How do you shift gears on a motorcycle smoothly?
Motorcycle riders know that being butter smooth when shifting is difficult. Fred, over his decades of riding [being an Engineer by trade probably helped him find a solution too] developed a nearly fail-proof method of shifting a motorcycle transmission smoothly.
Motorcycle Quick Tip:
Fred shares his technique for how to shift gears on a motorcycle smoothly…
Are your shifts clunky?
I’ve found that most modern motorcycles respond very well to the following technique for shifting:
For each upshift to a higher gear, take up the slack in the clutch lever and gently preload the foot shifter with your toes before shifting. At the point you have the slack taken up in both controls, shift!
The shift will usually be butter-smooth and you should have fewer mis-shifts.
Fred Applegate
Note: I’ll have to admit I was a bit skeptical when Fred first mentioned this method. But IT WORKS. For me, I’m not successful 100% of the time, but with practice my shifting is noticeably smoother. I’ve tried it, and with a little practice, it works great (on cars too)!
This was originally published in the Motorcycle Riding Tips Newsletter.
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13. January 2010 at 9:58 pm
I just have a few tips that you may find a place for on your website.
1. When approaching a red light or stop sign, survey your “landing” area for liquid spills that may cause the front tire or your feet to take an unplanned path. Many times an oil puddle is exactly where you need to stop.
2. Learn the traffic! I always keep my eyes active and never locked to one area. I look way ahead to cars pulling up to stop before entering the highway in front of me. I will provide a courtesy flash of my bright lights to increase the chances of seeing me. I have fun trying to predict where the traffic around me is going. I read the county numbers on the car tags and figure most likely where they may exit and prepare for them to do so. For instance, big 18 wheeler with a steel coil, I will go ahead and make the assumption he will be exiting at Nucor steel 5 miles ahead and understand what lane what he will need to occupy.
3. When an object in the road is unavoidable. Always try if possible to hit it at a 90 degree angle, arse up off of the seat and way back, making the front end as light as possible. NO BRAKES!!! Brakes suck the bike down to the road and you get the full effect! Same with railroad tracks, no brakes and moderate application of throttle. Let your knees take the shock and not your back.
4. For the clean freaks like me, take it easy on the Armor-All on the tires. Recipe for disaster! Even if you just do the sidewall and make pains to not get it on the treads, any water will carry it to there via centrifugal force.
5. If you have a center stand and perform your chain lube duties with the bike in gear, please don’t get your hands down there or try to wipe it off with a rag while it’s running.
6. Practice emergency stops! Especially true for newbies! Go to an empty parking lot and find a stripe or marking and practice approaching and braking at the same place. I don’t mean just feathering the brakes, I’m talking front wheel stoppies. Practice this often and also make it a scheduled maintenance checkout. This will also unconsciously train the feel of front to back brake maximum levels of intensity. The shortest stopping distance is the maximum application of brakes on the front and back without breaking traction. Proportional braking on both to their maximum levels are great things to know!
7. All your friends say take me for a ride! Very important: make sure they know to follow your lean angles and not try to stay upright or fight the lean to the opposite direction. You will straighten out the first curve and head directly in the ditch or into oncoming traffic because the thing will not turn!
5. August 2010 at 1:08 pm
When downshifting, blip the throttle after you pull the clutch in and before you depress the shift lever to change to the lower gear. This will result in a better speed match between the moving parts in the transmission you are trying to engage and a smoother downshift. You are trying to match the engine speed to the road speed in the lower gear so you shouldn’t speed up (too much throttle) or abruptly slow (too little).