Why did Nortons shift on the right?

i have something about because side car brakes were also on the left, also for no particular reason at all, heard that early Brit tracks were raced counterclockwise so the shifter on the right to avoid getting caught under the shifter if on left?
Also voodoo ?

It might have something to do with which side of the road you drive on. In the 1950s many Italian bikes had the gear-change and kick start on the left while on Brit bikes, they were always on the right. American Harleys and Indians had throttle and advance/retard twist grips, gear change on either side, foot clutches and rear brakes. - Which I think was mainly due to their rejection of the need for standardisation, in the quest for market domination and profit.

1up3down said:

i have something about because side car brakes were also on the left, also for no particular reason at all, heard that early Brit tracks were raced counterclockwise so the shifter on the right to avoid getting caught under the shifter if on left?
Also voodoo ?

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If you put primary and final drive on the left then the gearbox design to put the gearshift (and Kickstart) on the right is more straightforward! (Think of the more complex - and wobbly - solution needed for the MKIII and other cross over designs) And most of us are right handed, so complex movements (up and down!) and kickstart swinging could be assumed to be easier with the right side!

(but also remember that this was established, yes when many race tracks were anti-clockwise but also some were banked, so almost no lean angle required, but also when the gear lever was hand operated and the throttle wasn't by twist grip!)

So perhaps the question is really, why was the primary and final drive put on the left? (When on bicycles the drive chain was mostly on the right!)

(To go with their left foot gearchange my Japanese bikes have primary drive on the right!)

SteveA said:

So perhaps the question is really, why was the primary and final drive put on the left? (When on bicycles the drive chain was mostly on the right!)

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Because early motorcycles often had both as they were little more than motorised bicycles.
The rider using the pedals (or pushing) to start the engine (no clutch so if the bike came to a stop then so did the engine) and for applying 'LPA' light pedal assistance to get up hills.





This is not exactly a Classic Commando topic so it will be moved shortly.

True Britbikers know instingtively that the gears should be on the right ,no question at all. If you have a load of Jap bikes you will surely be properly confused!!. If thats you, check you are on the right forum. I have a 1936 bike with the change on the left ,the makers soon realised that it was a mistake.Never did that again.

norton bob said:

True Britbikers know instingtively that the gears should be on the right ,no question at all. If you have a load of Jap bikes you will surely be properly confused!!. If thats you, check you are on the right forum. I have a 1936 bike with the change on the left ,the makers soon realised that it was a mistake.Never did that again.

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You may wish to recall that the greatest British motorcycle racer of all time (in many peoples view), was able to ride any shift pattern, and all in one day, and win on all!

From your comment I can only say that I am obviously not a true 'Britbiker', which concerns me not one bit, I have never considered myself a 'biker', just a motorcyclist. I ride what suits my need and budget, and luck!

I do have to readjust my gearchanging at times, but the last time I raced two bikes in one day, at Lydden, one bike right gear change the other left, my best laps were within 0.2 of a second of each other, and it wasn't the bigger capacity British bike with an extra 20hp that was faster!

Judging by the lists of bikes some of our number include in their posts, many of us on this forum have catholic tastes in motorcycles!

Personally, I have no difficulty changing from ‘left to right shifts’ when swapping bikes at all. But if I add changing from ‘up to down shifts’ as well, it is enough to cause the occasional need to think, and the occasional mistake. Hence, I prefer my Commando in the ‘reversed’ shift pattern, then my ‘fleet’ is standardised in the ‘up for up’ pattern even though I actually prefer the ‘down for down’ shift pattern !

As an aside, I don’t think the real question is ‘why are Brit bikes gear levers on the right’... the Brit industry had basically ‘standardised’ this for decades. The real question is ‘why was it later put on the left’??

Why did Sportsters and Ducatis have right foot shift?

Why did British Rudge motorcycles have left foot shift?

Answer me damn you all!

Because its the most natural thing, and Rudge gave up on left hookers in 1936. Far too complicated and wear prone.

I grew up with Japanese, Spanish, and English motorcycles. 4 different patterns. sometimes racing Japanese and Spanish on the same day. It can be learned. Adapt or perish!

Triton Thrasher said:

Why did Sportsters and Ducatis have right foot shift?

Why did British Rudge motorcycles have left foot shift?

Answer me damn you all!

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Simple- right is right....

comnoz said:

Simple- right is right....

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Quite right Jim.

Same applies to steering wheel location in cars...

I believe that shifting right or left had a lot to do with simplifying both design and manufacturing, in the absents of establishing a uniform user interface; US mandated for the 1975 model year. In any given day I can start out on a BMW, switch to a pre-OIF Triumph and to a Commando. I remember letting my friends ride my '70 Bonneville or my Commando back in the day; all I told them was 1 down, 3 up or 1 up 3 down, it was never a big deal. Nowadays even some good riders tell me that right shift is too hard to for them to master; for those I put them on my W-650; they are comfortable, I'm less worried. If I have any question about their abilities I follow them and watch their movements; if I feel uncomfortable then it's back to the shop and I tell them that I don't want to see them break their bones on my nickel (insurance) and advise them to crash someone else's motorcycle. A small piece of sage advice I got when I started riding: Go smooth first, go fast second.

I always wondered why the English drove/rode on the left, when the majority of countries use the right. I don't remember the source of my illumination, but it was explained to me that left hand road use began with jousting which had the riders approach each other, with jousting lance deployed on their right side (about 10% of the population is left handed) which puts both riders in their respective left "lanes". I drove a right hand drive car in Jamaica and was very concerned, initially, but got over it in about 10 minutes.

When I see someone riding a right shift English motorcycle I know, by definition, that they are highly intelligent.

The real question is why did the world change to suit the Japanese? Most bikes shifted on the right until the Japanese bikes started coming to the English-speaking world. You would think that all the manufacturers that started before 1950 would have more clout in the standards than the newly arrived Japanese!

I like to say that I've never shifted a bike on the left and I've never started a bike with a button. The second part is absolutely true. My first bike was a 1966 Honda 160 Scrambler (CL160) - traded that tank slapping, wobbling, piece of junk in on a used Triumph 500 after about a month - haven't shifted on the left since and proud of it!

By the 1970s, who but the Japanese factories would have any “clout?”

Fast Eddie said:

Quite right Jim.

Same applies to steering wheel location in cars...

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And driving on the right side of the road.....

Triton Thrasher said:

By the 1970s, who but the Japanese factories would have any “clout?”

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By 1974 when the US DOT dictated that change, BSA/Triumph/Norton/Villers were a self-inflected mess, Harley couldn't get out of it's own way, and so on. So, I supposed, no one.

I had only ever had right change old brit bikes for 50 years then found myself at Donnington track on a brand new 600 CBRR with a left change upside down change going flat out 14k revs , being encouraged to give it more by the instructor. It did not feel right!!. Still Feels wrong 10 years later.

I've had both Japanese and British bikes, but the gear change direction was always one up and the rest down. Changing from one side to the other was never a problem as long as I concentrated for the first five seconds. Standing on the gearshift instead of the rear brake can get a bit exciting. But an upside down gear change is something else. If you have raced a lot, your reaction in any crisis is automatic. If it involves a down gear change and you change up instead of down, you fall in a performance hole and look really stupid. Of course the whole thing gets a bit nastier if you are racing with a separate pipe with megaphone exhaust system.

marshg246 said:

The real question is why did the world change to suit the Japanese? ..........!

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Because your government told it to!