85 Aspencade Heel/Toe gear shifter

It is NOT oem. No 1200 ever came with rider floorboards or a heel and toe shifter. When I first got my '85 it also had a heal and toe shifter. I absolutely hated it. I also thought it was oem. As soon as I found out it wasn't, I ordered stock pegs and a shifter from eBay. WOW!!! What a difference. It actually felt like riding a motorcycle rather than the Titanic. It felt 300 pounds lighter, and 1000% better. On the setup I had there was no way to adjust the shifter.

The heel/toe shifter if that's what you've got is not OEM and probably came with the foot boards.
Please post a picture of what you've got.

Hi, I can understand JerryH comments, I've got used to mine, but would not install them instead of the original set up. Guess you either love 'em or you hate 'em...they do look cool tho, but would doubt you could adjust them differently..a pic would be good.
Cheers,
Peter.

sometimes there is a slight adj of the original shifter arm that can be made,but its only one notch up or down at most

Floorboards and H&T shifters are an abomination on a Goldwing. The floorboards make it harder to get you feet on the ground and promote dropping the bike, the H&T shifters are sloppy, give a poor feel of shifting, and don't do the shift forks any good. In an effort not to offend people who like this junk, I'm holding my real opinion back.

Most of these setups use the stock shifter with the rubber removed. There is a notch in the heel/toe shifter that engages the stock shifter. This causes even more play in the shift linkage, causing a more imprecise feel. With the heel and toe setup, shifting felt very loose and awkward. Shifts were usually very clunky. Once I switched back to pegs and a stock shifter, the feel was greatly improved, and most of the clunkyness went away.

The stock shifter attaches to the splined shift shaft coming out of the engine. You might be able to adjust it one notch up or down, but it's tight. Due to the engine design, the shifter is actually under the cam cover. The heel and toe part of the shifter should have a non adjustable pivot bold right in the middle. Mine was loose due to stripped threads, making things even worse.

exavid said:

Floorboards and H&T shifters are an abomination on a Goldwing. The floorboards make it harder to get you feet on the ground and promote dropping the bike, the H&T shifters are sloppy, give a poor feel of shifting, and don't do the shift forks any good. In an effort not to offend people who like this junk, I'm holding my real opinion back.

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I agree with your real opinion. My first and LAST experience with a mess like this.

exavid said:

Floorboards and H&T shifters are an abomination on a Goldwing.

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Boy, I hate to disagree with you, BUT.....
I kinda enjoy kicking the pedal down two or three times to make sure it actually went into gear.
I especially enjoy it on the gl1200 Interstate, because you can always "guess" which gear you're actually in.
You build calf muscles by constantly lifting and setting your leg after every shift.
And when I finally find neutral, the green light coming on after the sixth attempt gives me a feeling of pride and accomplishment.
I don't know what your problem is.....:?

exavid said:

Floorboards and H&T shifters are an abomination on a Goldwing. The floorboards make it harder to get you feet on the ground and promote dropping the bike, the H&T shifters are sloppy, give a poor feel of shifting, and don't do the shift forks any good. In an effort not to offend people who like this junk, I'm holding my real opinion back.

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Oh I get what you're saying, when I got my H/T shifter and tried it out for the first time, I was disappointed for sure,, the shifter was way way to tall for my heel, I got cramps trying to shift that silly thing..and with the floorboards it was hard for me to brake proper due to my large feet...What a pain in the buttocks, so I did something about it.. I lower the shifter 2 1/2" and added an extention to the top of the brake pedal so I can use my heel to brake instead of my toe...It's all been custom fitted for me, the rider... I really enjoy my riding now..

Yeah, I rode a Harley with a foot clutch and tank shift back in my dim past. It had floorboards too. Those weren't great either. No one's prevents someone to remodel their Goldwing with poorly engineered shifting gear, no one prevents installing a brake pedal that forces one either to ride the brake or lift their foot to get on the brake. No one stops anyone from painting their Goldwing pink and covering it in rhinestones either.

I love my boards and heel/toe shifter, would not want run without them (kinda like my motorcycle tires).


Bill

I'm looking into getting a h/t setup only because I have peripheral neuropathy that causes pain to the top of my foot when I shift. I'm not crazy about getting one, but it's either that or limit my riding, which ain't happenin.
I'd appreciate any input from those of you who have the h/t shifter as to what you like best. I'm not planning on getting floorboards.

I also have the floor board shifter but the rubber is still on my original shifter which takes up play. I found that in order to downshift, I haft to make a slight upshift with my heel to get the bike to downshift. Anyone wanna trade footpegs for floorboards? 1986 Aspencade