0-Speed Limit in 1st... Now What?

  • Thread starter PawnBoy
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PawnBoy

PawnBoy

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PawnGuy
So I don't know about you, but when I'm out on the back roads and have to come to a stop for a stop sign, traffic light, or other reason I like to blast off back to cruising speed in the lowest gear available to me. But the one thing that's been nagging at me ever since I've had a bike that can hit most back road speed limits in 1st gear is that now I'm travelling +80km/h and would suddenly like to be cruising in 6th. I guess this question could also apply to any vehicle with a manual sequential tranny, but what's the most graceful way to quickly shift through my remaining 4 to 5 gears? Right now I just quickly shift through each of them, taking my time to pull in and let out the clutch for each shift, but it's not particularly smooth.

Any tips? Anyone do anything different? Anyone know what I'm talking about?
 
I didn't use the clutch for going up in gears when I was on the power band. It's the best way through the gears. Don't do it on the way down though, it's likely to damage the gears.
 
shem
I didn't use the clutch for going up in gears when I was on the power band. It's the best way through the gears. Don't do it on the way down though, it's likely to damage the gears.
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Well, my point is that I'm already done accelerating, but still in 1st or 2nd, and want to quickly get into 6th. So I'm not on the power any more, just enough to keep going the speed I'm at.
 
You could just hold the clutch and shift through each gear, then let out the clutch. No sense in clutching for each gear.
 
Keef
You could just hold the clutch and shift through each gear, then let out the clutch. No sense in clutching for each gear.
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Maybe I will, I've done it a few times, I just didn't know if it was bad for the dogs on each gear if you never let the clutch back out, but now that I think of it, that's often how I downshift when coasting or to a stop...
 
Keef
You could just hold the clutch and shift through each gear, then let out the clutch. No sense in clutching for each gear.
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QFT.

I would scream off in 1st, then clutch, slam up to 3rd or 4th, release clutch with a bit of rev-matching thrown in, and there you go. Can do the same coming down.

Gotta watch you don't slam down on the gears coming down too fast though. I will never forget blowing my tranny dropping from 5th to 2nd because I wanted to scream past my buddy's Ford Cortina while racing him back from watching the races one day - needed to only drop a gear but went too far!:ouch:

Well . . . you know what happens when one is travelling back home from the races . . .:guilty:
 
Nothing wrong with kicking up or down through the gears while holding the clutch. While going down, though, don't let the clutch out if you're sill too fast for the gear. Unless you've got a race-style slipper clutch.

Bike trannies aren't like cars, where the synchronizers have to engage smoothly, and skipping gears engages a synchro that's not spinning fast enough. The non-synchro dog engagement doean't care if you've actually used the adjacent gear or not.

OTOH, there's nothing worng with a more relaxed acceleration at part throttle, shifting well short of redline, using all the gears, and keeping the front wheel on the ground. :)

Just buzzing around town I'll shift my FJR at 3500, maybe 4000 RPM (9K redline, EFI cutoff at 10,500,) and stay in 3rd or 4th if I don't have the speed for a higher gear. No law says the RPMs have to stay above 8000!

It really isn't any fun to me to blast away in 1st and not be able to continue up the gearbox. Relax and shift shorter, move out less rashly. Nobody will think less of you for it, and quite a few will think more.
 
I've been holding the clutch for the last few weeks, works well if you've got to go through 4 gears. If I've only got 2 to go I'll still shift individually. And most of the time I do shift well short of the redline, it's only at certain "middle of nowhere" stop signs that I set the engine free in first.
 
wfooshee
It really isn't any fun to me to blast away in 1st and not be able to continue up the gearbox. Relax and shift shorter, move out less rashly. Nobody will think less of you for it, and quite a few will think more.
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👍
Short shift each gear.
 

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