Speed-E-Shiftin'!

Until I went to visit Kurt Morrow at Ventura Motorworks, I'd never even seen a Speed-E-Shift except in pictures, let alone watched one in use.

This is Kim on his Panhead, originally built and owned by his dad back in the day, complete with a (now super-rare) Speed-E-Shift. Designed to allow the rider to disengage and engage the clutch and shift gears in one motion and with one pedal, it was an amazing sight to see Kim stomp on the shifter, accelerate like a drag racer, then skid to a halt at (and sometimes beyond!) the Stop sign at the end of Kurt's street.

Kim is an ex-fireman, and looks a regular non-biker kind of guy, but he rides this Pan like a demon.

If I was a better photographer you'd get some sense of the speed Kim was travelling at... but his face tells the tale I hope.

That's Kurt in the background. I think he's seen this all before!

Ventura Motorworks is a great shop – and Kurt a great bloke – and both will be the subject of a GKM feature soon.