About us

Shift To Badass

I’ve been a serious motorcycle enthusiast since I was in first grade and a Harley rider for more than 30 years. To be honest with you, I became bored with my bike. I love riding, but getting from one place to the next was feeling a little automatic. I was out with some riding buddies one night when I wondered out loud, “I think I’m going to go home tonight and build a jockey shift for my Springer.” I rode home and went out to my welding shop. By early morning, the first Widow Maker Jockey Shift was born.

I never intended to turn my personal project into a business, but my new shifter started getting a lot of attention. After seeing my setup outside a famous watering hole in Cave Creek, Arizona, a group of some of the top bike builders in the business said to me, “We’ve never seen anything like that before. If you don’t do something with that, we will.”

So I did. Two weeks later I formed an LLC and got to work. I made countless prototypes and finally perfected the design. Over the next year, I developed shifters for all the Harley models from 1996 and newer. Each shifter has a simple design that is easy to install and nearly impossible to break. I believe it enhances your connection with your bike and gives you that feeling for the road that Harley Davidson originally intended.

Our Widow Maker Jockey Shifts aren’t for everyone, but neither are Harleys. Our kits are for experienced riders only who have been looking for a product they can install to make their bikes truly unique. While it wasn’t my original intention, there is another group of riders that has benefitted tremendously from our shifters: Riders with disabilities.

Hundreds of riders who are left leg amputees, or have lost the use of it their left leg or foot, have used our shifters to get back in the wind. After speaking with countless grateful customers, I couldn’t be more proud of this unforeseen benefit. As a small way of saying thanks, we extend a 10-percent discount to all Veterans. We also offer a 10% discount to Harley Dealerships, custom bike builders and repair shops.

Know what else makes me proud? Riders swear by our shifters. They love the look, the feel and that every shifter has been and always will be 100-percent American made. Of course, every Widow Maker shifter also comes with a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee. For up to 60 days, if for any reason you don’t like our shifter, simply contact us and send it back for a full refund. If we don’t offer a kit for your bike, keep checking back – we are in the process of updating kits to be compatible with Harley’s newer models. We’ve also finally found a new chrome plating company, so we’ll be offering plating options to the site in the near future.

When you’re ready to grab a handful and shift to bad ass, please place an order at handshifter.com, or call us at 480-243-1782. Or, if you have any questions, speak to our inventor and tech consultant, Chip at 602-509-4776.