans of the "suicide shifter" might scoff and say it's not that big of a deal, but it's definitely not the setup for a novice rider or one who is not experienced at that type of hand/foot coordination. Not impossible, but like RR says, not just something you jump into as a mod.

That being said, I likem' too.

"How do you disengage/engage the clutch?"

either with your foot or place the clutch lever from the bars to the shift arm

And why do it to be different and because they look great :tour check out pilots buell chop in the gallery. As for riding with one after a bit of practice they are no problem at all

When building my chop I asked a similar question as I had never ridden one with it either, and got many people, lots of whom had never tried it either trying to tell me how much it would suck or how hard or impractical it would be. But I wanted one, so I made my own jockey / suicide clutch set up. Have I stalled it? Oh yeah of course I have, but now that I've been on it for about 6 months, that rarely happens anymore. And I can shift pretty quick with it too. I am in the process of getting my website up, www.ragerbuiltchoppers.com, and plan to offer a kit to convert stock sportsters to jockey. It will look similar to the setup I have on my Buell chopper, click my avitar. I want to keep the price of the whole kit under $200. La briola makes a nice chrome set up but it will cost you$$$.

I hate those 3 letters "OCC" but i saw a cool set up,on the vinny bike, on top of the shifter they attached a hydrulic clutch.. basically right off of the handle bars... so your clutch and shift with the same hand... thats the kind of setup i would want....to me. seems safer than having the foot clutch...

i gotta point one thing out
the linkage on the original foot operated clutches would overcenter if you pushed them all the way which means you just had to push the clutch and itd stay disengaged til you wanted to reengage it
this was quite rideable
ive never seen a modern conversion with that feature
i can understand why six months later a guy would still be stalling it occasionally
to each his own

i gotta point one thing out
the linkage on the original foot operated clutches would overcenter if you pushed them all the way which means you just had to push the clutch and itd stay disengaged til you wanted to reengage it
this was quite rideableSome of my BT friends were recently talking about a clutch mod that was available now (probably just for BTs), where you could let the clutch out while you were in 1st gear and the clutch would stay engaged. Then as soon as you roll on the throttle, it would engage. Seems kinda dangerous to me, but it does sound neat too.

Gazza

When I was a kid, there was a dude down the street that had some old bike. I can't recall what it was but I just knew it was cool. I can remember that he had a jockey shift on it and at the time, I had no clue what that even was. I had ridden tons of dirt bikes and never saw anything like that. That dude looked very cool to me screamin' down the street with his left arm reachin' behind him.

I was watchin' the Indian Larry tribute show on discovery and of course he was quite fond of that setup. They showed him screamin' down the street, reachin' behind him, and it made the memories come back.

When I was a kid, there was a dude down the street that had some old bike. I can't recall what it was but I just knew it was cool. I can remember that he had a jockey shift on it and at the time, I had no clue what that even was. I had ridden tons of dirt bikes and never saw anything like that. That dude looked very cool to me screamin' down the street with his left arm reachin' behind him.

I was watchin' the Indian Larry tribute show on discovery and of course he was quite fond of that setup. They showed him screamin' down the street, reachin' behind him, and it made the memories come back.

If I'm not mistaken those were old non-ratching tranny's. Meaning you had to feel/find the gear, each gear. And the shift lever did not return to a set position like ours do. So you "man handled" the lever into the next gear and the lever stayed in that position. Then you grabbed it and moved it inot the next position. On tank shifters, you see the notched plate for the shift pattern to ease this process but I don't think many of the ass grabbers had such a luxury. The old ass grabbers musta been a tricky thing to ride indeed.

Did any of that make sense?