Imperial Rocker Clutch

So, I've had a hard time deciding on what type of pegs / clutch to run on the long bike... I know I wanted to run high mids and a rocker clutch, but unfortunately that combination didn’t function good enough since I felt a bit too much like Rufus Thomas stepping my foot around beneath the Linkerts and their fuel filters.

The transmission is set up with a rotary top jockey shift and I don’t want to run a suicide type clutch on it due to the nature of the motor. Since the rear section of the frame is stretched about an 1” I figured the pegs needs to be positioned as far back as possible, just like your Meatloaf records when your smug record collector friends come visit – as far back as possible.

The rocker clutch is the most reliable clutch I know, they are fun to ride and they look cool, so I really wanted to run one but there was just no way I could have that big tall mount hanging from the front of the frame and move my foot beneath the carbs back and forth every time I need to shift, don't get me wrong, I really like The Funky Chicken, I just don't want to feel like one when I'm riding a motorcycle.

So I locked myself in a room and stared at an Imperial primary cover for six hours drinking gluewine.

The idea of a mid mounted rocker clutch is good because you won’t need to run any peg and bad because it will push the clutch arm BACKWARDS and not pull it forwards like necessary, so it turned out kinda complicated to make things work.

And since this a chopper it wouldn’t look right with that big spring hanging from the pedal like the original rocker clutch set-up, so I figured I had to hide the spring INSIDE the primary cover.

I did cardboard templates of the original rocker clutch to figure out the original geometry and guess what – it did NOT fit inside the primary cover, not even close. So to make the geometry of the spring/pedal work like it’s supposed to (swing over it’s own axle and lock up) it needs a new ratio and fortunately there’s just enough room to do that.

The primary cover will have an internal linkage with a new ratio and I hate math and I never went to high school and right now I kinda regret that but this post is already too long and I want to go drink gluewine. Next time we'll play hide the spring - stay fumed.