are there any adverse effects, short or long term?

Short term effects...nothing that you will notice
Long term effects, you will start to notice the shift lever feeling sloppy when you switch gears...
you can damange the teeth of the gears, as well as round some of the edges...

Strangely enough Ducati's are made for clutchless shifting  but it takes some practice.  I've tried it a few times but it  just doesn't feel right.  Besides your left hand will get jealous being the only extremity with nothing to do  :x  :x

I find that my left hand, well left middle finger, is the most active extremity that I have.

My brother shifts with out the clutch on his 04 GSXR 600,  To me that just isnt right?  I havent tried it, but to me id be afraid it would screw something up.  I know on race bikes and cars even (drag cars) they are set up to shift with out clutch.  But for an everyday bike im not sure.

it's very easy to do...
just accerlerate...roll off and just as you feel it begins to slow down and lose power...shift up and and roll on throttle

Just make sure you don't accidentially shift into reverse.

Quote from: DomJust make sure you don't accidentially shift into reverse.

yep...you don't wanna go there...

I clutchless shift my nissan pick-up all the time.  not hard to do.  I've done the GS several times on accident and a couple of times on purpose.  I'm not a big fan of it on the GS.  I just don't like the way it feels.  I usually just barely pull the clutch in when shifting and then let back off right away and that feels much better to me.

ok, clutchless shifting isnt tricky, it isnt an enigma, it isnt distructive if done right, Big Rig drivers only use the clutch to start off, come to a stop, and backup and some of them have 15 speeds.  up shifting is easy, get rolling normaly, when ready to shift, put some uppressure on shifter for next gear, as you close the throttle ( as you normaly do to shift) bring up the shifter to next gear then roll the throttle on, i normaly dont go from 1-2 clutchless as i might have to stop shortly after starting, once past 2nd, im clutchless all the way up,  down shifting is alittle trickyer as you have to goose the throttle to take the slack out of the driveline, down shift while the engine is on the uprev.  ive never had an issue and can downshift all the way to 1st smoothly and never once lurch the rear wheel.
you can shift cars clutchless aswell. its alittle more rpm/speed sensitive but just as easy.

point is, it can be done, it can be done without damage, and should only be done if YOUR comfortable with it.

Yeah.. I actually broke my clutch lever once on a long ride and had to ride home w/o using the clutch.. Starting and stopping were problems.. I could usually find a parking lot to circle in until the light turned green though...

It works ok as long as you're taking it easy. If I was going pretty slow, shifting around 4-5k, no problems, no grinding. As soon as you pick up the pace and start trying to shift through gears it's way harder and sounds like you aren't doing the tranny any favors... I definitely just use my clutch all the time and save the extra worry for something else.

trey

I rarely use my clutch. Especially when riding hard the clutchless shifts are actually smoother and faster. The trick is to put pressure on the shift lever before you do it and to barely ease off the throttle just as you shift. You do this to take the tension off the chain and drive components. Same as you would have to do shifting a bicycle (anyone ever try shifting gears while climbing a hill with lots of pressure on the pedals?).

There are no synchros in the transmission so unlike a car there is no potential for damage done clutchless shifting.

When just cruising around taking it easy, use the clutch.  When you're getting on it, don't.  Trust me, when done right it's very easy on the engine/trans AND most importantly the clutch.

I stand corrected....
If you know how to do it then its safe for your bike

I just know when I tried it....ugh it didnt sound to good.

Tried it today cruising around the Malibu canyons.  I was amazed at how smooth it was.  I naturally ease off the throttle when upshifting so I did everything the same except pull the clutch lever.

Then, later, forgot about it and went back to using the old left hand.  I think it did get lonely and have feelings of uselessness.  umm, maybe for several reasons....   :lol:

http://www.vf750fd.com/blurbs/shifting.html