left AKA and shifting

Hello all,
What an awesome forum to read. A little bit of my story, just to give you an overview of my position. I was a Buell Ulysses as well as a Harley Ultra rider. I guess the Buell was a bit of a mid life thing...LOL I was on my way home from a week long trip, when my riding buddy and I went to the top of Reddish Knob WV. I was about 40 seconds in front of my friend when I rounded a corner and met up with a fast moving Pick up truck. The dirt road was less then two lanes wide, and there was not much space or time to react. He hit me as I tried to drive the bike into a ditch. The force of the impact severed my left leg at the knee. BTW if your ever in WV and need to call 911...there is no phone signal.

Ok enough about that, lets move on to the bike stuff.

I was very focused on riding again. I did not want to ride a trike, no way...no how...was I going to ride one of those things. So I went to Orlando and met up with a guy who builds retractable landing gear for bikes. I did my best to learn to use that thing, but the second time it tossed me over, that was enough for me. I wanted to be able to ride alone, to have the ability to ride with out feeling I needed someone there. So I broke down and bought a 2001 ultra that had a trike kit installed. Ok so the stability issue has been addressed, now how do I shift the thing? I bought a Pingle shifter. Sorry pingle lovers out there, that thing was the biggest wast of money I ever spent. There are four major parts to the shifter.

Two computer modules, one to control the shifter, and one to control the ignition cut out. The switch to activate and operate the shifter, and the large electro-magnetic coil that did the shifting. Every one of those parts failed once. Leaving me on the side of the road, waiting for a tow.

This was not the riding I was looking for. Lucky for me I have a good friend who likes to think about problems like this and how to solve them. To bad I think he is related to Rube Goldberg. We were at the shop one night after the tow truck dropped off my trike thinking how can I shift my bike with a fake leg. I have no control over the knee, or the foot. I could not even get my foot in close to the shifter.

So if the foot cant go to the shifter, then the shifter must go to the foot. After ditching some very fancy plans, most involving gears, and pulleys with some cantilevers tossed in here and there , a most simple solution was come across. The floor board was moved out about 3 inches. This was done so my foot whttp://wildpiginfo.msstate.edu/damage-caused-by-pigs.htmlould rest better on the board. a 7 or so inch of PVC with an end cap on it was twisted on the toe shifter. The shifter peg had to have tape wrapped around it to make it fit. I found a longer shift peg for the heel shifter and installed that. So about now someone is wondering...

OK so how does he move his foot from the toe shifter to the heel shifter with no control of his knee? Glad you ask that one, shows your paying attention. With a little help from Galileo.

Inertia is how I move the leg forward and back. It's not all inertia, there is some gravity tossed in there just for fun. But all fun aside, the toe shifter sits out past my lower, when I use the brakes to slow, I lift my foot up and it will swing out. When it's over the extended toe shifter, I just push down. After I down shift to where I want it, say first gear for a red light, I lift my foot and it will bend back with gravity to the foot board where I set it down. When I come off a light, I lift my foot and it swings back to the heel shifter, all I do then is push down. Just like everyone else! There are a couple of things that make it a challenge, but it will not short out, and leave me waiting for help. But I'm going on when I should be riding, thanks Zook...the rake kit was the best thing I ever did for the bike. Now, down to Danials for a burger, riding solo.


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Sounds like quite an adventure, thanks for sharing. Glad you got it worked out and back in the wind again.

Hey, Rube Goldberg is my hero. Congrats on being back in the wind.

Sounds like clever solution I would like to see some pics if you have any.

I don't know about the Pingel but the Kliktronic which is similar and used in the UK has been pretty reliable for me.

Like our impairments the solutions are very personal and specific.

Ride safe.

Biker Dave....I applaud you ThumbUp not for just the fact you never gave up but also your love of riding, so be very careful and safe and maybe see you around one day . ThumbUp ThumbUp

BikerDave, i followed how it works from your description and that just goes to show ya, where there is a will, there is a way. Thanks for sharing that with us.

I'm also a left leg AKA. Been ridin trikes a long time but rode two wheelers for most of my life. Lost the leg at age 23, but me and the wife have ridden several hundred thousand miles on two wheelers. I converted all of my bikes to right side shift. We rode two up everywhere, and, believe it or not I was a reasonably good motorcycle dirt track racer. After I started riding trikes (2004) I went to work part time for the local HD shop installing trike kits for them. By this time I was using both Klicktronic and Pingel electric shifters on my bikes. Since it wasn't feasable to switch them over to the trikes I was installing I just made up a shift stick our of some wooden dowel rod, an eye bolt, and some tape and insullation foam. I just slipped the eye bolt over the the shift peg, used some velcro to attach it to something handy on the bike and when I needed to shift I just grabbed it with my right hand and used it to shift up or down. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

Dwight

Very inspirational life Biker Dave. Glad you are still in the wind. A lot of stories on here are inspirational with positive outcomes!! :)

My story is i had a guy made a left turn in front me i hit in front of his car wen i came off the bike my left foot got hung under shifter pull my leg apart broke my wrist. I breed out 8 print of blood it happen July 4 2011. I had 13 surgery's on my stump he had no insurance but anyway stay in hospital 2 months got out of hospital, took for every to get my leg got a trike before got my leg doing good my phantom pain is still bad
William

I know this is an old thread but these are some of my solutions for me as a left leg aka.

A Klicktronic gear change mounted to the front down tube.

[IMG]http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss116/Steve748/IMG_0416.jpg[/IMG]

A 12" handle attached to a cut down and threaded lever.

[IMG]http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss116/Steve748/IMG_0411.jpg[/IMG]

Up and down buttons on the handle bar.

The Klicktronic has worked perfectly and I only use the long lever for finding neutral when i have stopped or coasting to a stop.

[QUOTE=Biker-Dave;161141]Hello all,
What an awesome forum to read. A little bit of my story, just to give you an overview of my position. I was a Buell Ulysses as well as a Harley Ultra rider. I guess the Buell was a bit of a mid life thing...LOL I was on my way home from a week long trip, when my riding buddy and I went to the top of Reddish Knob WV. I was about 40 seconds in front of my friend when I rounded a corner and met up with a fast moving Pick up truck. The dirt road was less then two lanes wide, and there was not much space or time to react. He hit me as I tried to drive the bike into a ditch. The force of the impact severed my left leg at the knee. BTW if your ever in WV and need to call 911...there is no phone signal.

Ok enough about that, lets move on to the bike stuff.

I was very focused on riding again. I did not want to ride a trike, no way...no how...was I going to ride one of those things. So I went to Orlando and met up with a guy who builds retractable landing gear for bikes. I did my best to learn to use that thing, but the second time it tossed me over, that was enough for me. I wanted to be able to ride alone, to have the ability to ride with out feeling I needed someone there. So I broke down and bought a 2001 ultra that had a trike kit installed. Ok so the stability issue has been addressed, now how do I shift the thing? I bought a Pingle shifter. Sorry pingle lovers out there, that thing was the biggest wast of money I ever spent. There are four major parts to the shifter.

Two computer modules, one to control the shifter, and one to control the ignition cut out. The switch to activate and operate the shifter, and the large electro-magnetic coil that did the shifting. Every one of those parts failed once. Leaving me on the side of the road, waiting for a tow.

This was not the riding I was looking for. Lucky for me I have a good friend who likes to think about problems like this and how to solve them. To bad I think he is related to Rube Goldberg. We were at the shop one night after the tow truck dropped off my trike thinking how can I shift my bike with a fake leg. I have no control over the knee, or the foot. I could not even get my foot in close to the shifter.

So if the foot cant go to the shifter, then the shifter must go to the foot. After ditching some very fancy plans, most involving gears, and pulleys with some cantilevers tossed in here and there , a most simple solution was come across. The floor board was moved out about 3 inches. This was done so my foot whttp://wildpiginfo.msstate.edu/damage-caused-by-pigs.htmlould rest better on the board. a 7 or so inch of PVC with an end cap on it was twisted on the toe shifter. The shifter peg had to have tape wrapped around it to make it fit. I found a longer shift peg for the heel shifter and installed that. So about now someone is wondering...

OK so how does he move his foot from the toe shifter to the heel shifter with no control of his knee? Glad you ask that one, shows your paying attention. With a little help from Galileo.

Inertia is how I move the leg forward and back. It's not all inertia, there is some gravity tossed in there just for fun. But all fun aside, the toe shifter sits out past my lower, when I use the brakes to slow, I lift my foot up and it will swing out. When it's over the extended toe shifter, I just push down. After I down shift to where I want it, say first gear for a red light, I lift my foot and it will bend back with gravity to the foot board where I set it down. When I come off a light, I lift my foot and it swings back to the heel shifter, all I do then is push down. Just like everyone else! There are a couple of things that make it a challenge, but it will not short out, and leave me waiting for help. But I'm going on when I should be riding, thanks Zook...the rake kit was the best thing I ever did for the bike. Now, down to Danials for a burger, riding solo.


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hey biker dave ,,,
glad your ride'n!!
and thanks for a great story on dealing with what life has thrown at you !! ThumbUp
hang tuff ... magoo

I'm a BTK peg-hopper. I have an EFM Auto Clutch (no fingers on left hand), a Widow Maker tank shifter and a LaBriola foot clutch (when you need to downshift or find neutral). It works for me. If I win the lottery, I'll get a Boss Hoss trike with the automatic transmission.

9

Ok. Biker-Dave. I ride a trike and have Rt. leg issues, BUT when I was in the Navy and back in 1972 a friend had broken his left ankle and was in a cast from the knee down. He also couldn't shift. A Chief Petty Officer he knew, who also welds, took a rod, put a gear shift ball on top and welded it to the gear shift lever. It came up to the gas tank, so all he had to do to shift is take his right hand off the throttle and either push the gear stick down or pull it up. And as he was on two wheels, 3 wheels ought to be a piece of cake. It's manual and it's simple and definitely doable. Good luck.

Sabretooth2

Since I'm too lazy most of the time I seldom use my front brake unless needing a quick stop. This thread got me thinking. I know a fellow who had a stroke on his left side that left his left had very weak. He removed the front brake and put the clutch on the right side. 2 wheeler. On a trike, can the front and rear become one and do the stopping with the foot while the front brake becomes the clutch? If so, I can vision an old style hand shifter on the left side. :confused::confused: