Gear shifting on a motorcycle vs. shifting a manual car.

[XealotX]

I've been looking to buy a new car for the better part of six months but can not find the model I want with a manual transmission. No manual=no sale. You're about as likely to find a Sasquatch on a dealer lot as to find a car with a stick shift.
As far as I can tell, the best vehicle theft deterrent system is a manual transmission.

I was relating this to a friend recently. He said that he would never buy a manual transmission vehicle because he does not know how to drive one...yet he rides a motorcycle. 

Is this normal? I realize the two processes aren't identical but the theory of operation is pretty much the same.

[dohabee]

I would say it is not normal. I learned to ride a dirt bike when I was a young kid and the first time I drove a manual transmission truck it took about 5 minutes to figure it out.

[PachmanP]

Seems a little odd. I learned to ride a motorcycle after I learned to drive a stick, and the general principles carried over.

I suspect your friend could probably pick it up in a parking lot without much trouble. I guess hill starts are a little less disconcerting on a bike, but that'd be about it.

[slipperymongoose]

I was exactly the same I was sick of autos. After I bought my manual I hot my Gs. Must say everything is mostly the same principals of operation.

[Shaddow]

This might sound dumb but people have trouble taking their hand of the wheel and working out where to move the gear stick too. At least on a bike all hands and feet are roughly in the right spot and its just up or down. Not forward and across, back and across, all the way across etc. Watch auto drivers and quite often they look down at the selector before they change it.

Me I love a manual car. I stuck a five speed in my project car. Have converted more than one previous vehicle to manual (autos being cheaper to buy with the parts to change them, go figure) and plan to get a 6 speed for the 260Z when I can afford one.

[crzydood17]

i think the only thing that transfers over from car to bike is the clutch, everything else is reversed almost, brakes are all feet gas is foot, gears are sequential instead of H pattern and so on. But that's also a good thing because being able to feel a clutch is 90% of driving a manual.

[mister]

I learned to drive on an auto. And I think That is wise as it is one less thing for a learner to have to figure out. Six months after I had my license I got myself a manual, taught myself how to change gears, etc.,  and have had them ever since.

In the state I came from, a license was a license. But the state I am in now, if you do the test on an auto you are not allowed to drive a manual.

It's funny, cause years and years ago, if you wanted a car it was manual as standard. Now it's auto as standard and good luck finding a manual.

As for changing gears etc. I could ride a m'bike but had never driven a manual car. And even though I could get the foot movements right, smoothness was to come later. Like crzy said, operating a manual smoothly is about being able to Feel the clutch.

Michael

[adidasguy]

Don't like car manual stick. Way too hard to stop then start up again going up a hill. On a bike, you can keep your foot on the rear brake to keep from rolling backwards. On a car - foot on gas, foot on clutch = no ability to keep the brakes on.
The up/down of bike shifting is so much easier than wiggling around some dumb stick to try to get it into gear.
No gear grinding on a bike. Funny to watch movies with people driving a POS truck always grinding gears.
You can feel a clutch better with a hand than a foot in a shoe. Feet are not as sensitive as fingers (except for those with no arms who have had to learn to use their feet for everything.)

Bikes are sooooooo much easier.

Have a 2001 Honda CRV (in that typical dark green they call came in). People know when I'm having a bad day: raining so hard I had to use the car. I go into bike withdrawal really easy. I ride nearly every day, except when I have to use the car (like going to Costco, carrying motorcycle frames from office to home or a very heavy rain.)

That's my opinion.

[missk8t]

Don't like car manual stick. Way too hard to stop then start up again going up a hill. On a bike, you can keep your foot on the rear brake to keep from rolling backwards. On a car - foot on gas, foot on clutch = no ability to keep the brakes on.

The principles of a hill start are that you put the handbrake on, allowing you to take your foot off the brake and over the accelerator. When you want to head off have your hand slowly releasing the handbrake and whola.... you're off. Easy as once you've done a few

The up/down of bike shifting is so much easier than wiggling around some dumb stick to try to get it into gear.
No gear grinding on a bike. Funny to watch movies with people driving a POS truck always grinding gears.
You can feel a clutch better with a hand than a foot in a shoe. Feet are not as sensitive as fingers (except for those with no arms who have had to learn to use their feet for everything.)

Personally the gear stick is no problems when you've worked it out. If you get a good manual vehicle it usually just slips into the next gear. Grinding gears means the clutch kit probably needs replacing. Sounds like it's worn, or the driver is a POS driver.

[adidasguy]

The principles of a hill start are that you put the handbrake on, allowing you to take your foot off the brake and over the accelerator. When you want to head off have your hand slowly releasing the handbrake and whola.... you're off. Easy as once you've done a few

Way too difficult for this old blond.
Hand brake? Do they still have those? Thought they were foot brakes on the far left with a single handle that releases it. So I take hands off the wheel to play with a hand brake and shift while doing other things with the feet? 

I'm in Seattle - not the other side of the state with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, so I ain't radiated and not gots three of dem feets things to make it work.  So we gots a make-it-go pedal, stop pedal, grind gears pedal and a hand-brake pedal?

There's a reason god invented automatic transmissions for cars.    I ain't got them country smarts for them there sticky shifty thing-a-ma-bobs.

(PS: I can walk and chew gum, though I don't like gum.)

[missk8t]

Ah well, sometimes you just can't teach an old dog new tricks no matter how hard you try 

[slipperymongoose]

Hands up all the truck drivers out there who can drive a dog box? Ie roadranger.

[Shaddow]

Hands up all the truck drivers out there who can drive a dog box? Ie roadranger.

I will half raise my hand. Been quite a while since I drove one so not sure I could comfortably say I could drive it well.

And adidasguy, did no one ever seriously explain a handbrake to you? Or heel and toe? Or even just grabbing the friction point so the car is carrying the weight on the clutch (not good for long life of clutch) and then switching from brake to gas?

I love the feel of a manual for driving. Just the control through the corners makes it worth it. I do however quite like modern autos that have engine braking abilities, for hills or off gas application. Have not driven enough cars with sport shifting autos to make a statement on them.

I just saw the new vette is coming with a 7 speed. I wonder if that will bolt up behind my engine in my car......

[slipperymongoose]

Apparently zf have made a 9 speed auto tranny.

[mister]

I'll put up my hand to a roadranger.

@addy: modern clutches in cars have a synchromesh, the roadranger clutch in a truck does not. So when you change gears you go...

Clutch in
Put into neutral
Clutch out briefly
Clutch back in
put into gear
clutch out

You do that sequence in each gear. To down shift you...

clutch in
put into neutral
clutch out
give burst on accelerator and come off
clutch back in
put into lower gear
clutch out

And when you are advanced, you only use the clutch for starts. The rest of the time you get lazy and just do the motions without the clutch and it works. If you get it wrong, then, like in the movies, the gears go a crunching.

Lke Shadow said, on a hill you can...

Use a handbrake or
balance the car with gravity wanting to pull the car back down the hill and clutch plate friction to make the car go up the hill or
Keep you foot on the brake and when you want to go you go from brake to accelerator and depress while releasing the clutch - the car goes back a small bit but otherwise quite doable.

Even if you don't own a manual it pays to know how to drive one. You just never know when someone's life might depend on your ability to operate the vehicle and if a manual is all that's available...

Michael

[slipperymongoose]

The bloke I got my truck licence through wouldn't let me go clutchless but I was skipping two gears at a time. My downchanges are still a little rough from time to time.

[mister]

The bloke I got my truck licence through wouldn't let me go clutchless but I was skipping two gears at a time. My downchanges are still a little rough from time to time.

Two gears up, like when going down a grade, sure thing. Two gears down is much trickier cause of the speed differential - doable but trickier. And usually not really needed. Quite possible to roll up to lights in the lowest gear of the top box, or near top gear of the bottom box and just before stopping and stalling, clutch in and neutral, then go into whatever gear you want (1st?) while stopped. As long as the truck is still moving it generally will not stall.

Michael

[slipperymongoose]

Yeah that's one thing that surprised me didn't stall I rolled up to lights in 6th, mind you 9 speed box

[yamahonkawazuki]

I've been looking to buy a new car for the better part of six months but can not find the model I want with a manual transmission. No manual=no sale. You're about as likely to find a Sasquatch on a dealer lot as to find a car with a stick shift.
As far as I can tell, the best vehicle theft deterrent system is a manual transmission.

I was relating this to a friend recently. He said that he would never buy a manual transmission vehicle because he does not know how to drive one...yet he rides a motorcycle. 

Is this normal? I realize the two processes aren't identical but the theory of operation is pretty much the same.

seen this before and i chuckle. same situation. i tell htem you have a dirtbike wiht a clutch, a throttle and a gear selsctor. same process. you can learn in about 5 minutes in a gravel parking lot. you made a mistake, you sling rocks. youire doing good 1 if youre moving, and hadnt slung 1 rock

[lucky4034]

Ive always owned a manual car... and I found it really helped when learning to ride my motorcycle.  I've owned my motorcycle about 4 months (1st time owner) and I can probably count the number of times I've stalled it on one hand. 

My best friend has never driven a manual car, and teaching him to ride my bike is a pain in the ass.  (especially considering he is a very fast learner and a bright guy)   Its just a concept that he has never had to give a second thought about...especially while his main concern is trying to make sure he doesn't fall over.