At present, the common shift knobs on the market include leather, wooden, metal, and plastic, in addition to long, short, and other different shapes. For car enthusiasts, what form should the shift knob in manual transmission use?
The shift knob is simply a hand-matched shift ball mounted on the gearbox shift mechanism. But it is a shift medium that comes into direct contact with the driver. Handball shapes are generally spherical or ergonomic shapes suitable for palm manipulation. For example, the one near the front is more pointed, and the back is thicker in shape.
Myth 1: Handball can provide the feeling of shifting gears and ensure that the feeling is clear.
The shifting feeling and whether the shifting is smooth or not are mainly determined by the gear shifting mechanism of the gearbox, followed by the heavy and thick feeling brought by the counterweight in the handball.
Myth 2: It is better to install a wooden and metal handball yourself.
1. Because the handball is too light or too heavy, the return performance is not good when the shift is not in place, resulting in shifting errors.
2. Due to the deviation of the center of gravity of the handball, the stagnation state of the handball in the neutral position is not good.
How to Choose a Reliable Shifting Handball?
1. The length of the handball we want to choose should be moderate, not too long or too short, resulting in a bad sense of coordination.
2. The weight and center of gravity of the handball we choose should be similar to the original handball.
3. The pull-off force of the handball we choose is better than 300N.
4. It doesn’t matter whether the handball is smooth or rough, the key is that the person holding the handball does not feel uncomfortable and can manipulate the handball normally.
5. The strength of the handball should be high enough and durable.
According to Our Experience
Sequential gearboxes used in racing cars generally use long-rod shift knobs, and ordinary gearboxes use spherical ones that feel best.
If you feel that the spherical shape is not personal, you can choose a hemispherical shape where the top touches the hand, and the lower part is narrowed for easy grip. We can see what most supercars choose.
Finally, generally speaking, we all have fire or flame retardant requirements for interior parts, and wooden handballs are often not our best choice.
If you insist on adding a wooden handball, it still depends on its fire performance and strength.