I have a foot clutch,many call suicide shift,bikers that have them,call that a jockey shift.
The reason for it is the clutch plate on early Harley's didn't disinguage far enough,and you had clutch creep at a light.so a mouse trap was installed to extend the throw with the limited travel of a clutch handle.
Then they made a mousetrap eliminater,that was a shortened clutch shaft.but that took one hell of a grip to pull in the clutch.
Then came ram jet retainer,to hold back the clutch basket,to cure the dragging clutch,but still hard to pull in the clutch.
So then folks put in a clutch pedal with a dog chain to the clutch arm to be able to disinguage the clutch.
Could have bought a heal toe clutch rocker,but hard to find and expensive.
The open primary and belt drive came about due to mostly the tin inner covers cracked at the bolt holes in the front case,and you couldn't tighten up the shift handle on a ratchet top with the inner primary in the way.
So there ya have it,broke ass bikers starting a trend.