Hand shifter on a BIG RED?!

[Trikeboss]

I have foot brush gaurds that I kick my feet up on when I ride and it would be so nice to be able to shift with my feet up! Has anyone put a suicide shift on their BR?
I want to make one...any input would be great!

:beer

[200XMichigan]

Seems like on a machine that really gets on the trail the weight from a suicide shifter rattling around would really put some extra stress on the shift shaft seal and wear surface.

[Trikeboss]

What if you made it light/short enough? Would it be realistic or is it just a bad idea??

[200XMichigan]

Personally it sounds like a suicide shifter if you flip that baby over and you get stuck by it. Plus its adding leverage to a point that never had it. I'm sure it could be done maybe with aluminum, but that is a lot harder to weld and really the 250ES has so much torque you don't need to shift that often.

[Ironbnder]

http://atvupgrade.com/56-1480.html

This should work for you. They are very common on atvs.

[wisconsinite]

i put a hand shifter simular to what ironbndr sugests on my father-in-law's quad (350 big bear) because his legs don't work so good anymore and he had a hard time shifting.
seemed kinda hokey to me at first, but it works pretty good. pretty lightweight, too. moose brand, about 30-40 bucks at rocky mountain atv.

[86trizinger]

If you build a simple linkage you can reduce the stress put on the shaft. Plus you could design it so you can shift with your foot as well.

[HONDA_ATC_FREAK]

my nieghbor has one on his kawasaki bayou since he has back problems and shifting with his leg makes it start to hurt he put a moose shifter on it. It works great very light, they make them in different lenghts so you could get a shorter one so you wouldn't have to worry about it hitting you if you roll over.

[Trikeboss]

Thanks for all the input and quick responses...The ones you buy look so easy to make...

trizinger care to elaborate??

I found this link..

http://www.procycledepot.com/content/p/8/catid/10381/pid/91348/MOOSE_UTILITY_HAND_SHIFTER?item=1902714

Different lengths and only $24.95 cant really beat that...b

[Lil Earl]

there was one on my 225 dr before i bought it, it worked great, he only took it off because he wanted to try and put it on his quad

[Trikeboss]

I was also thinking it would be bad ass to have the shifter for when you are standing on the racks going through the deep mud :)

[ironchop]

having tried many handshifters on custom street bikes I built I can tell you that the weight of the shift lever is crucial....bumps will cause the shift arm to pop in and out of gear when you don`t want it to....if you go with one lever (instead of the linkage design) keep it as short and LIGHT as you possibly can.

I have a Polaris Trailblazer with the hand shift and it`s wreaked havoc on the shifter arm on the case...it has a linkage style shifter rather than one lever straight to the tranny and it STILL likes to shake the linkage loose and loose bolts/nuts after a hard day`s ride....I absolutely HATE it...the main shifter arm is way too heavy and without a detent (shift gate) of some sort on the fender where it sticks out, it tends to bounce back and forth

[tri again]

I got so aggravated with people STOMPING on those poor lil' shifters, I simply rotated them vertically so you have to reach down and shift with your hand.

I kinda like it since our resort is all very fun in 2nd or 3rd so pick a gear and forget about shifting all day.

[Trikeboss]

Dr joe-interesting..Ill post my findings when I mount my hand shifter...If it does not work out well- ill hang it on the wall in the garage

[H95Shooter]

yep just tried it on my 110 works great i have it at a angle that i can shift down with my foot and up with my hand