sold the chopper, bought another project...

Never rode a bike with a suicide shifter. Seems pretty involved though....

Stopping and starting on a steep hill with a jockey shift can get tricky if you are not used to one. But it is like anything else once you get used to it and they are fine.

It is turning left from a stop sign or light that is trickey. You learn to take off straight and then turn. You also get really good at finding neutral as you are rolling up to a stop. [cl

Just so you know the reason the motor would not fit in the frame was not that the frame shop messed up. it is that 1984 was still the old ironhead motor pretty much the same since the sportster started in the 1950's. that bell motor is a evo motor and is if I remember right a 1" and a half taller it is a 1200 cc motor and the frame was for a 1000 cc motor.

was it 3/4" shorter too?

Nope but I think that the top end being longer and at a 45 degree angle the head hits the frame before the motor can go back far enough. A guy I used to work with built a sporty same thing happened to him. He ended up buying a evo frame instead of cutting the ironhead frame. I have heard that a ironhead will fit in a evo frame. But I Dont know also I think some sportster evo are rubber mounted if so then the cases where the motor mount connect may be different too.

Thanks for the info Ratchet041. It had never dawned on me that it was a 1000 frame. Live and learn (though I should have known that!) I suppose it has been a year since I touched the project last so I should get back to it...

No problem new to the old cars just got into a couple years ago. Been building motorcycles and chopping the for 26 years. I love the old iron heads shovelheads and pan heads the best.

The last bike I built had a ,what I call a "half assed jockey shift". I took the shifter arm and turned it straight up. The had a piece of aluminum pipe bent to match the contour of my gas tank. Then, I installed the clutch lever on it with a regular grip at the top. Made a short clutch cable , and installed a gate top cover on the tranny. That way all the way forward was 1st , and idled back towards me to get to neutral. Gate top was the only way to go, because spring return would have been too risky when hitting bumps in the road. I got the idea when I built a trike for a guy who had limited use of his left foot. It made it a lot easier for him to shift, and he could pull the clutch lever in too.

I kinda do the same. Shifter arm straight up, rod straight back to a shifter mounted to an aluminum bung welded to the primary case. I've done 2 like that and they shift nice and the pattern is correct. Not sure if I posted pics of my mid control foot clutch setup I made for it. I don't like off the shelf parts...[cl

sawzall said:

Stopping and starting on a steep hill with a jockey shift can get tricky if you are not used to one. But it is like anything else once you get used to it and they are fine.

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When I was young (26) I had a Pan that had a 1 1/4 rake and 18" over springer with a jockey shift no front brake. I lived in San Francisco for a few months, when I had to stop at a light on a hill just before it turned green I let the bike roll back against the bumper of the car behind me. if no car was there I would roll back a few feet as I dumped the clutch. only trouble I had was when I picked up chicks that didn't know how to ride.....

DougnDog said:

I would roll back a few feet as I dumped the clutch. only trouble I had was when I picked up chicks that didn't know how to ride.....

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It's a funny feeling when their feet hit you under the arm pits as they go over backwards...