gear changes

[JamieK]

as im still a newbie im still learning

but ive been reading all these riding skills bits and bobs about gear changes and they say to blip the throttle when changing down otherwise you risk locking the rear up and if im honest its happened a few times on me so i need to find a way around it..

but when changing down should you change down release the clucth then blip or down the gear change..

can anyone explain it? or show me a post if someone has already asked this sort of question??

thanks

[mealexme]

as im still a newbie im still learning

but ive been reading all these riding skills bits and bobs about gear changes and they say to blip the throttle when changing down otherwise you risk locking the rear up and if im honest its happened a few times on me so i need to find a way around it..

but when changing down should you change down release the clucth then blip or down the gear change..

can anyone explain it? or show me a post if someone has already asked this sort of question??

thanks

 

just got this from another forum...

Maybe it's because I'm used to driving cars with stick, but I've never had any problems using a clutch on the motorcycle.

As JErry stated, the problem with down shifting is that as you release the clutch back the (almost idle) engine will try to rotate your backtire at a speed slower than it's rotating at because of road contact. This difference can be large enough to lock the rear tire and cause it to skid with all following problems.

What I do is give the engine gas as I "slowly" release the clutch, revving it up so the difference with the wheel isn't so big. Doing it slowly will cause the bike to brake on the engine while the reartire goes to the speed the engine dictates.

An important note is that when the difference in speed is MUCH TOO large, it's very difficult to clutch it correctly. I've learnt what gears correspond best to varying speeds, so I know that at 40km/h I need a high rev in 2nd gear or an easy one in 3rd, and I clutch and rev accordingly.

I myself always use the clutch smoothly, though as I understand there are many on this forum who don't clutch in certain situations, or simply dump it....

Hope it at least clears up what the points of note are with shifting.

[Guest]

iv just started bliping the throttle when changing down. you do get a smoother change but for me its taking a lot of getting used to. i can change down the gears without blipping the throttle its how you let the clutch out. if you stamp on the gear lever and release the clutch then yes sometimes you willl fell the wheel lock/slide out a little but if your easy with the clutch you should be fine.

[OhJay]

It's to do with the difference in speed between the engine and the wheel. If you dump the clutch then suddenly the two have to be rotating at the same speed and they're both going to have to give something to get there so at that moment the wheel will be moving at a different speed to the road going under it, if that makes sense? As it sorts itself out the road and the wheel will pull the engine up so they're all happy again.

If you use the throttle to get the engine up to the right revs before letting the clutch out then the difference will be that much smaller and it will be much smoother. Or you can let the clutch out gently to get the engine revs picking up before there's enough drag to affect the wheel.

Look up heel-and-toe to see the same principle in a car but they have throttle and brake on the same foot so have to start tap dancing in order to blip the throttle to get the same effect.