right hand gear change

Didn?t matter if you were left or right handed, or whichever your dominant eye is, when it came to shooting the bloody awful SA80 in the army. Got to shoot right handed.
However, not sure this moves the discussion on gear change side forward much...
 
For me, in the UK, where we drive on the left, it's much simpler.
I mount the bike from the same side that I mount a horse, from the left.
My left foot is on the kerb/in the gutter/safe from other traffic, supporting the bike.
My right foot is on the footrest ready to select a gear.
The same when I am stopped at lights or a junction.

At the risk of starting a whole other furore, I do prefer down-for-up as a gear selection method.
It's easier to stamp on the shifter when going up through the gears at max chat and easier to hook the lever up under rapid deceleration, IMO.
 
I changed my brake levers on my bicycles to rh front brake, cant see having pushy and moto opposite. I tell people who ask that cars in Australia have left foot throttle and motos opposite side controls. There are accidents due to foot control sides on bikes, but many things are different on many things and the responsibility is to know and practice. Other side of road driving is far worse.
 
Jeez, Tippie! You made me go out to the garage to check.
I've never seen a pushbike that didn't have the front brake lever on the right!
Anything else would be like riding one of these suckers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
 
For some reason I can't understand, just about all bicycles sold in the US with brake levers on the handlebars have the front brake on the left! Imported Italian bikes are usually set up in bike shops the same way, even if they were originally imported with the front brake on the right.
I have always built all my bicycles with the front brake on the right, but now that I have hydraulic brakes it can be quite a bit harder because of cable routing. When I upgraded my front brake to a 220mm 4 piston setup I installed a new brake hose and switched from left to right too. A couple of people who've ridden it have scared the hell out of themselves; bicycles are not supposed to stop like that.

Ken
 
The Sock said:
Jeez, Tippie! You made me go out to the garage to check.
I've never seen a pushbike that didn't have the front brake lever on the right!
Anything else would be like riding one of these suckers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
Click to expand...

That movie is awesome. thanks so much for sharing it ,what a great way to get understanding into our minds/brains and neuro plasticity
(bigthumb)
 
I'm with you, TC. Really really innaresting stuff. Can you imagine doing it to a motorbike!!!

I saw a doco decades ago on a scientist who was fitted with some sort of visual apparatus that turned everything upside down - because apparently our brains receive the image upside down from the eye and convert it!! It too the experimentee days a days to adjust, but ultimately their brain did completely adjust to the new 'normal' and it was as if there were no other way. When they changed back it took the same amount fo time to revert. Very similar concepts at work with the bicycle.

Tippie mentioned recently that we learnt to ride with the left hand on the right handlebar (to give the throttle hand a rest). It takes a bit of getting used to but the natural instinct results in scary initial veering off the road!
 
Countersteering anyone. Just imagine a Motobike with that backward steering. My head hurts just thinking about it. Absolutely brilliant.
 
Piranha Brother 2 said:
I'm with you, TC. Really really innaresting stuff. Can you imagine doing it to a motorbike!!!
..................
Tippie mentioned recently that we learnt to ride with the left hand on the right handlebar (to give the throttle hand a rest). It takes a bit of getting used to but the natural instinct results in scary initial veering off the road!
Click to expand...

I've done that for years, the left hand on right grip thing, and have ridden hundreds of miles that way.

I've also suggested it to the hordes who believe that they "lean the bike over" as opposed to what they actually do: countersteer.

To be fair, I've only ever done it while already rolling, never when setting off from rest.
If I'm ever going to try that, you can bet it won't be on my Laverda!
 
Andy J said:
Didn?t matter if you were left or right handed, or whichever your dominant eye is, when it came to shooting the bloody awful SA80 in the army. Got to shoot right handed.
However, not sure this moves the discussion on gear change side forward much...
Click to expand...
My right eye has a huge astigmatism, great for peripheral vision, but that has made me become a left handed marksman when using rifles.
 
Paul Marx said:
Left arm and right leg are controlled by different brain hemispheres.

Paul
Click to expand...

Agreed. However I recall hearing some discussion from many years ago that by having right side shift you require both hemispheres of the brain to clutch/shift or to activate both front and rear brakes ....... ergo your brain activity is increased when accomplishing these functions and you operate at a higher level of awareness.

Bur what do I know ........ I'm a pilot, not a brain surgeon.

Dammit.
Jim
 
I actually watched the bicycle video this time. The problem the guy had is assuming that you actually use your brain when riding a bicycle. You don't. Learning to ride a bicycle is not training your brain to respond appropriately to changes in the bike's motion and making appropriate steering inputs. What you're doing is entraining a reflex arc, so that as you feel the bike beginning to fall to one side you move the handlebars enough to counteract the falling over motion. When you actually track a bicycle (or a motorcycle) the paths of the wheels always have the back wheel doing a sinuous left/right/left/right weave. You don't notice it so much on a motorcycle because there's a lot more inertia, but if you've ever tied riding a motorbike with the steering head bearing adjusted too tight you've felt unexpected difficulty in making the constant corrections necessary to keep the bike upright. If it's bad enough the feeling turns to panic very quickly!
So the guy in the video was discovering that a reflex arc takes quite a lot of time and number of repetitions to become established, but once you have it established you don't have to think about it because you're literally not thinking about it. You're sending sensory nerve impulses from your buttocks (one side gets lighter than the other as you accelerate sideways) to your spine, and another nerve impulse gets sent to your shoulder and arm muscles to steer, either by turning the bars or by pushing on the opposite bar. The reason you don't have to think about how to steer is literally that you don't have to think about it!
You can override a reflex arc to a certain extent, like when you push harder on the outside bar to lean over further, but it's essentially impossible to initiate the reflex deliberately. And an entrained reflex arc that's not used will slowly disappear, although it remains in "spinal memory" for quite some time. As in the guy discovering he could still ride when he was fooling around in Amsterdam.
 
LJ-2 said:
I"m left handed and left footed, think it explains a lot eh Paul :LOL: :LOL:
Click to expand...

I'm right across the board; ear too. if I try to answer a phone to my left ear it sounds akin to using a scrambler... :o
 
Its just simply re-ordering your thought process I am sure.

We have many cars left hand change, right hand change,  and get this!!  Gas Pedal and brake pedals swapped over!!  In fact most pre-war cars have their throttle pedal in the middle and the brake on the right!!

I have been driving these cars for over 30 years and just switch automatically from one to another without thinking,  pedals, gear changes, first and second on the right or left of the gate, backward gates, all sorts, no problem.  Never get it wrong and really do not even think about it after looking at the gate once.

Just mind conditioning.

Bikes may be different though.
Some of my bikes have up for up or down for down or left change or right change,  I don't even know which has which without looking.  However I am not a great experienced rider and maybe this is helping me with the bikes,  once I look at the bike and do it once, I don't get it wrong.  Or maybe its a bit of both, I am used to the cars so the bikes are easier?
Either way, I am certainly no brain powerhouse so it must be simply down to mind conditioning.

PS.
Have tried the backward steering bike some years back and did go for a short distance ok, after a good few attempts.  You can rent them at the coast in Belgium. 


 
Hi all, don't have a problem switching from left foot change to right foot, left hand driving to righthand. But i do have a problem when something is engineered right foot and then gets converted via linkages with multiple joints just to add a little bit of play. Joy of joys form over function never really works.
Whats the saying live with it and man up.
Regards Andy 😁
 
Yesterday I spied a WLA Hardley with hand shift and foot clutch ............

Mark Muir, how's your project going? The above was on the M1 at Yatala......... rider was being bounced around like a basketball on the concrete surface.
I think the seat springs need dampers :o
 
You sure it wasn't an Indian, the WLA I rode was left foot clutch and right-hand gear change. I am sure about the clutch but not the gear change, its decades ago. It was great fun to ride, but not in traffic. Never drove a Model T but they would be a head spin. Same with Julians pre WW cars, pat your head and rub your tummy stuff. It would be hilarious fun to try though.
 
💤😴😴oh sorry just woke up , answer to your question ,  flat on me back , what time is it 😒
 
I think this thread should be titled "Right Foot Gear Selector ;o)" as the clutch lever has always been on the left hand bar.

I started off with British bikes "Right Foot Gear Selectors" not saying I didn't have a few Japanese Left foot Gear Selector dirt bikes in the mid 60's and early 70's.

I did graduate to Japanese Sport rides with the Left foot Gear Selector:however, I do prefer the Right Foot Gear Selector for one reason only and that is Braking, especially down from Hi-Speed or emergencies. The cross action holds your body weight balanced over the bike and allows you a quicker time to respond.

Whether shifting or braking the Right Foot Gear Selector naturally keeps you body weight balanced on the bike rather being shifted to one side or the other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top