Proper shifting

[drduimstra]

Hey guys this is my first time riding. I bought my 04F fixed it up with a help of a couple of friends. Its been fixed for a few weeks now so I have been riding it since then so I was just wondering how to properly shift from gear to gear?

[007brendan]

Have you ever driven a car with a manual transmission?  It's basically the same except you clutch with your hand and shift with your foot.  You can watch some videos on youtube, but you should probably have someone show you.  It's much easier to demonstrate it that try to explain it.  Or even better, take the MSF course; they teach you how to shift.

[DoD#i]

Shift up somewhere between 3500 and 10000 rpm. There's a lot of leeway there, and you can pick your points on the economy/performance curve. Rarely bother to look at the tach - it's easy to shift by ear if not pushing it to the absolute limit.

Shift down somewhere between 6000 and 2000 rpm. If coming to a stop, just haul in the clutch and downshift all the way to first while still rolling. Trying to downshift while stopped is prone to jamming - doing it while rolling works much better.

The racers have some fiddly no clutch methods of shifting - if you don't have a race van full of tools and transmissions, using the clutch is probably better

Basic process - let out clutch while applying throttle to get moving in first. Roll off throttle and pull in clutch, toe up to shift up, release clutch smoothly while rolling on throttle smoothly, repeat. Downshifting, same but stomp down. Avoid neutral except when parking - get in the habit of firmly stomping all the way to first, and you won't find yourself stuck in neutral at a light while some yahoo behind you is running the red light (and you over) as you try to jam it into first so you can get out of the way.

[drduimstra]

Thanks guys!! Time to go ride

[tt_four]

Does your bike still have the centerstand? You might do best to learn with it on the stand. Don't do this to your bike often, people say it's not good for it, but for safety, you might do better to try it that way first. That way you can get the feel for doing it and not have to worry about locking up the rear wheel, shifting too low and bogging out, or whatever else. Otherwise yeah, just get some speed, pull in the clutch, lift the shifter sharply with your foot, give it a little gas and let the clutch back out. Same for down shifting, but let the clutch out slower as downshifts are never as smooth until you get good at it.

[drduimstra]

I wish I still the center stand but when I got the bike it didn't come wit one

[romulux]

Taking a safety course will drastically reduce your chances of dying.

If a friend taught you how to ride, your risks of crashing increase.

Totally up to you of course; just posting in case you just hadn't considered a safety class.  Have to want it for yourself.


not to be preachy...



_{...also, road rash isn't so cool.  Spend a couple hundred on any decent riding gear and wear it.}

[drduimstra]

I will be taking the class this weekend

[tt_four]

Taking a safety course will drastically reduce your chances of not dying.

If a friend taught you how to ride, your risks of crashing increase.

Haha, this is true. I learned to ride by my dad taking me up to my uncles camp when I was 17, putting me on his giant '83 xt550 dual sport, and said "Let this lever out and give it gas with this one", I spent the weekend crashing in the woods. Had I started with the MSF course I could've made it through riding for years without crashing. I took the course a couple months later though and definitely learned a ton.

[Jlittle]

Guilty of clutchless shifting 80% of the time unless im downshifting to slow down. =P

[ohgood]

Have you ever driven a car with a manual transmission?  It's basically the same except you clutch with your hand and shift with your foot.  You can watch some videos on youtube, but you should probably have someone show you.  It's much easier to demonstrate it that try to explain it.  Or even better, take the MSF course; they teach you how to shift.

+1 on the msf

take it with your buddies, you'll all be safer for it.

welcome new rider

[Elijafir]

Shift up somewhere between 3500 and 10000 rpm. There's a lot of leeway there, and you can pick your points on the economy/performance curve. Rarely bother to look at the tach - it's easy to shift by ear if not pushing it to the absolute limit.

Shift down somewhere between 6000 and 2000 rpm. If coming to a stop, just haul in the clutch and downshift all the way to first while still rolling. Trying to downshift while stopped is prone to jamming - doing it while rolling works much better.

Just wanted to say.. I wont shift into a higher gear anything under 5000 rpm.  It's OKAY to be cruising at 3000rpm but already feels a little boggy. Shifting at 3500rpm would put your rpms too low IMO.  So, I shift anywhere between 5,000 - 10,000 rpm.  I try to keep my rpms between 3500 and 4500 for around town cruising.    Also, I don't recommend DOWNSHIFTING (into a lower gear) anything above 4,000 rpm.  This GREATLY increases your chance of locking up the rear wheel and going into a slide.  I generally don't down shift until about 3,000rpm.  I do agree that downshifting while rolling is important to keep from "jamming up" and being stuck in 3rd or 4th gear at stop.

[Jlittle]

Ive downshifted above 5k rpms alot to let the engine brake me like i do in my car and have not had any problems with the tires locking up.

[Elijafir]

I'm not saying it's not possible to do, I have as well.  I was saying that it makes it a lot more likely for the tire to lock up.. there is a lot of factors involved.. The condition of your tire.  The condition of the road.  If you are applying and rear brake while downshifting.  How quickly you let out the clutch..  I would think that if you have a good sticky tire, on a nice dry road, using just engine braking, and easing off the clutch, you could probably down shift at 7 or 8k.. just not a good habit IMO.

[romulux]

I just put a new rear tire on to match my front (they're both ContiGo!).

I was accustomed to downshifting at higher RPMs on my old worn out Sport Demons.

The new tire would "chirp" loudly when I would downshift at too high an rpm, which I thought was funny.

I've adjusted my behavior to downshift at much lower revs so I don't "chirp" it anymore.

[tt_four]

I think as far as the GS goes, no matter what RPM you're at you should be alright as long as you don't just let go of the clutch all at once. If you actually open your hand at any normal speed you'll feel the back wheel catching, and it shouldn't have enough force to lock it up. Obviously shifting up doesn't have that issue.

I think I usually upshift when I get to about 4.5k, and probably shift down around 2.5k, roughly. The only time I really go over 5k is if I pull out onto a road and need to accelerate up to the speed of traffic, or if I'm on the highway for a couple minutes and need to go over 60mph. Shifting is pretty easy at those speeds. I'd probably ride at higher RPMs normally, but that V&H exhaust gets so ridiculously loud, that my 5k probably sounds louder than 10k on a stock exhaust.

[kman]

+1 for the safety course

If you stall the motor and drop the bike learning you will scape up someone else's bike and not you new baby

Also you can downshift whenever you need some more acceleration as long as you won't go over 11 after the downshift.  If you are at 6000 on the highway in 6th and you need to make a pass or something don't hesitate to get into the gear you need.  As far as locking up the rear, you need to get back on the gas before you let the clutch out to 'rev match'.  Whenever you downshift the engine will want to go to a new rpm so if the engine is close to that rpm from the throttle, it will go into gear much more easily and smoothly than if you just close the throttle.  As long as you go easy letting out the clutch it should help keep everything smooth.  As you get the feel for the friction point you will be able to find it more easily and your confidence will grow which smooths everything out a lot also

[Iroquois]

Plenty of decent "How to shift" videos on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwDzuz8cWhQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojB2ABWJp0A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6IjR-eSYeY