I just bought an 06 gs500f at the local dealership and this is my first bike and I am really trying to perfect my riding skills. The hardest thing for me right now seems to be downshifting. Right now I am disengaging the clutch and holding this and popping down through the gears without giving it throttle. If I am not coming to a complete stop I will disengage the clutch and hold it and say if it is in the 25-30 mph range I will pop down to 4th gear and then gradually release the clutch while giving it some throttle. Is this hard on the engine and if it is can someone tell me how they downshift their gs500f.
No what you're doing isn't hard on the engine, but there is a little wear on the clutch, nothing serious though. The better way to do it is to pull in the clutch, give it a little throttle to bring the RPM up to what it will be in the next lower gear, then downshift and let out the clutch. It just takes a little practice, to perfect. You know that you're doing it right when you can do it quickly and if you release the clutch quickly the RPM dosen't change and the bike dosen't jerk.
Have fun and side safe. :cheers:
P.S. Don't focus entirely on the tach/engine and how you'r shifting. It's when you're not paying attenting to the road that a car will cut you off.
4th gear seems really high for 25-30mph to me. I'm comfortably in 2nd or low in 3rd at those speeds. Other than that your description of your shifting technique sounds pretty much like mine. Of course there are people who will say you should engage each gear and use engine breaking on your way down, but that doesn't work well for me in my high traffic stop and go commute.
As ducati-nolan says the trick is to match the revs/gear to the road speed. Eventually you'll be able to do it by sound and feel.
Hope this helps.
-James
Thanks. I've been reading some things about bliiping but it seems like this would be tough to do when approaching a full stop and trying to go through all the gears and still stop in time. My question with this is that when you are slowing at approximately what speed or rpm would you first start dropping down in gears while trying to blip. Also, if using the clutch in throttle and then shift down method through all the gears at what speed should you first downshift to 5th or so in order to begin the downshift. The manual recommends 6th to 5th at 25mph but when you are upshifting the speed zone for 5th is 31-37 so wouldn't it be better to downshift in this zone?
thanks arcsecond. I guess the more I ride the better it will get. The manual and what other people say often contradict each other and it can get confusing.
I guess I haven't read my manual well enough. I don't remember those numbers at all. From what I've gathered from this board and other sources you always want to be in a gear that matches your road speed so it you have to take off again for some sort of emergency you can just spin the throttle up to speed and re-engage the clutch fast without having to worry about shifting up or down rapidly.
My general rule is: When my bike starts to sound like it's struggling, I upshift. When it starts to sound like it's idling, I downshift. After a bit of riding like that you get to know what road speed goes with what gear. Honestly I hardly look at the tach or speedo at all anymore.
-James
When coming to a stop you don't need to let the clutch out in each gear (may people do, myself included) in fact for a begining rider it can be too distracting. The idea, though, is that you are in the correct gear so that you can accelerate at a good clip if you need to, or the light turns green. I think you should downshift a little sooner though, so the engine will be in it's powerband (4-8k) if you were to let out the clutch and start accelerating.
My earlier post was more for only slowing down a little, or downshifting to accelerate or go up a hill, I misunderstood your first post.
you'll get the hang of it with experience :cheers:
Yeah I guess I need to stop looking at the speedomter when downshifting because now when I upshift I am fine. I just listen to my engine on the way up but I wish I knew how to engine brake so I could learn the sound on the way down. Using the method that I use to downshift there is no way to tell by noise only by the speedometer so I know when the road speed and the gear will then match. At what speeds roughly do you begin to downshift through the gears if you have a general idea.
ducati nolan, thanks. Alright because I thought that maybe I was doing the engine harm by not releasing the clutch on each gear. I guess as long as the road speed isn't too much for that gear then it should be fine. Do you know of any video or anything that can demonstrate the downshifting method using the blipping of the throttle?
Welcome, beams027! :cheers:
Roadstergal gives a good explanation of blipping here:
Blipping (http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=22824.0)
I still suck at blipping and downshifting, but I understand it a little better now.... :laugh:
Riding on the street there's not really much need to 'blip' the throttle in the racing sense of the word, this is more of a racetrack technique to stop you locking up the back wheel when ,at high revs, you downshift for a corner. Riding on the street its unlikely you'll be trying to downshift while the bike is at or near redline (at least its better for your insruance premiums and drivers license if u dont do it too much!). Of course, if you get into the twisties and start playing, it might come in, but I didnt get the impression that was the intent of your question.
Practice letting out the clutch slowly after you have downshifted and bringing up the revs of the engine as you do that. Dont blip, just gradually increase the revs. With practice you will be able to match clutch and throttle and get a nice smooth transition whether going up or down the gear box. You'll also learn how much throttle is enough for your particular bike in a almost any siituation. The closer you get to first gear the tougher the matching becomes and 2nd to first needs to be done with a lot of finesse. Also, the higher the revs when you downshift the more care is needed. As for traffic lights, when i learned to ride I was taught to assess the situation - if the light just went red then most likely you're going to be coming to a complete stop so there isnt really any need to let the clutch out after each downshift. On the other hand, if you think the light might change you might want the bike in gear to be able to pull smoothly away and impress all the cagers with your excellent riding skills! Personally, my goal when riding is to be as smooth as possible. Nothing irks me more than watching someone pull up to a traffic light on their bike and almost come to a stop and then wobble forward 10 feet lurching from one foot to the other as they try to stop. Anyway, enough aimless chit chat from me, I am sure others have theories on the best way to ride and you'll end up taking what you feel is the best from everyone else's techniques and develoiping your own riding style. Congrats on the new bike - enjoy her!
Of course, when u get more comfortable on the bike, its quite possible to shift both up and down without the clutch at all, but thats another story.
I was going to say: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=20335.msg189984#msg189984
and: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=15696.msg138061
But, generally, you have feel yourself slowing down as you slowly release the clutch. Be smooth. Practice. Add throttle as needed. And, practice some more.
I know I'm being too aggressive downshifting through the gears when that grease-ball Cheng Shin rear tire momentarily locks up and the GS does a little hip-shimmy movement. If this doesn't happen and I don't cause the revs to jump all over the place, I guess I'm doing ok.
Really, as long as I end up in first gear at the stop sign, light, etc, then I think it's fine. Some days when I don't feel like playing around I just clutch in and use the brakes only and focus on the road around me.
This is somewhat related to shifting. I have noticed a few times that when I am shifting up from 5th to 6th there seems to be a "phantom neutral" on my bike. I let out the clutch to accellerate and there is no shift of power. The engine will rev like it's in neutral but there is no power to the rear wheel. Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know what it is? When it happens I just clutch, pull up into 6th again and it engages.
do a search for "LLT" or "lazy left toe", you'll find all you need. Basically, you're not kicking the shifter hard enough.
Shift like you mean it, if you understand me, and it won't happen. I got bad about hitting neutral on the street between 1st and 2nd; nothing like having no power to the ground while accelerating away from a stop light you were turning at.
Yeah, I've had that 1st to 2nd but hit neutral thing happen too. Nothing makes you feel cooler than pulling smoothly away from a red light and then WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!! And you are coasting at about 10km/h. It's true though, I have been getting lazy with my upshifts. I'll try to give it a bit more gusto and see if the problem goes away.
i actually like to coast alot. try getting down to 3rd gear and then shift down through and past second into neutral. don't let out in second. very good for mileage and sneaking around town.