1985 Honda ATV Suicide Shifter

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There have been modifications made to the ATV but I have not documented the changes as they were bolt on changes

We use this ATV to tow the dragster around at the track, from the top and to the pits and from the pits to the staging lanes.

We also use it as a utility vehicle to get around the track. As you can image with a ¼ mile track, places we need to go are usually a distance away.

This ATV is shifted with a foot lever and there is not a lot of leverage. My wife drives this most of the time pulling the dragster.

To make shifting easier, I decided to give her some extra leverage with a suicide shifter; besides it look neat

Not a great shot but here we are at Norwalk on the return road going back to the pits.

Here is the ATV unmodified. The challenge is to make the modification without changing the ATV itself. The raw materials are sitting in the storage box on the rear.

I had to mock up the idea to see if it would actually fit. I did a google search and found people  had talked about doing this, but no evidence that anyone actually had. My mock-up is just a square tube with a slot cut in the end.

I want to use flat stock to keep it light and use aluminum instead of steel. I learned the hard way that you have to heat the aluminum to bend it. This “U” bend just fits snugly around the shift lever.

Now the challenge is to fasten it to the shift lever without doing anything to the shift lever.

I inserted a piece of steel into the “U”. I bent in the shifter to create a slot the same size as the shifter lever. The steel is slightly smaller in thickness. I have two sets of bolts, the first set clamps the “U” channel to the shifter and the second set holds the piece of steel in place on the suicide shifter. There are no holes drilled in the shifter and the whole thing can be removed as if it was never there.

I had to add a little class to the shifter so I made it a little ergonomic. Using my fingers and the palm of my hand as a guide, I made some cuts to the top of the handle. 

The handle was a little far away from the tank so I took it back off and made a couple of bends in the handle to bring it in closer to the body.

I spent a little time on the buffing wheel and it does not look too bad. This is a good prototype. I will find a shifter on fee-bay and cut the end off to use the spline to make another shifter (good winter project). Right now it has a lot of throw, but if I move it back that will decrease. I would also like to make a guide for the side of the tank to keep the handle in closer to the bike.