down shifting

Ok, I need some other opinions. I just took the experienced riders course offered by MSF. I asked the instructors about the best method to down shift through multiple gears. A lot of what I have read and seen in riding videos promote engine breaking rather then shifting down through multiple gears at once. The instructor’s response to me was that shifting through multiple gears at once is fine as long as you match engine speed with road speed. I do understand that by not matching engine speed with road speed you can cause excessive wear on the transmission. I ride a 2002 VFR with a hydraulic clutch. Does it really make a difference, either way you have to match engine speed with road speed? :wink:

 

It may cause some wear on the tranny, but more so, it could cause the rear tire to lockup, or hop, and cause loss of control.

It helps the gears engage (move on the shafts) if you let the clutch out at least a little in each gear while matching the rpm.

You can downshift as fast as you can tap dance on the shifter. Not that it's really needed on the street, the fastest I've downshifted on a spirited ride is nowhere near what is needed on the track.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I guess it's better safe than sorry..

 

Not trying to be a troll here, but why do you need to downshift multiple gears at once on the street? I am no expert, but I am rarely in such a hurry on the street that I need to shift from 5th to 2nd to set up for a corner.

 

I guess it depends if you are slowing down for a traffic light and know you'll be at a dead stop soon or are coming up on an evil turn in the twisties that you are slowing for. I often don't blip and downshift through each gear for a light, but do when I'm riding on a twisty road.

 

Right, I often will downshift several gears before a corner, but like you said I'll "blip through the gears" matching the engine speed with each gear change. On the other hand, I have never felt the need to charge into a corner in, say, 5th gear and grab clutch and slam the shifter down all at once to, say, 2nd gear to power through the corner. I do it one gear at a time, matching engine speed with each gear change. Is my riding style unusual in that regard or do others do it like I do?

 

I try to keep the engine in it's operating range at all times. You never know when you'll need to "gas it" to get out of the way of some idiot yacking on a cell phone and not paying attention to the red light you're coming up to. I rarely, if ever, hold the clutch in while tapping, tapping, tapping away on the shifter. The trans shifts better when the clutch is released between each gear.

 

Eddie:

My left wrist/grip my be weaker than yours, for no apparent reason. :wink: Hence, my lazy downshifts. You are correct that blip-shift through each gear every time is safer.

 

Another reason I clutch every time is to keep my left wrist/grip as strong as my right. For some reason I have amazing strength in my right hand???:madgrin:

 

HAHA! im tellin ur wife!

but yeah i do believe it is important to match your engine and road speed. the tranny wear is very long term and unless u plan on keeping the bike a while you should not worry about it. but as you downshift let out the clutch in each gear and watch your RPMs. if you feel the bike lurch or the back wheel acts up just pull back in the clutch.

HAPPY RIDIN! by the way how much was that course u took?

 

:wink: Or just buy a slipper clutch for $900.00 & install it

p.s. canyon or track, you may come up to a fast right or left turn & would have to brake, blip the throttle & down shift fast from 5th to 2nd quickly to make the turn, as well as keep your RPM's up to accelerate out of the turn:madgrin: .

Now if you have a slipper :tongue:

 

I had to read your post twice to be sure you actually said that. That's one of the reasons buying a used bike is a crapshoot, previous owners that beat their bikes (knowingly or not) and then get rid of them. Usually telling the new owners that it was always maintained and never abused. Nice.

 

This is exactly what I mean. Judging from the responses I guess downshifting through each gear is the best approach.

 

The ERC1 class was free for me since I'm an Alumni of the University that was hosting the class. But I think the cost was between $100-$150. There is an ERC2 that is a little more.

 

There's been a couple times on the twisties where dropping a couple gears was a good idea as I was braking pretty hard with a steep uphill right afterward. Also coming to a stop at a fast yellow light necessitates it.

I had a shaft drive bike for a while. If you didn't match revs to gear/road speed just right, that tire would bark every time. Imagine doing something like that on wet roads!

 

I am with Mello Dude. I never skip a gear downshifting on the street. I don't ride like Nicky Hayden.

 

well what u say is nothing but the truth! my ktm was "new" when i bought from 2nd owner! rode nice when i tested it then 1st ride everything seemed to be breaking!!! i was pissed! but thats what happens when u buy used! :biggrin: but with a few (15) man hours the bike was as good as new!!!

 

When slowing down, I often downshift 1 gear at a time to take advantage of engine braking. Often I don't need the brakes at all except after slowing to not much more than a walking speed. When I downshift like that, I engage the clutch quickly after each shift, but blip the throttle before doing so to match the engine speed to the bike speed for the selected gear; that results in a smooth shift. Some guys do that with the brakes applied by using only 2 fingers on the brake lever and using the rest of the hand to blip the throttle. I can't do that very well, but I can use 4 fingers on the brake lever and use the palm of my hand to blip the throttle.

When using engine braking to slow down without using the brakes, obviously the brake lights don't work; that could cause a problem if a car is following closely. One solution is to use the foot brake lightly to operate the brake lights.

When stopping, it will do no harm to downshift multiple times without engaging the clutch, provided that the downshifting is not done at high speeds. For example, if you often downshift to 1st gear at 40 mph, it would not cause immediately obvious damage, but it could cause avoidable wear to the shifting dogs. When stopping without using engine braking, wear can be reduced by doing the downshifting at the lowest reasonable speeds.

I sometimes have the problem of loosing track of what gear I am in. A gear indicator would be helpful.