Why This "Dangerous" Shifter is Actually Awesome! 

Look up old gripshift road shifters or the Kelly “take-off”

You made my day. Even you postet it 11 month ago 😂

New overpriced junk and 'upgrades' are simply job security for me. I'm a high end shop mechanic. My personal 'good old junk' still works fine after decades. I get lots of it really cheap or even free as well. Not even half used by dummies who needed to 'upgrade'. I truly appreciate Eddy Merxck' quote regarding up grades. "Ride up grades, don't buy 'em.

It is The shifter would be left hand operated while depressing the clutch with the left foot. It was dangerous because it was difficult depressing the clutch while stopped. Your shifting game has to be on point while riding especially while stopping quickly

With a foot clutch and no front brake you had to run every red light that was on a hill, no way to get things back in gear once stopped without sliding back into the vehicle behind you. Thus the “suicide clutch” name.

"Suicide shifter or changer" on bicycles was originally derived from the old rod operated front mechs of the 50's, such as Cyclo, Huret and Simplex

@@paulbetts1810 My dad's old Raliegh road racer from the late '50s (my 1st roadie) had the Simplex version. It finally broke, I removed it and shifted by hand. With practice, it's easy on the road. Downshifting with your foot is easy as long as you can plan ahead. Now that I'm sorta old though, my flexibility isn't quite the same. Haha, Getting off to shift gives me an excuse to catch my breath and smell the flowers! I just might do one of these oddball front shifter setups though. I love these funky old school ideas. Function>form. I've been hand shifting my monstercross bike since I built it a few months ago. The 'big ring' is a narrow wide 1x and a 22t granny. Ive got more 'low range' gears than I usually need, a 100" high gear for road descents and no huge gaps in my cassette. I'm not a fan of modern 1x set ups at all. If I want to be in the wrong gear all the time, I just ride one of my singlespeeds! Which are my daily rides anyways. You still may be able to source a rod type derailleur from Rene Herse. (Jan Heine still uses 'em) An old custom builder (CS Hirose) in Japan used to make these sorts of things from scratch and 'rinko' travel bikes. Really, really nice handmade stuff! He passed away recently. Bicycle Quarterly (Jan's magazine) did a memorial for him.

@@CalmoOmlac its because when stopped on a hill you have your left hand off the bar to shift 1st and 2nd but you I urge right hand is operating a hand brake and on a moto that means no fingers on the actual handlebars. When you take off the torque of the motor pulls the front wheel to the right pretty hard and with only your right thumb 👍 😕 to keep it straight 💯 👌 you end up with the wheel flopping sideways and falling over if it doesn't all work out right.

I "represent" that remark

You'd like those old rod actuated Campy shifters, no cables at all! They're legit cool, it's interesting to see those wild early derailleurs coexisting with each other.

I had one on my dads ancient Raleigh racer. It broke sometime in the late '70s. Haha, being a broke kid, I started hand shifting!

I'm sorry, what is a suicide brake

@@monetary_episode494 A term I use to describe my brake setup, where I put my rear brake lever on the seat tube.

‘hipster’ is no defence to a federal violation… 😐

Function>form. Haha, look at INFERNAL routing and integrated bikes. There's a sucker born every minute. Rod actuated derailleurs work fine IF you know how to shift. My dad's (my first road bike) bike had one. It shifted fine. I'd try one again if I could find one. Modern roadies are probably afraid to take their hands off the freakin hoods. How would they ever learn to shift without the clicky bits? They hardly even know what those hooks are for or how much better a bike corners when you use them.

Your frame might already have downtube shifter bosses, might be a little more conventional while filling the same set of requirements which Russ outlined.

That's right. Modern brifters are like clockwork inside and they won't last long in dirty conditions or maybe even an innocent little crash/get off. Indexed shifting suffers badly if your hanger is bent or your derailleur is tweaked. Simple friction shifters solve all those problems. Problem is few folks every learned how to shift without all the clicky bits, but it's not exactly impossible.

Is it single speed in the back? It's fairly simple, just put chain tensioner on it. There are available tensioners with one and two tiny chain rings, they looks similarly to the arm of rear derailleur, you mount them on your back wheel axle, than you can have 2x in front.

Haha, have you got a 4wd? My 'Yota crawler has gears even lower than my MTBs. Dual t cases. The compound low granny gear idles so slow I can walk outside my truck while it's running and walk circles around it. I can practically stand on the brake and there's so much multipled torque the motor is hard to stall! My friend in Minnesota has a 2wd full suspension bike I want to try out. He uses it for riding all winter with studded tires!

I wrench in a shop. All the new overpriced junk is simply job security for me. Its low quality, doesn't last long and always 'requires upgrades'. Haha! I'm happy to take 'know it all's' money. I appreciate 'old school junk'. Its still working fine after decades and I often get it for cheap or free!

You should try a 'dinglespeed'. My 'Crossafix' is a fixed/free steel cross bike 4-5 gears (depending on chain wear) All single speed, two fixed gears. I stop to change gear which is incentive to hammer harder as not to stop. I ride it regularly on rocky singletrack. I use two chainrings, a flip flop track hub, double fixed cog and double White Industries freewheel. Dingle speeds can be built in several configurations with or without chain tensioning devices. I've used just a derailleur as chain tensioner and used the cable tensioning barrel to shift. If your Bonty is like my old one, the horizontal dropouts are perfect for the purest (no tensioner) DS set up.

Simplex Competition look sweet, but soooo exxy.

A downtube shifter has similar amounts of housing, less acute angle under the bb shell and a closer easier reach from the handlebars (for the rear)

Same here, i am going to be switching my 1x next week. I bought a used 2x crank from ebay.

1x is great for aggressive rough terrain mtb and 'cross racing. May even crit racing. I used a 1x for 'cross in the '80s. We used double chain guards so the chain didn't fall off. Even with doubles and clutchless derailleurs my chains very rarely fall off simply because I know how to shift (still mostly friction) and what gears tension the chain best. For many people (non racers) who spend long hours on a bike and or those who haul lots of extra weight (especially in big mtns) , 2 or even 3 chainrings are preferable. 1x is just a compromise. It can't offer a very wide gear range with a suitable low and high gear, along with useful smaller gaps between gears. Staying with 7-9 gears in the rear is much more affordable in the long run also. Many of us actually ride everyday and need suitable gears for road to get to the off-road.

@@rollinrat4850 is the tone in your response on purpose? If you didn't intend to come across condescending, that's a thing you might consider working on. If you did intend it, well that's a bigger list. Cheers

@@no_Ray_bang What did I say? I put 1x on my bike and many of my friends because we were tired of dropping chains on a 'cross course in the '80s. It's nothing new here! I've never had 'purchase regrets'. I DIY'd my 1x because I needed it. Now it doesn't work for long rides and loaded touring. I don't race much anymore I'm also a pro mechanic. I know what works me and many of my customers from my 50+ years of riding and wrenching experience. How about a rational argument? This is my experience over 50 years of hard riding and racing. Just my opinion. I hardly need your advice. My customers continue coming for my expertise. I didn't hurt your feeling over mere inanimate machines did I? If so, I'm not sure what else to say. I will say this: Peace to you, enjoy your holidays and ride lots more. That's how I relieve my stress.

@@rollinrat4850 glad it was the former not the latter, but it's clear from your response that the habits are deeply embedded. We all have things we can get better at, it's all good. Cheers.

Just ride single speed? You're never in the wrong or right gear, just a gear.

i would definitely enjoy to mess around with a "suicide" shifter