I Am Fondling Rob's Knob!

["Greg Koenig" <gregk@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I looked at it
I touched it
I felt it's shape
I fell in love with Rob's Knob

Ben is out here on some business, and he was good enough to be willing to
install the ERK for a number of people this afternoon.  I dropped by the ERK
Fest to see my friend Ben, and there it was.  I thought it looked a lot
cooler then it does in the pictures on Ben's site.  I picked it up and was
initially amazed at this thing's weight! If your like me and have a fetish
for CNC'd metal, then you will love the Rob Knob.  It has a very substantial
feel in your hand, the quality and materials are second to none.
Well, after begging, whimpering and bribing Ben, he sold me Rob's Knob. 
First thing I did was strike a deal with Jim Basset to borrow his shift boot
(since I had a one piece illuminated BMW knob on my car).  Jim came through
and I installed the R.K.
Now, understand, my car has only an M Roadster lever in it with a modified
selector rod (I installed the lever before Ben came up with the proper
method of bending the levers).  Though the shifting throw is minimal, there
is significant binding, and each gear is engaged with a significant "crunch"
feeling (if you have ever used a lower quality short shift kit, you know the
"crunch" I am talking about that comes from linkage rod binding, not a the
horrible crunch that comes when the actual gears are coming together
improperly!).  The Rob Knob has substantially decreased the sensation of
binding, and it has also made me into a much smoother shifter.
Your probably wondering how a silly shift knob (with a semi-perverted name
at that!) could smooth out shifts and get rid of binding.
First off, the binding is still there, but the substantial weight of the Rob
Knob on the top of the mechanical lever helps to dampen the effect of this
binding through the hand.  This weight also gives the knob a purposeful
feeling.  Jiggle the knob in neutral and there is a substantial feeling
there.  Each shift is positive and the effort is just right.  Not so light
that your hand smacks the OBC, not so heavy that repeated shifting causes
fatigue.  The shifter feels perfect.
As far as the Rob Knob bringing forth more smooth shifting, well, that has
to do with the shape.  As you may have scene on the Digest a couple of weeks
ago, the topic of proper shifting technique was discussed.  The basic
principle is that one should treat the shifter like a raw egg.  If your
shifter was an egg, you wouldn't grab it hard or slam it into gear, you
would get egg on your hand (read Bob Bondurant's books, he will use the same
analogy).  Most people use the factory knob which has a sort of pistol grip
shape to it (as do many after market shift knobs, like the Momo Shadow
knobs) and this shape encourages "Grip and Rip" shifting.  This is exactly
what we want to avoid, otherwise, why get a short shift kit?  The round
shape of the RK feels good in the hand, and promotes holding the knob
properly.  This combined with the weight I discussed above promotes smooth
and purposeful shifts.
Just as Ben's discovery of the M Roadster lever, the bending and the ERK
brought praise, the Rob Knob brings short shift fans the final step
necessary to bring forth perfect shifts.  I would bet everything that an M3
with Red Line tranny fluid, a full BL/SS kit and the Rob Knob would be voted
the very best shifting manual transmission car in the world, without a
doubt!  All in all, the Rob Knob is the best shift knob out there, bar none!


Greg Koenig
'94 Dinanstein 3
Rob Knobed!

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