Shifting

[FastBoy]

How many of you guys always shift clutchless and how many always use the clutch? Why?

[sdiver68]

Up = No Clutch
Down = Clutch

Saves time and mostly wear and fatigue on your left hand/wrist.  Done right, going up, it won't hurt the tranny.  Also, cause that's how Eddie Lawson taught me way back when.

[ceesthadees]

Up = No Clutch
Down = Clutch
 
On the up shift, no clutch is the only way I can do it without over revving and then lurching.

I do not have any technical facts to back this up, but I gotta believe down shifting without the clutch has to hurt something.

[FastBoy]

Sorry, I should've been more clear. I was referring to upshifting. I know everyone uses the clutch to downshift.

Two more questions though. Do you guys always blip when you down shift? Do any of you guys use a DiGi gear indicator?

[sdiver68]

One of the "known" pros, I forget which one, doesn't clutch on downshifts either.  I've read that he goes through a tranny per weekend...though I doubt that I'm also not going to test it on my bike :)

Yes, always blips on downshift, down one gear at a time.  Yes, that uses engine braking...oh well.

No on indicator.  Who cares what gear you are in?  Well, maybe some do, but after a solid half-day of practice you should know your shift points pretty well.  I.E. into Turn 1 downshift twice, upshift once, down once before the Carousel, etc....

[Decreasing_Dave]

I fan the clutch on upshifts.  I've used this method before on some street drags and it works well.  You don't have to let off of the throttle at all.  You just pre-load the shifter and grab a little lever 'til it shifts.

It worked off the grid at Firebird everytime. ;D ;D

[ceesthadees]

Hey sdiver, I think the pro you are refering to is Eric Bostrom. I think his actual quote was "I don't know if I use the clutch on the downshift" Which means, "I do not."

On the blip thing, I generally only blip if going down into second. Going into third and fourth, I get more consistent engine braking without blipping, I do have to shift fast however. When going into second, of course, you have to blip to keep the back behind the front.

[tcchin]

Regarding blipping on downshifts: Check out the video of Randy Mamola riding the 2003 R6 at http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcyam/03_R6_VidTeaser/mamola_160_orig.mpg. Note the complete absence of blipping and the fact that the RPM's only drop down to 6k between clutch re-engagement events. As I understand it, this technique is commonly used to control rear wheel traction/steering on corner entries, and is often incorrectly identified as rear brake application.

[sdiver68]

Can't access the vid, you must have a motorcycle online subscription?

I wonder how much of Randy's style was developed on 2 stroke bikes?  In any case, obviously he is wickedly faster than anyone on this board.

Is that style a good one to emulate?  Mayeb, maybe not, I'll be interested to see how many others say they don't blip.  I would point out that Tiger Woods pulls out a 9 iron from 180 yards, and Michael Jordan would dunk over 7 footers guarding the basket...but I wouldn't recommend you trying that unless you need to lay up or enjoy being rejected ;)

[ceesthadees]

That's a good point, sd. If somebody asked me how they should learn to down shift, I would probably say to blip it, blip it good.

When I was learning how to ride on a track, the instructor said if I was having problems braking and blipping, just skip the blipping and shift fast. I eventually got the hang of blipping, but just felt more comfortable of not blipping in the higher gears, especially when I discovered it helped me be more consistent (aka later) on my braking markers.

BTW: I weight 240lbs., I need all the braking I can get, front, rear, side, whatever!!

[rsmith]

Up = No Clutch

Throttle blip on downshift, one gear at a time.  

One thing to keep in your pocket, Jason Pridmore uses and talks about High RPM downshifts. No blip, just bang down gears at quicker intervals so the revs stay pretty high. After breaking my wrist this summer I had lots of trouble and pain trying to brake hard and blip the throttle. I started using his technique and it worked really well. It's probably the same as what ceesthadees is doing by shifting fast but I thought I would toss it out for everyone to read.  
:)

[tcchin]

With the recent allowance for electronic shifters in the AMA Pro Racing rules, I'd have to conclude that few of the pros are using the clutch on upshifts. In fact, this is evident if you watch their hands as they accelerate up a long straight, like Laguna's front straight. I am yet to see/hear any pro roadracers upshift by fanning the clutch lever.

Downshifting techniques, however, seem to be a little less consistent. Without a slipper clutch, banging a clutchless downshift on a four stroke would make controlling rear wheel speed fairly difficult, so disengaging the clutch during downshifts is nearly universal. Blipping beforehand, however, seems to have become passee. The current trend within the pro ranks is to brake, disengage the clutch while holding on some throttle to match the engine speed to the new gear, then smoothly modulate the re-engagement of the clutch so the chassis doesn't become unsettled. Variations of this range from modulating the clutch more aggressively to induce rear wheel sliding/steering, to delaying the clutch re-engagement until the throttle is opened.

While I am certainly not a professional racer (or even an expert one!), I do commute daily on a motorcycle, and riding in adverse conditions such as rain can shed considerable light on one's technique. Over time, I have found that I can downshift more smoothly and control my rear wheel speed more accurately by using the aforementioned 'trendy' method, whereas blipping the throttle, especially while hard on the brakes, can inadvertently impart some pitching moments on the chassis which would be particularly undesirable if the bike is the least bit out of shape.