New Harley Sportster Jockey Shift

A brand new Jockey Shift kit from Jeff Cochran to easily convert your Harley Sportster stock forward controls to the Jockey Clutch/Hand Shift setup.

Everything in it is laser cut 304 stainless & machined billet aluminum.

The kit includes all mounting hardware and easy to follow installation instructions.

For Sportster 04 & up. . Made in the USA. In stock, ready to ship.

Special introductory price of $385.00. Jeff Cochran SpeedKing.

25 Responses to “New Harley Sportster Jockey Shift”


  1. 1 phil Dec 3rd, 2011 at 9:45 am

    wouldnt the correct terminology be “suicide clutch / hand shift? ” ? Jockey is when you shift behind your leg….

  2. 2 18Bravo Dec 3rd, 2011 at 9:52 am

    Wow, that shifter looks a LOT like the one I designed for my Sporty, and posted online about two months ago . Like they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flaattery!

  3. 3 Brandon Dec 3rd, 2011 at 10:55 am

    Like it.

  4. 4 Shifter Dec 3rd, 2011 at 10:56 am

    I think it looks good, reasonably priced.

  5. 5 bigalyts Dec 3rd, 2011 at 11:28 am

    I did not see your set up 18Bravo, but this one looks well done and very clever designed.

  6. 6 Bleeding Ears Dec 3rd, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    I know a hand shifter is a great idea, but I don’t know why. Could someone please explain?

    I like LOUD pipes!

  7. 7 18Bravo Dec 3rd, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    Well Al, I said that with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but these are the ones I did. Minus the cost of flash bang grenades and M4 muzzles, they cost about $4.00 in scrap steel.
    Hopefully it gives access to the other build photos as well.

    http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o110/18bravo_photos/DSC01717.jpg

  8. 8 Grey Beard Dec 3rd, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    Suicide shift, is when your running a foot clutch and no front brake. Try taking off on a hill.

  9. 9 bigalyts Dec 3rd, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    Nice looking 18Bravo. I could only see the Shifter or foot control. Nice work and Parts are very affordable!, Ha, Ha!

  10. 10 JEFF COCHRAN Dec 4th, 2011 at 8:03 am

    Hey 18Bravo, That is a very cool looking pedal you did but I assure you I have never seen your previous posting. I have done this drilled, holed configuration for many applications over the past decade including fender struts,shift brackets & 4 speed mids. And I am pretty sure everything I have done somewhere somehow has been done before. For instance my old partner and I hold a patent from 2005 on the round oil tank featured previously this week on this blog, we called it the H-bomb. But that dose not mean the guy doing it now necessarily scabbed it from us, he may have never even seen ours in a old custom chrome catalog. You know what they say “great minds think alike” we are all just trying to make a living doing what we love to do. Keep up the great work.

  11. 11 Wiskers Dec 4th, 2011 at 9:41 am

    Hey Jeff, I own a small shop called Hellion Custom Cycles in PA. We started a division call Death XL’s, I am interested in more Xl parts you have. Send me an email hellioncustomcy@aol.com. thank you.

  12. 12 nicker Dec 4th, 2011 at 11:21 pm

    Grey Beard,

    I’m all for correct terminology.
    However, as i recall, Phil has it exactly right.
    But this isn’t….

    RE:
    “…Suicide shift, is when your running a foot clutch and no front brake. Try taking off on a hill…”

    -NO-
    Don’t think anyone ever “committed suicide” shifting.
    (so, no such thing as a “suicide shift”)

    Now, negotiating a hill with a foot clutch could be an issue.
    But it isn’t a big deal…. if that clutch peddle is a standard over-center rocker.
    However, if ya have a HD spring loaded sport clutch (a “suicide clutch”) and your running a spool front wheel and a jocky-shift….. that could be an issue, if your riding around the San Francisco hills.
    (a true jockey-shift, not simply a handle on a ratchet top)

    All i’m saying is that inventing new terminology for new technology is OK.
    But lets not confuse us old guy by renaming the stuff we grew up with.
    Hell, i’m having enough trouble remembering what i used to know…… 🙂

    Now, if ya invent somthing new you get to make up any terminology you like.
    For example, that thank shifter in the picture is hooked up to a ratchet-top tranny.
    And didn’t JJ start building them with a clutch lever grafted onto one….???
    I don’t know what ya call that….???
    (any poser should be able to handle a hill with such a set-up).

    But a suicide -clutch without a gate on a jockey-shift, no front brake, that friend is a completely different ball game.

    -nicker-

  13. 13 steveb Dec 4th, 2011 at 11:52 pm

    These parts are as classy as the guy who designed and made them. Nice job Jeff.

  14. 14 Grey Beard Dec 5th, 2011 at 5:16 am

    nicker,
    Suicide shift is not a made up terminology, it’s been around for yrs, as long as I can remember, and thats a long time.

    I’ve been riding since the mid 60’s. I’ve only owned one Indian but quite a few HD’s over the yrs, my first HD I owned was a pan I bought in 1970. I’m sure you remember back then when you could buy a complete all original full dressed on the road, knucks or pans for $300 – $500, dealers were selling used HD’s for $700 to $900. You could buy a complete basket case with a clean title for $25-$100. Now the flatties were another story, you couldn’t give a flatty away back in the 60’s and 70’s. When a servi-car was chopped, the first thing that went in the can was the trunk, a 1/4 keg or 2 bucket seats were put in it place. Back then, you built your own chopper. Which ment you chopped the frame on a regular manufactured production motorcycle, not go out and buy a custom built motorcycle from a shop and call it a chopper. Back then, the limey bikes were the bike of choice. Yes, I’ve been around long enought know suicide shift isn’t a new made up terminology.

  15. 15 18Bravo Dec 5th, 2011 at 11:25 am

    You’re right of course, Jeff – great minds do think alike. I’d actually have purchased the foot clutch portion of your setup had it been available a few months ago. Well, maybe… Why not available for earlier models? I have an ’03. At any rate, I had to go ahead and design my own. The shifter is a whole ‘nother story as we say in Texas. A .50 cal. charging handle assembly grafted onto the motor mount, as the suicide shift.

    Next – “JJ” may have started a lot of things, but the clutch grafted onto the shift lever was not one of them . In 1983, I purchased plans from Popular Mechanics to build a three wheeled car (quite similar to the one at the Dallas bike show yesterday) which utilized a KZ rear and a VW front end. The body was constructed of building foam and fiberglass. At any rate, it shited exactly the same way, the shift lever in the cockpit had the clutch right on it.

    By the way, congratualtions to JC and Jimmie Lee at 3-2 Choppers! First in Modified Harley class!

  16. 16 nicker Dec 5th, 2011 at 11:34 pm

    Grey-

    Been at it at least as long as you.
    (but when i was a kid no one cut up a servy-car, they still had commercial value…. 🙂

    Never heard the term “Suicide Shift” from anyone that knew they way around a scooter.
    (but then we never hung around with anyone who didn’t)

    Lots of contemporary references to “suicide Shift” but i can’t seem to find any references to it much before 1989….(?)
    Guess we’ll have to disagree on this one.

    -nicker-

    RE:
    “…Sometimes the shifter is referred to as a jockey shifter while the foot clutch is called a suicide clutch…More technically, suicide clutch can refer to clutch controls lacking a detent on the foot clutch, which would otherwise allow the rider to lock the clutch in the disengaged position. Early foot-clutch motorcycles, such as those from Harley-Davidson and Indian, allowed the rider to lock the clutch foot pedal, so they could place both feet on the ground when stopped. If this device was disabled, or a custom foot clutch installed that had no detent, it was referred to as a “suicide clutch” because stopping the motorcycle in gear required the rider to keep his foot on the pedal. Should he lose his balance and put the left foot down, the motorcycle could lurch forward into cross traffic….”

  17. 17 nicker Dec 6th, 2011 at 12:08 am

    Grey-

    Some other sources on “suicide” terminology:
    From “Bike Lingo”
    “…i have been looking at this forum for a while now and had to put in my two cents worth.i can’t beleave a group of supposed “real biker” types dont know there ain’t no such thing as a suicide shift. the shifters mounted on the gass tank or abreveated to a stick on the tranny top were called Jockey shifter or just hand shift. these worked in conjunction with a foot clutch or rocker clutch. these were common on a lot of early harleys, indians, and others. as these clutches left the factory they would stay in the engaged or disengaged position depending on the position of the rocker. the term “suicide clutch” came about when these clutches were modified so they had to be held in the disengaged position like an automobile clutch. the h ot dogs probably thought this was cool, but if you had to stop and didn’t get the bike in neutral and it leaned to the left as you stopped well….. get the picture? i just get irritated when i hear knowlledgeable people use the tern “suicide shift” thanks for letting an old fart vent a little…”

    From Choper.com
    “…dont mean to be anal here but there is no such animal as a suicide shifter on a bike……the term suicide refers to the way you operate the clutch….now, with that said….i prefer true jockey shift….off the tranny behind your leg…..i have riddin tank shift bikes (off the motor mount) and i dont care for them…..what it really boils down to is what your comfortable riding with….jock shift takes a little getting used to, but when ya get the hang of it, there is nothing sweeter…..just my .02…”

    From Yahoo answer
    “…Suicide is the clutch -You have to hold it down as opposed to a rocker that will go over center and keep itsself engaged. A jockey shift is usualy thought of as the short levers that are right on the transmission -instead of a frame or tank mounted shiftert…”

    yada, yada, yada……

    -nicker-

  18. 18 tattooeddmike Dec 6th, 2011 at 1:11 am

    I’m with Gray on this, as this is what I heard when I was growing up,…… Dad and his riding Bro’s used to convert to the “new option” hand clutch and foot shift…. But I remember running a foot clutch that acted like a car, in gear, when you let up on the clutch, you took off, ready or not. Suidide shifting was “jockey style with car style clutch and NO front brake! Up hill stops were not bad, just trying to get it in gear and going forward without killing the engine were interesting…. Just me and my opinion, and I’m still running a “jockey shift, foot clutch on my swingarm shovel, but with a front brake…. modern traffic where I live is just practical to go with a front brake. And to Nicker, I agree with what you said about the riding with the foot clutch and jockey shift, … nothing sweeter than hand jamming gears on your bike.
    And you can always tell who’s just trying to learn to ride a hand shift, foot clutch bike, some can and some can not.
    tattooeddmike

  19. 19 Blaine Dec 6th, 2011 at 1:46 am

    Nice work Jeff. As always. Keep it up..

  20. 20 Morgan Dec 6th, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    I have been running a foot clutch/hand shift on my Sporty for years due to various hand and elbow injuries, and I like how this setup mounts to the primary– great job! This is somewhat similar to the tank-style/police shifter I put together a few years back that I still use that uses a ’66 u-bolt police shifter mount, but instead of mounting it to the primary like Jeff has I fabricated a bracket that mounts to the front cylinder head, and the shifter mount bolts to that. This puts the shifter & knob up a little higher than JC’s setup, but Jeff’s has more of a “retro Hurst shifter” look to it that is very cool.

    Jeff, if I may offer a suggestion…if there is a way you can adapt the foot control such that it can be used on a mid-control bike like the Nightster (i.e., you would still need a left side H-D forward control mount, but the clutch pedal would be turned 180 degrees to point backward) you’ll have customers beating a path to your door, as I see a lot of comments on Sportster boards from guys who want to make the conversion to a hand shift but don’t because of the mid-controls.

    As an aside— since I live in CA I actually rode from LA to San Francisco via Hwy 1, and spent over an hour riding around downtown SF doing a “litmus test” with my setup (I ran some of the same streets from the movie “Bullitt”.) I run a 21″ front spool, but have a +12V linelock (brake lock) plumbed into the rear brake circuit and hidden up by the battery.

  21. 21 Morgan Dec 6th, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    I also meant to add that I like how Jeff has the clutch cable attached to the pedal very close to its pivot point, which allows greater linear control over clutch engagement. In other words, the further up the pedal the cable is attached, the trickier it is to modulate the clutch; the closer to the pivot point, the easier it is– this is especially helpful in heavy traffic situations!

    Jeff, is this a kit only, or would you offer the pedal, cable & cable anchor separate from the shifter assembly?

  22. 22 nicker Dec 7th, 2011 at 11:15 pm

    Morgan,

    Saw an SF scooter jock use the bumper of the car behind him to facilitate a front-brake-less-up-hill launch….. with a suicide clutch…. seems he needed the “extra time” to find 1st gear with his jockey shifter (no ratchet-top).

    Another good reason to “bob” a rear fender……… 🙂

    -nicker-

  23. 23 Joebotics Dec 8th, 2011 at 11:53 am

    That is a great looking kit, very complete also… Jeff… are you planning on a similar setup for Softails?… I believe a softail kit is also going to be very popular…

  24. 24 Johnny Snider Feb 13th, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    Hello all. Does anyone know where I can get a jockey shift and a foot clutch for a sportster with mid controls? When will folks realize how much better mid controls are?! The stuff currently on the market is junk, and for the price they plan on charging at LEDSLED customs, you can keep it! Any input is good, thanks.

  25. 25 Johnny Snider Apr 16th, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    Jeff and the boys always makes a great looking chop, but that shift setup looks weird. It would only look good on a certain bike. If I could just find a good jockey shifter for my rigid evo sportster, along with a good kicker, I could be happy. The prices for Ledsleds kicker is way too high. The Briolla jockey shift just looks weak. To all you pro builders out there: Dirtbag builders will be forced to buy overseas junk unless one of you can come up with a better solution. Just because we dont ride a big twin does not mean we shouldnt have a jockey shift with a foot clutch. By the way, “suicide” shift comes from the fact that when you hand shift, you would roll to the left, over the line into oncoming traffic and you also had to take your hand off the bars. Far too dangerous for you weekend , bagger clowns and the goldwing set! hahaha, Sweet. Keeps out the squares. Build you bike, Ride your bike. All input, good or bad is welcome, thank you.

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Cyril Huze