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

[Flux Maven]

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.

My best friend has never rode a bike and probably never will (at least not mine). I tried to teach him to drive my manual car and he was concentrating on shifting so much that he manage to put us in the ditch! I would hate to let him crash my new bike. If he ever has the desire to ride a bike I will convince my dad to rebuild his old yamaha gt80.

[Dr.McNinja]

I only drive 5 speeds, and motorcycles just make sense. The move from 5-speed -> motorcycle is easier than motorcycle -> 5 speed.

The principle of operation is the same, but the principle of operation from walking -> running is also the same though the actual implementation is entirely different.

Unless you drive a top-end F1 car, your car probably has a synchronous manual transmission. This transmission affords you the ability to select any gear at any time. Learning on this requires vastly more concentration than on a motorcycle, and gives you plenty more opportunities to permanently damage your car (or someone else's). You have to know more about your gearing in that particular car to know which gear to be in at any time. Also, as a novice, it's fairly easy to shift into the wrong gear (ex - on an American car it's easy to try to shift into 5th, miss it, and ram your shift lever into 3rd by accident). I did it a few times while I was learning to ride a 5 speed and took the car from Highway speed to Grandma in 5 seconds flat (4th in the power-band to 3rd). On top of this you have to deal with a dry clutch. Far less forgiving.

On the other side you have motorcycles. Most of them (save Ducatis and one-offs) have wet clutches, which are more forgiving when it comes to poor shifts. The gearbox in a motorcycle is sequential, so it's nearly impossible to overshift because one click up or down is all you can do without moving your foot again to reset the lever. You still need to track your gears but less attention can be paid to them as a novice and you'll do fine. You can still damage your bike by mis-shifting up or down but the example I gave of a shifting mistake above would be near impossible without intentionally doing it.


Point in case:

Motorcycles have gearboxes that make sense and are typically more forgiving.

Cars have gearboxes that make sense until you miss a gear and destroy your transmission/lug your car to 0.


I'd recommend not trying to adapt anything from a motorcycle to a car and learning from scratch. The habits you learn on a motorcycle are most likely based around a wet clutch so all the cool clutch-control techniques you learn to keep your bike alive at low speeds will burn out your clutch on a car VERY quick.

[Cal Price]

Here (UK) the vast majority of cars are manual. Obviously the principle is the same as on the bike but the technique is a bit different. The biggest differences are hill starts (but that can be mastered in about ten minutes.) and very slow progress, walking pace stuff, on a bike you are slipping the clutch deliberately which is not usually required on four wheels.
We also have the rule that if you pass your test in an auto you can only drive an auto, pass in a manual and drive either.

I don't think there are any devils lurking, anyone can drive a manual and I much prefer the feeling of being in total control.

[JSchaefer]

I just sold my 97 formula firebird ws6 which had a 6-speed, it was my first car and I had never driven a stick before i went to test drive it before i bought it, but i knew how to drive one, and i didnt make any mistakes lol. Lots of grand turismo as a teenager will do that i guess  . But now that its gone Im looking for a cheaper car for bad weather and a gs for every other possible driving condition  Once again i know how to operate the shifter/clutch/etc on a bike but have not yet ridden, but Im not worried about it. knowing is half the battle 

[BaltimoreGS]

Dumb question: In a right hand drive car, are the peddles in the same order as a left hand drive?  (Left to right- clutch, brake, gas)  I'm sure shifting with my left hand while steering with my right would throw me off.

-Jessie

[slipperymongoose]

Sure is the same. Yeah I reckon shifting with my right hand would throw me, steering with either hand doesn't worry me.

[missk8t]

Dumb question: In a right hand drive car, are the peddles in the same order as a left hand drive?  (Left to right- clutch, brake, gas)  I'm sure shifting with my left hand while steering with my right would throw me off.

-Jessie

I had the luxury of driving a manual dodge viper in Canada a few months ago. It took me less then 5 minutes to get used to where the stick was. Took me 15 mins before I got used to the power. It was freaking awesome!!!

[mister]

We have left hand drive vehicles at work. Takes a few minutes to get used to driving on the left with a left hand drive vehicle Without wondering over to the right.

Michael

[BaltimoreGS]

Never thought about it before but I guess your delivery drivers are tan on their right arm   

-Jessie

[gtscott]

yes drivers tan is on the right arm over here, i get it when driving from sydney to lismore and back

[Twism86]

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.

Same situation for me. I will NEVER own a manual car as long as I can help it. Its just far too boring.

[mister]

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.

Same situation for me. I will NEVER own a manual car as long as I can help it. Its just far too boring.

A manual car is more boring than an Auto? Did you mistype what you actually wanted to say or you really think manuals are boring?

Michael

[slipperymongoose]

Yeah what drugs legal or not are you on?

[Shaddow]

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.

Same situation for me. I will NEVER own a manual car as long as I can help it. Its just far too boring.

SAY WHAT?

[bombadillo]

Learned to drive a stick at 13 or 14 when my bro-in-law threw me in the drivers seat on a hill and said, here's what to do.....


I knew at that point how to drive a stick from there on.  Its really not that hard, and becoming a bit of a lost art.

[crzydood17]

Man hill starts are easy, the way I taught my Fiance is to hold the brake and pull out the clutch till you feel it pull, then let off the brake and give it some gas.. no problems

I don't even use that anymore, I'm fast enough with the clutch to be pulling it out while I'm letting off the brake and moving to the gas before I ever roll back.

[Phil B]

I drove a manual tranmission car for quite a few years. Learning to ride the gs500 was easy, as soon as I got over the "shift with your FOOT, not your hand" thing. almost zero stalls.

it can be more fun than automatic. However, for those people who think it gives you "more control/performance" blah blah, here's a little true story.

(please skip if you dont like driving simulators )

For those who dont know, "gran turismo" is the undisputed king of car racing simulation. It runs on a PS3 these days. You can buy cockpit replic steering wheels and shifter stuffs (with foot pedals)

The maker has had this competition, where they let people compete head to head, online, and then eventually lets the winner become a REAL racecar driver. (not merely go once around a racetrack, but actually get a spot on a professional racing team!)
They call it "gran turismo academy"

http://us.gran-turismo.com/us/academy/2011/

How it works in the first round is, they put the tracks online, and then let people record best lap times. You get real time rankings. After a month or so, the best 16 times or so, move on to the next round. Thousands of people compete in this. The longer a track has been online, the tigher the times get.
Predictably, the top spots are usually manua transmission.
*BUT* !

I was off work for a few days, and tried my hand at it. With an automatic transmission.
Turns out, I once was able to best the #1 driver's recorded lap, over the 1st mile. (and stay pretty close to it most of the other runs).
It was really more about learning the track, and millisecond response times, than anything magical about having a manual transmission.

If I had all the free time that these young hooligans had to learn the track, I'd probably have gotten competition ranked.
(as it was, I "only" managed near the top 1000 though. sigh)

[simon79]

...Automatic transmission? What's that?

Actually I must be one of the very few people in this forum who never drove an auto - learnt to drive on a stick (as do 99,9% of people here) in '97.
I'd be quite curious about driving one at least once, though.

Many swear after autos and say 'once you try you'll never go back', I for myself considered to get an auto when buying a new car but higher selling price put me off - and besides, here it's nearly impossible to spec a small Diesel/LPG/CNG-powered hatchback (which is what I was looking for) with an auto tranny.

Taking off on a hill - yes, for a beginner stick driver it can surely be challenging. But once you learn to play with clutch, gas, and handbrake it becomes second nature. Even for a dumb@ss like me. 
It may seem strange but I personally find a bit harder to coordinate my rear brake foot and clutch hand when taking off on a hill on my bike.

[Phil B]

Technically, if you're GOOD at it, you can start from hill without handbrake. But it takes skills akin to doing rabbit starts from a race starting line. and I hear it's bad for the clutch if you do itmore than occasionally

[BaltimoreGS]

I would love an automatic when I'm stuck in Baltimore rush hour traffic...

-Jessie