The CB1100 Community Forum

I learned to ride on a Triumph Tiger 750. Then took the bike test on a new '75 Yamaha XS650B. I kept trying to shift the brake, but the DMV lady didn't notice and I passed! Woo Hoo!

(03-21-2014, 08:29 PM)The Spaceman_imp Wrote: [ -> ]

(03-21-2014, 01:28 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Heck I remember when you weren't even sure which side you shifted on. Sometimes it was on the right, sometimes on the left.

Roger that. I learned to ride on a right-side shifted Sportster. Apparently HD built them for flat-track racing. Switching to a Yamaha as my second bike damn near killed both if us.

Roger that. I learned to ride on a right-side shifted Sportster. Apparently HD built them for flat-track racing. Switching to a Yamaha as my second bike damn near killed both if us.

My first Sportster a 59 shifted on the right, my second Sportster, a 94, shifted on the left. My BSA Rocket 3 shifted on the right..my Aermachhi M 50 shifted in the left grip. Some of my early Harley's used a left foot clutch and a shifter on the left side of the fuel tank. All of my Japanese bikes shifted on the left except the majesty 400 which is a CVT and then both levers on the bars are brakes. Sometimes over the years I have felt like a marionette.lol

My '73 Ducati 750GT (which I still ride occasionally) shifts on the right, up for 1st gear. My Norton 750 was the same. My 66 Triumph Bonneville was on the right, down for first. My '73 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport was on the left, but up for first. So I have owned bikes with every imaginable shift pattern. All the rest of the bikes were the current standard on the left, down for first. I have also ridden an antique Harley with foot clutch and tank shift.

Every time I go for a ride on the old Ducati, I accidentally step on the shifter to brake at least once. It takes some concentration.