"FS1E was 1 up 3 down so was 1 n 2 3 4 , i had 2 of em lol "       Knew there was something strange about 'em                                                                                                                                                                              

i had a Fizzie and a Honda MT5 i dont remember the gear being upsidedown on my fizzie 1 down 3 up im sure !                                                                                                                                                                              

my fs1-e where m reg and n reg, both purple and both 4  speed boxes and both 1 up and 3 down                                                                                                                                                                             

AH .. thats what it was then Duns ........ You had the purple ones                                                                                                                                                                              

haha could be m8. i know there here older ones and later ones. first ones where called ss , ive heard tell of some with 5 speed box , ive seen em with 50, ss and fs1 on side plate . the FS1-E said that on the side plate rest are not true fs1e and maybe some imports (the E stood for England) . ive alos seen em where the choke was directly on the carb not on the handlebars like mine was                                                                                                                                                                             

Dunno about that Duns .. I had the Honda SS50 meself. Never have, did or will like 2 strokes. And to honest I cant remember how the gear change was on that .. must be an age thing  .. possibly ...... not that I woud ever admit it                                                                                                                                                                             

  ...I cant remember how the gear change was on that .. must be an age thing  ..   or it could be alcohol related, going by the photo on your profile Tony lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Shhoryy carntt think whht you shayinggg Kwak                                                                                                                                                                              

See you been busy there Tony.                                                                                                                                                                             

You have to appreciate that was not all at once you know !! It took a good few months.                                                                                                                                                                              

Left hand shift was standardised in 75, but it was only adopted as a "standard" by manufacturers after the sale of new road-bikes with right hand was forbidden in the States.   To this day the "standard" for race-bikes is one up the rest down.                                                                                                                                                                             

Oops and in answer to the header, it's the only sensible place to put it, at the bottom of the box it would-be very easy to select neutral when "on the move", in-between 1st and 2nd requires a deliberate act.                                                                                                                                                                             

You can always move the neutral position if you don't like it. A few of my mates have quads and we've redesigned a couple of them so neutral is at the bottom - with the help of a local engineering firm who moved the slot according to our drawings. I'll post a pic if anyone's interested in doing the same. The only problem I've found is remembering you've moved it once you start riding!

cant see the point of having neutral before 1ts unless it has reverse. welcome to the nut house vmgirl :)                                                                                                                                                                              

my fs1-e where m reg and n reg, both purple and both 4  speed boxes and both 1 up and 3 down

Ah you had the modern ones .......... the original ones were orange, like mine was .

Poor greasy tony ....... did all the other 16 year olds take the piss out of your Honda? We only had one lad who knocked about with us who had one, we said it was cos he was special. Mind you we did have two lads who had a Fantic and a garelli which where the fastest ones, only they kept seizing