So the little plastic'y top portion of my OEM shift knob (where the shift pattern is etched), is starting to wiggle itself loose. I decided to get myself an aftermarket one, rather than buying a "new" used one, or ordering another from Mazda.

After reading a lot of the positive reviews about it (mostly from "msf".com), I decided on the James Barone Racing "Heavy Shift Knob".

I was wondering if anybody here has ever personally used this SK, and if so, what did you think of it? It seems that everybody who had purchased one on the MSF forum raved about it, but it's always nice to hear from somebody local. According to the specs listed on the JBarone website, it weighs more than double the OEM SK. (?)

Anyway... if any of you have actually tried this product, I'm interested to see what you thought of it. If it's as good as I'm hoping it will be, I may also pick up the JBarone Short Shift Plate. We'll see.

Oh yeah... Am I the only one that pronounces that as "jabroni", a la The Rock from WWF? Haha...

Been looking into shift knobs myself, so curious to hear what you think. I have a mazdaspeed shifter I'm throwing in my MZ3 to reduce throw. Now sure I can run the shift plate in combination or not, but would be intereted in hearing about that as well.

I heard good things about it. Also about the short-shift plate.

I have the short shift plate and knob from Jamie. I haven't had any problems installing or using it. The only thing I will mention is that the knob is all metal and tends to be hot in summer and cold in winter. The stock knob being covered in leather, tends to be more comfortable in temperature extremes.

Well... My ADD kicked in, and I just decided to go ahead and order the SS plate anyway... The SK is still on its way, but Jamie was nice enough to honor the "combo" price for both parts, and save me $10 bucks. I emailed him and told him that I just ordered the knob, and long-story-short, he gave me the thumbs up to put in a second order on the SS plate, and still get the discount.

I guess now I'll have a couple of reviews forthcoming. I'm actually going to give the install on the shift plate a go, myself. I don't have a stock airbox to get in the way, so this one actually looks doable. We shall see!

The Heavy Shift Knob and Short Shift Plate are installed and they are awesome. The change in the shift-throw is pretty remarkable. I actually got the HSK put on about a week before the SSP, and just by itself, the knob provides a very noticable advantage to gear changes. Just the heft of the thing, is a nice touch when looking for a more positive feeling up/down shift. Now that the SSP is on and the two pieces are working together, the whole demeanor of driving the car is changed. Up and down shifts happen at fraction of what they used to, and sporty driving almost has to be re-learned, so you're not sleeping on your clutch engagement. Two very good pieces, for the inner go-kart racer in all of us!

On a related note, a huge A+ endorsement for Scotty over at Mo-Fab in Centennial. He saw me on a weekend, and hooked up the SSP install for me. His rate was reasonable, the job was tightly done, and we talked shop while he worked. His eye is so good under the hood, that he actually spotted a problem I was having, just as I was starting to notice the symptoms and almost dismissing them as an afterthought! A silly loose hose with a missing clamp on my intercooler hot-pipe, causing me about a 6 psi leak (say sayith' my CobbAP). He fixed that for me, and said that if if continues to come loose, that he'll measure me for a new section of tubing. For now though, I'm checking it daily, and it's a much tighter seal. If you're in the greater DTC/Parker area, check out Mo-Fab!

so are cable linkage manual trans cars not affected adversly by a heavy shift knob?
just wondering as this is taboo to those with a directly connected shifter-trans. RX*, BMW, 350Z,etc.

sorry, but i have no experience with cable actuated transmissions

Yeah, I'm not sure about that one, Pat. (?)