OK here's an oddball one - sifting gears, how many variations have you tried?

[oldGSfan]

Well I think the truckers take the cake.

[Rob S.]

"Five Gears In Reverse" - Elvis Costello (Get Happy)

[oldGSfan]

"Five Gears In Reverse" - Elvis Costello (Get Happy)

I led my son to the E.C. rabbit hole. He's hooked. Radio Soul tour coming, will be playing early stuff, can't go wrong there. He is looking at buying tix but the whole concert thing is just awful thanks to Ticketmaster etc. I saw EC at the Greek around '88 in LA, and in Baltimore in the 90s. So many years ago.

[Eli69]

The shift sequence on the old Oliver 70 tractors I drove as a kid on the farm.

[GregT]

The Hurst equipped 4 speed shifter connected to a Muncie M20 trans and big block Chevy was my favorite. I've done the typical 4 / 5 peeds in various pedestrian and commercial trucks over the years. The 1986 Ford Cargo 6000 truck I drove for work for a number of years had the most vague shifting and longest linkage I've experienced.

As GregT mentioned, the cable actuated hand clutch / hand shift like on my little scooter is fun.

Actually i didn't mention that one. I meant true British vintage. Left hand clutch, shift lever on RHS of the tank.

But the left hand twistgrip change was common on European scooters and mopeds when i was a teenager. Rode a lot of them.

One I've seen but not ridden is the racing Kreidler 50cc. Foot change 4 speed with an auxiliary 3 speed twistgrip hand change box also. 12 gears - and you'd probably never know which you're in. Being a peaky 2stroke you'd just go up or down to keep it in the power.

[Rob S.]

I led my son to the E.C. rabbit hole. He's hooked. Radio Soul tour coming, will be playing early stuff, can't go wrong there. He is looking at buying tix but the whole concert thing is just awful thanks to Ticketmaster etc. I saw EC at the Greek around '88 in LA, and in Baltimore in the 90s. So many years ago.

Saw him, met and briefly spoke to him and the band (they were lost in the SUNY Brockport Rathskeller) in early '78. Been hooked ever since.

Saw him in NY City in early '80's and the opening act was...Squeeze! Now that's a show.

[gustovh]

My 69 CJ has 12 speeds forward and 4 in reverse. Once rode a jamaguchi with a continuous around the world shifter just keep shifting down, when you reached 4th and shifted down again you got third then second, first, neutral, first, second and on and on round and round. Weird machine.

V

[rphillips]

Hey gustovh, wondering about the 69 CJ 12 spd. shift pattern. How many shifters or buttons did it have? sounds interesting.

[Grimly]

My 69 CJ has 12 speeds forward and 4 in reverse. Once rode a jamaguchi with a continuous around the world shifter just keep shifting down, when you reached 4th and shifted down again you got third then second, first, neutral, first, second and on and on round and round. Weird machine.

V

One of the Yamaha two-strokes was like that, when the factory left out a detent stop.
You'd go up into fifth, but an absent-minded upwards prod would dump it back into first and some brown pant time, along with the odd engine destroyed.

[Sandy]

The Hurst equipped 4 speed shifter connected to a Muncie M20 trans and big block Chevy was my favorite. I've done the typical 4 / 5 peeds in various pedestrian and commercial trucks over the years. The 1986 Ford Cargo 6000 truck I drove for work for a number of years had the most vague shifting and longest linkage I've experienced.

As GregT mentioned, the cable actuated hand clutch / hand shift like on my little scooter is fun.

Ah those days. My '64 409/425 hp with an M22 had the dreaded Muncie shifter that when slightly worn would lock 1st and 2nd gear at the same time. I'd have to crawl under to release the shift levers so the car would move. Ya, it got replaced with a Hurst and then life was good.

[rphillips]

OOhhh, the dreaded 4X5, very intimidating with 2 separate shift levers. Just seemed bad, after the first day, really rather simple.

[gustovh]

Hey gustovh, wondering about the 69 CJ 12 spd. shift pattern. How many shifters or buttons did it have? sounds interesting.

The old girl has 3 shifters, three speed tranny, all range overdrive, 6 speeds in high, low range shifter, 6 speeds low.

[rphillips]

OK, even more interesting than I'd thought.

[gustovh]

I never wanted for the right gear. Went up a trail that was so steep it dumped all the oil out of the air cleaner onto the firewall and when I looked out the door I was looking behind the front tire. That was fun.

V

[oldGSfan]

Saw him, met and briefly spoke to him and the band (they were lost in the SUNY Brockport Rathskeller) in early '78. Been hooked ever since.

Saw him in NY City in early '80's and the opening act was...Squeeze! Now that's a show.

OK I'm piling on this thread derailment. EC and Squeeze. Wow. Squeeze is awesome. I don't try to push stuff on my son but always play some stuff suggestively (ha!) in the background of the garage. He keyed in on Squeeze fast, thought it was the Beatles. Yeah they are derivative but so what, they are massively talented, great power pop and clever lyrics. What's not to like? Living in Greece in the early 80s was a great education in the current and recent past Euro music stuff. Growing up in Boston I got to experience WBCN glory days, a real pioneering station. Living out in LA (KMET, KLOS, KROQ). What a time. KLOS 95.5 would play 7 entire album sides each Sunday. When they rolled it, the DJ would slowly say "95. Point. Five. K.L.O.S" and drop the needle 2 seconds later. They knew everyone had their tape recorders on pause/record ready to go. I was too broke to buy an entire album for one good song. Kids these days don't know how much we suffered for our music!