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Read some articles and watched a bit of YouTube on the subject and thought I'd give it a try yesterday. Once I got the hang of it it seemed to be very smooth when changing up. Question is would people recommend it or am I doing irreparable harm to my bike.
I've done it for years. Not all the time - normally when I'm on a leisurely ride or carrying a pillion as I find it a much smoother gear change. As long as you get the revs right I'm not aware that it causes any damage.
There are some that say they very rarely use the clutch, up or down (except 1 to 2).
My owners manual tells me to ALWAYS use the clutch. Occasionally I do change up sans clutch when poodling along with only one hand on the bars !
I do it quite a lot on a variety of bikes - old and new :) Just need to get the timing & revs right :cool:
I rarely use the clutch on up shifts, I almost always use it on down shifts. I have a quickshifter fitted so no need for the clutch on any upshift, but it can be jerky at low revs, so at anything below 4k revs, I tend to use the normal clutchless shift method of rolling off the throttle very slightly whilst snicking in the next gear. Before I had the quickshifter fitted, I would use clutchless up shifts at anything up to around 9k rpm, after that I did use the clutch just in case of a missed shift. With the quickshifter I happily shift at the red line (13k) without the clutch
I prefer it but don't do it just incase
I do it up the gears most the time. And every now and then down as well (I have a slipper clutch so it makes it much easier to go back down)
A quick shifter just uses electronics to do what you are doing manually but it does it much much faster. If it was bad for the clutch they wouldn't use them in racing or be now factory fitting quick shifts to new bikes. Some quick shifters also support up and down so it should be no issues with you doing it manually either.
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I do it quite often up shifting and down shifting sometimes. Usually by throttling off quickly for down shifts. But I do it when I'm a bit bored in traffic !
Yup done it for years, depends on the bike though - clutchless changes on the Enfield can be a clunky affair and needs patience, the worst for is the MT03, best is my Suzuki X7, what a sweet gearbox that has - no external gear level linkage helps.
My DCT equipped NC700X is probably cheating ; )
Only a bit :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Trev
I only shift up without using the clutch.
Only 2nd upwards.
I do it to quickly overtake, and also when pillion riding so that I don't get helmet clash.
I use it all the time for up shifting. Providing it is done properly, it won't cause an issue.
My tips are:
Don't bother from first to 2nd, use the clutch.
Put your foot under the pedal, gently pull up then close the throttle gently. The lever will then rise and shift.
Don't down shift. You risk bending selector forks.