People have different sized feet!

By that, I don't mean that they have a size 3 on one leg and a size 12 on the other!

( I bet someone emails me to say that is exactly what they have! ).

Fairly obviously, most parts the human anatomy differ in size from one person to another and feet is one of them ( or should that be two? ).

Anyway, mine tend to towards the large end of the size spectrum and the original lever I had was the wide one you see in the top picture. This made for some interesting, if imprecise, gearchanging as I found it difficult to get my booted toes under the lever.

Cornering with the toes stuck under there was also a pain, usually in the littlest toe!

Then, salvation in the form of a spare engine, arrived. This had the narrow alternative lever you see in the other picture.

Oh joy! Oh rapture! The ease of gearchanges becomes a thing of wonder as I deftly switch toes from above to below and back again.

Now, precisely the opposite effect is also possible for those of you with more dainty plates, or perhaps for the fair sex, by using the wider lever on the earlier bikes. Certainly the effort of changing gear is spread over a wider area.

However Honda, in their infinite but sometimes difficult to understand wisdom, have decreed that the wide lever is the default. This changed, along with most of the rest of the bike, in '78. Part number 24701-371-305

The narrow lever was fitted from '75 - '77. You can still find it new, but you really have to hunt. Part number 24701-371-000 or -010

I guess I should explain 'plates'.

Cockney rhyming slang 'plates of meat ' = feet