GEAR SHIFT PEDAL ASSEMBLY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a gear shift pedal assembly for a motorcycle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A standard motorcycle gear shift pedal assembly is typically a four part lever device, made up of a gear shift connecting member, a gear shift lever, a pair of gear shift pedals and a gearshift lever spring. The gearshift pedal assembly is mounted in a stock position and is used for manually shifting gears by using the foot to lift or lower the position of the gear shift lever so that the desired drive gears or the neutral position is engaged. The gear shift connecting member attaches to the engine cover through a gearshift spindle, and is designed to be lifted up and pushed down manually. The gearshift lever is the contact point for manual shifting with foot.
Conventional motorcycles are designed with such gearshift lever assembly, wherein the gearshift levers are actuated by heel and toe mechanism. The problem associated with the conventional construction is difficulty in reaching or difficulty in accessing the gear shift lever in case someone is sitting on the fuel tank in front of the rider. Smooth shifting of gears during sudden braking or slowing down the vehicle becomes cumbersome due to poor accessibility. Since gears have to be shifted frequently while riding, ideally the rider should be able to reach the shift

lever comfortably with his foot under all riding conditions, including conditions when there are multiple persons sitting ahead of the rider on the fuel tank. In such conditions the degree of freedom in the gear shift lever is poor. This leads to poor driveability. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a gear shift pedal assembly that is adjustable and easily accessible to the rider under all riding conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a gear shift pedal assembly for a motorcycle, wherein a linkage member having an elongated slot is attached to a gear shift lever assembly near the toe area. A foot engaging lever, extending laterally outwards from the motorcycle frame is mounted to the linkage member in the elongated slot and is capable of flexible movement along the elongated slot. Further, the foot engaging lever is positioned at a height from a front actuating lever of the gear shift lever assembly. The spacing between the foot engaging lever and the front actuating lever is automatically adjustable according to the foot or shoe size of the rider. Thus, the foot engaging lever helps in keeping the foot of the rider engaged to the front actuating lever throughout the period of riding, even when there are persons sitting ahead of the rider on the fuel tank and thereby ensures that there is no dislocation of the rider's foot from the gear shift pedal assembly. Thereby, accessibility of the rider to the gear shift pedal assembly is ensured under all riding conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 illustrates a left side view of a conventional motorcycle with a
gear shift pedal assembly.
Figure 2 illustrates a left side view of the gear shift pedal assembly in accordance to the present invention.
Figure 3 illustrates an exploded top view of the gear shift pedal assembly according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
An embodiment of a gear shift pedal assembly of a motorcycle... in ........
accordance to the present invention will be described hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings. Various features of the gear shift pedal assembly in accordance to the present invention will become discernible from the following description set out hereunder. It is further to be noted that terms "upper", "lower", "right", "left", "rearward", "forward", "downward" and like terms are used herein based on the illustrated state or in a standing state of a motorcycle with a driver riding thereon. Furthermore, a longitudinal axis refers to a front to rear axis relative to the vehicle, while a lateral axis refers to a side to side, or left to right axis relative to the vehicle.
Figure 1 illustrates a left side view of conventional motorcycle 10 in which a gear shift pedal assembly 100 is attached to an engine cover 11 on the left hand side of the motorcycle 10.

The motorcycle 10 includes a body frame 13 on which an engine 12 is mounted. A head pipe 14 is provided at a front end of the body frame 13. The head pipe 14 supports a steering shaft (not shown) rotatably in a certain range and a front fork 18 pivotally. In an upper portion of the head pipe 14, a handlebar 15 is rotatably integrally connected to the steering shaft. A front wheel 16 is journaled to a lower end of the front fork 18 and the front wheel 16 is rotated in a certain range by steering the handlebar 15.
In a front portion of the body frame 13 a fuel tank 19 is arranged immediately behind the handle bar 15 and is disposed over the engine unit 12. A seating seat is placed behind the fuel tank 19. The seating seat includes a front seat 20 and a rear seat 21. The front seat 20 is placed immediately behind the fuel tank 19, while the rear seat 21 is disposed in a slightly upper position behind the front seat 20.
An engine unit 12 is supported to the body frame 13 by being suspended in a front lower portion of the body frame 13. The engine unit 12 is equipped with an exhaust system and includes an exhaust pipe (not shown) connected to the engine 12 and a muffler (not shown) connected to the exhaust pipe. The muffler extends rearwards along the right side of the rear wheel 23.
Further, a swing arm 22 is swingably connected to a rear lower portion of the body frame 13 and the swing arm 22 extends rearwards. The rear wheel 23 is rotatably supported at a rear end of the swing arm 22. Power

from engine unit 12 suspended in a front lower portion of the body frame 13 is transmitted to the rear wheel 23 through a power drive mechanism, such as a drive chain, so as to drive and rotate the rear wheel 23. Furthermore, the front side of the head pipe 13 provided at the front end of the front frame 13 is covered with a front cowl 25. Both sides of a front portion of the vehicular body are covered with a synthetic resin made centre cowl 26. Rear view mirrors 27 are mounted on the right and left sides of an upper portion of the front cowl 25.
A rear fender 32 for covering the upper side of the rear wheel 23 is mounted to the rear portion of body frame 13 and a front fender 30 for covering the upper side of the front wheel 16 is mounted to the front fork 18. Most of the rear portion of the body frame 13 is covered with a rear cowl 39.
Figure 2 shows a side view of a gear shift pedal assembly 100. The said gear shift pedal assembly 100 includes a gearshift lever 101 mounted to a gear shift connecting member 104 having a bridge type structure, a front actuating lever 102 connected to the front lower portion 101b of the gear shift lever 101, a rear actuating lever 105 having a plate type structure, connected to the rear portion 101a of the gear shift lever 101, a linkage member 107 having an elongated slot 107a connected to a lower rear portion of the gear shift lever 101 and a foot engaging lever 108 mounted to the elongated slot 107a provided on the linkage member 107, wherein the gear shift lever 101, gear shift connecting member 104, a front

actuating lever 102 and the rear actuating lever 105 constitute the parts of a gear shift lever assembly.
The gear shift pedal assembly is constituted by connecting the linkage member 107 to the lower rear portion of the gear shift lever 101 and posterior to the front actuating lever 102. The gear shift pedal assembly also includes the foot engaging lever 108 mounted to the elongated slot 107a provided on the linkage member 107.
The gear shift connecting member 104 is pivoted to engine cover 11 for pivotal rotation of the gear shift lever 101 along the pivot axis. The gear system of the motorcycle 10 is actuated with the help of the front actuating lever 102 and the rear actuating lever 105 connected to the gear shift lever 101. The first gear gets actuated when the front actuating lever 102 of the gear shift lever 101 is pushed downwards in the moving direction of the vehicle and the higher gears from 2 to 5 get actuated when the gear shift lever 101 is lifted upwards. Thus, the rider's foot has to be in constant contact with the gear shift lever 101 during the entire duration of riding and any dislocation of the foot from the gear shift lever 101 or the front actuating lever 102 causes difficulty in smooth shifting of gears. Access to the gear shift lever 101 or the front actuating lever 102 is affected when there are a number of persons seated in front of the rider on the fuel tank. As a result of this kind of seating, the possibility of the rider's foot getting dislocated from the gear shift lever 101 or the front actuating lever 102 increases and access to the gear shift lever 101 decreases.

The gear shift pedal assembly as per the present invention aids in improving the rider's access to the gear shift lever assembly by preventing the dislocation of the rider's foot from either the gear shift lever 101 or the front actuating lever 102. The foot engaging lever 108 mounted to the elongated slot 107a of the linkage member 107 and adjustable to a height equivalent to the rider's foot size from the first actuating lever 102, keeps the rider's foot engaged in the gap between the first actuating lever 102 and the foot engaging lever 108.
Figure 3 provides an exploded top view of the gear shift pedal assembly 100, wherein the lower end 107c of the linkage member 107 is connected to the gear shift lever 101 through an arresting member 106 provided posterior to the front lower portion 101b of the gear shift lever 101 in order to hold the plate 107 to the gear shift lever assembly. Said linkage member 107 is provided with an elongated slot 107a for mounting the foot engaging lever 108, which extends laterally outwards from the motorcycle frame and is surrounded by a cushion member 109. The foot engaging lever 108 is connected to the elongated slot 107a with the help of a nut 20 and washer 30 which help to keep said lever positioned at an appropriate height from the front actuating lever 102, wherein the front actuating lever 102 is surrounded by a cushion member 103 and is mounted to the front lower portion 101 b of the gear shift lever 101.
The rider's foot is held in contact in the gap between the front actuating lever 102 and the foot engaging lever 108 by the foot engaging lever 108

as the size of the gap between the front actuating lever 102 and the foot engaging lever 108 is maintained equivalent to the foot size or shoe size of the rider. The gap between the two levers gets maintained automatically according to the foot size or shoe size of the rider because the foot engaging lever 108 is mounted to the elongated slot 107a on the plate 107 in such a way that the foot engaging lever 108 is capable of moving upwards from its original assembled position along the elongated slot 107a with respect to the foot of the rider. At the time of assembly the foot engaging lever is positioned at a distance of approximately 60mm from the front actuating lever 102 of the gear shift lever 101. Thus, the present embodiment of gear shift pedal assembly aids the rider to maintain contact with the gear shift lever under all riding conditions and thereby aids in smooth shifting of gears and also ensures the riding comfort of the rider.
While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes in form, connection, and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims:

We Claim:
1. A foot actuated gear shift pedal assembly for shifting gears of a
motorcycle transmission comprising:
a gear shift connecting member secured to a bottom portion of a motorcycle structure;
a gear shift lever linked to the gear shift connecting member for pivotal rotation along the pivot axis of the motorcycle;
a front actuating lever connected to the front lower portion of the gear shift lever, and extending laterally outwards from the gear shift lever, wherein the front actuating lever is a toe operated actuating member;
a rear actuating lever fixed to the rear portion of the gear shift lever, wherein the rear actuating lever is a heel operated actuating member;
a linkage member connected to the front lower portion of the gear shift lever and posterior to the front actuating lever, wherein the linkage member has an elongated slot;
a foot engaging lever mounted to the linkage member, wherein the foot engaging lever is attached to the linkage member in the elongated slot.

2. The foot actuated gear shift pedal assembly as in claim 1, wherein the linkage member is connected to the front lower portion of the gear shift lever and posterior to the front actuating member by means of an arresting member.
3. The foot actuated gear shift pedal assembly as in claim 1, wherein the foot engaging lever is a rod, a bar, a pipe or a shaft.
4. The foot actuated gear shift pedal assembly as in claim 1, wherein the foot engaging lever extends laterally outwards from a motorcycle frame and is surrounded by a cushion member.
5. The foot actuated gear shift pedal assembly as in claim 1, wherein the foot engaging lever is capable of relative motion along the elongated slot of the linkage member with respect to a foot of a rider.
6. The foot actuated gear shift pedal assembly as in claim 1, wherein the distance between the foot engaging lever and the front actuating lever is not less than 60mm and is automatically adjustable to a foot size or shoe size of the rider.