"Inverted" Shift Pattern

My '72 B50MX and '72 T150 are 1 down/3-4 up, but the '74 CDo is 1 up/3 down. Are all Nortons (pre-Mk4) this way? Except for all my buds at Access Norton, I don't know of anyone else in my dark corner of the world that owns a Norton!

On the pre 75 Commandos the 1 up 3 down is called the race shift, the idea is to push down on the gear lever for quicker gear change to higher gears, Norton has been going this way for a long time.

Ashley

It is possible to reverse the pattern by flipping the cam plate in the gearbox or buying an already altered assembly. It's something I have been planning to do in the future as I personally find that shift pattern counter-intuitive. Swapping back and forth between my Norton and my Japanese bike has caused me to screw up more than a few times. For me up for up and down for down is a no brainer and my diminished brain capacity needs all the help it can get.

zotz said:

It is possible to reverse the pattern by flipping the cam plate in the gearbox or buying an already altered assembly. It's something I have been planning to do in the future as I personally find that shift pattern counter-intuitive. Swapping back and forth between my Norton and my Japanese bike has caused me to screw up more than a few times. For me up for up and down for down is a no brainer and my diminished brain capacity needs all the help it can get.

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Between the kick starter and the reverse shift pattern, I consider these things as anti-theft devices. :mrgreen:

I also have a Goldwing and yes, the occasional mis-shift/braking happens. Usually by the time I am out of my neighborhood, I am in the correct state of mind.

I was once going to reverse my shift pattern. I looked into getting a cam plate to alter.

I have rearsets and tried reversing the stock shift lever see how it felt. although it was hard to tell because of the geometry, it was enough to tell me that I didn't like it.
This is not a quick turnaround and if you don't like it, which is very possible, you're going to have to do it all over again.

I've got a set of Dunstall cross-over rear sets and have rotated the crossover 180 degrees and repositioned the shifter producing 1 down - 3 up. It's just easier on me and the machine if I miss fewer shifts. All my other bikes shift on this side and with this pattern.

If you switch to the JPN rear set the pattern is one down, three up since a shift lever is used that points to the rear of the bike rather than using a linkage. The lever is still available.

I have a Trident and I have the rear pegs on the Norton so went with the reverse
shift lever. It isnt a nice as a linkage type rearset because the arc of the shift lever
is wrong but it works. Better to have both bike the same pattern I find.

switching back and forth from a Norton to a "normal" bike keeps the mind sharp and firing on most cylinders

www.dunstallnorton.blogspot.com

benz said:

switching back and forth from a Norton to a "normal" bike keeps the mind sharp and firing on most cylinders

http://www.dunstallnorton.blogspot.com

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This works under normal conditions. Unfortunately, in emergency situations the mind may send signals to the wrong foot. The panic response will override all other responses. I'll bet more than a few have stabbed the right hand shift pedal in response to a need to stop with a left pedal rear brake setup. I rode a mix of left and right for many years and I've made a few of the wrong pedal taps.

Hey, if it doesn't shift on the right side it shifts on the wrong side

The "traditional" British pattern (except for Triumph) was a left-side brake pedal and a right-side shifter with one-up and three down. Triumph were traditionally tha same side pedals as the others but one down/three up. When US regs were re-written in the mid-1970's (I think) they specified all motorcycles in the US market had to be to the Japanese pattern of RH side brake pedal and a LH-side shifter with down pedal for downshift.I don't remember if they specified where neutral had to be.

A friend of mine had a wreck on his Bridgestone 350. It followed the US standard and had a six-speed transmission. It had neutral at one end of the travel, one pedal push down from first. It had a sneaky feature in the a down-shift from neutral got sixth gear.

He was fairly new to the bike, and was hustling on some back roads. He thought he was in 5th at about 75 mph but he was in 6th. He shifted up and thought he'd got a missed shift. Another stab at the pedal put the box in 1st. RPMs went sky high, then the back wheel locked up as the gearbox came apart. He was thrown off, but his leathers saved him from serious tarmac rash. The bike was totalled. Shortly afterwards, Bridgestone added a shift indicator, which I think was a light that came on in 5th gear.

JimC said:

benz said:

switching back and forth from a Norton to a "normal" bike keeps the mind sharp and firing on most cylinders

http://www.dunstallnorton.blogspot.com

Click to expand...

This works under normal conditions. Unfortunately, in emergency situations the mind may send signals to the wrong foot. The panic response will override all other responses. I'll bet more than a few have stabbed the right hand shift pedal in response to a need to stop with a left pedal rear brake setup. I rode a mix of left and right for many years and I've made a few of the wrong pedal taps.

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Absolutely. I almost ran into the back of a minivan last weekend after jumping on my cb for the first time after weeks on the Cdo. That being said, more often than not, the rear brake gets us into more trouble than anything else on our bikes.

Yes remember the Bridgestone bottom neutral thing. Another name lost
to motorcycling. Remember too a fellow who, used to the Triumph pattern,
whilst riding on a Norton went to a higher gear in a tight downhill turn and bought a tree.

It is possible to reverse the pattern by flipping the cam plate in the gearbox or buying an already altered assembly..

Click to expand...

Its more than just flipping the camplate though.
The indexing notches are machined in quite different places to make this work...

as you can see by my username I have an interest!

I believe it was back in 1974 the US passed the law that all motorcycle imported from 1975 onwards had to shift on the left side with a down for first and up for the higher gears

The reason was to standardize this pattern among manufacturers in order to less rider injuries and deaths

That particular legislation also further limited both noise and emission regulations from the 1973 law

I like shifting 1 up and 3 down on the right, but i DO have to remember which bike I am on!

Get use to the gears shift, I ride my jap dirt bikes and my new Triumph as well my Norton, I have never had any problems with the change in gear shifting but mine you I have been doing this for over 37 years, my brain just know what bike I am riding at the time :lol: but my self likes the Norton gear change the best, it is smoother in the gear change, has no clunking noise from changing gears and you only just put minim weight on the foot to change gears, why change a perfect gear change that works well, but that is my opion and I will awlays keep mine the way it is, it is so good.

Ashley

If you intend to switch the cam plate round I believe you have to first machine a new neutral slot in the appropriate place.

The camplate has to be a near complete reversed mirror image to do this.
You can't just switch the existing one around enough to do this.... ?

I wasn't to keen on the different shift pattern either.