How to shift...

[AkBigN]

I have been riding for about 2 months now and am still learning things here and there. I went to down to Barnes+Noble and was reading a sport bike riding techniques book. The book says to not use the clutch when shifting at high RPM's. This sounded crazy to me but I went out an tried it. Turns out it works great. I'm sure this is common knowledge to a lot of you but it was new to me and a few other "seasoned" riders that I let know about it.

[loudnlow7484]

True, true. Most people I know only shift clutchless when they're racing. But I almost never use the clutch when I upshift. It just seems to shift smoother without it. I actually forgot to clutch during downshifting a couple times and it did that fine, too, although I never do it on purpose. Just blipped the gas and snicked it down. But it seems unnatural if I think about it.

But yeah, shifting clutchless is great for racing. When I used to use the clutch, sometimes the front end would pop up going into 2nd if I was hard on it. Clutchless, though, it never does.... it just goesssss.

[Jonsblckhwk]

ive heard of this on a car that had some bad clutch probs but will this cause any damage to the clutch assembly?

[MinnGreenGT]

A Car's transmission differs greatly from the gearbox on a bike. Although rare in street cars - many race cars utilize simliar sequential boxes (you shift in a linear fashion, just as your bike uses nearly all "up" shifts). These trannies are also typically used without the clutch with the exception of starting from stop and some downshifting methods.

Also notice that you don't have to "rev match" your sequential shifts as you would if shifting a standard car's tranny without the clutch (the engine has to be spinning at the correct speed for the gear you are trying to select).

There's some good info on the differences here: http://www.answers.com/topic/manual-transmission

[AkBigN]

I would still use the clutch from 1st to 2nd. I think its because it has to go through nuetral and isn't quite as smooth. I down shift without the clutch when my rpm's are below 3k. Anybody else do this?

[irenekat]

next time you go to B&N try reading Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist series books. good info

[Derrikd]

when you say high RPM's how are high we talking about with a kat?

[Teh_K]

I dunno, I just get this eerie feeling about not pulling the clutch in when shifting. Seems like it would grind stuff or something... I might try it out sometime.

[rotary13b]

1 to 2nd use the clutch. Ane time after that u can up shift even at low RPM[4000] , u just hav to learn how to load the gear box , let of the throttle and they go in.

[The CyberPoet]

I've been riding for over 20 years now, and although I know how to do clutchless shifts seemlessly, I don't use them except if the clutch gives out. Why? Because the difference in shift-times on the road isn't that important (I shift quite fast even with the clutch action), and I have yet to encounter a transmission gear issue (bent shift fork, etc). If you put me on a drag strip, the answer will change. Until then, I'll stick to unloading the transmission input spline for the sake of mechanical longevity.

FOR NEW RIDERS - KNOW THIS:
unlike a car's transmission, which rewards slow shifts normally (giving the planetary gears time to work), a motorcycle wants a very quick, clean snap from gear to gear... moving the shifter slowly can result in gears dancing over each other and resultant mechanical damages (esp. if it's a common occurance).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[Badkitty]

when i first started riding last year...i would sometimes just feel lazy about shifting so i would shift slowly...well several times i guess i missed the gear all together because i would be in a sort of nuetral and i wasnt going from first to second either and hitting neutral. This would be like 2nd-3rd and 3rd-4th but never after that. What sucks is too , is that once that happens and u try to shift and to get it back in, it is so loud that it sounds like its breaking, but a year later no probs with tranny so alls good.

So listen to Cyber, your kat loves it hard and fast

[SweetLou]

I have always used the clutch on the Kat. God was good enough to give me one to use, by God I'm gona use it!

[jp1]

I clutch up 1-2, usually non-clutch up the rest, always clutch down though.

[JDS]

I usually use clutch, but if I'm accelerating hard sometimes I'll go non-clutch from 2nd and up.

[AkBigN]

The book was saying at high RPM's it causes LESS wear when you don't use the clutch. I figure "high RPM" is around 7k and up. For those of you that haven't tried it give it a shot. It doesn't make sense at first but I'm glad I learned it.