Shifting without the clutch after first?

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Kevin S.

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Anyone do this? When I'm cruising around town i always use the clutch but when I'm going fast and at WOT i hardly ever use the clutch. What do you all do? Of course I use the clutch all the time for downshifts and 1st to 2nd.
 
I always clutch the 1-2 shift, regardless of how hard I'm getting on it. Hoping to avoid the dreaded second gear issue by being a bit careful and not slamming it into second. A couple times it has popped out of second after powershifting, but it has never popped out if I clutched the shift.

Otherwise, I power through gears going up. Little pressure up on the shifter, roll off the gas, it slips right in smooth as can be.
When slowing down I typically pull in the clutch and just use the brakes. I've gotten pretty good at bumping it from second to neutral though without the clutch, have to almost "slap/tap" the shifter with your foot, if you "press", you get first.

It's pretty much personal preference though. Some people I ride with downshift through every gear when slowing down, some clutch every shift, I don't think it really matters.
 
I always use the clutch. I don't care what anyone says - it's less stress on the gearbox and I want mine to last!

If I was racing and could swap engines every few races, then I'd be shifting without clutch all the time to go faster.
 
Beings that I am a lazy bugger, I use my airshifter to shift up at times:biglaugh: No harm to the engine/tranny as it has an ignition cutout and due to the fact that a motorcycle tranny is sequential so not a lot of wear if shifted while unloaded.
 
As long as it's done right, synchronized shifting does not hurt the trans at all. All it is is the synchros (blocker Rings) making a non-loaded shift and for a second the the gears and synchros are aligned allowing the shifting fork to smoothly pass over the synchro to the next gear. This is used a lot more then people may think, also called floating gears(by most semi drivers). Air-shifters do primarily the same thing But, they us air kill switches that actually kill the ign for a milliseconds while the air ram shifts the trans.. When done correctly no harm will be done. You can do it on any Manual trans. vehicle. If done correctly I used to up and down shift this way when I flat-tracked quads. Its all knowing how the trans works and when there is no load and able to shift.

I hope this makes sense.

Power shifting in my POV is when one doesn't lift the throttle between shifts and with our bikes on the stock ign. there is no Rev Limiter, if you miss a gear can cause serious damage. If you have the dyna or an other ign with a rev limiter it will help the engine from over revving thus, preventing the major damage if set correctly.

This has been talked about on here by us fellow drag racers.
 
Rhoke

I'm not aware of any motorcycle box that has syncromesh (but I'm probably wrong on that point), certainly not on the Max unless mine has had a host of parts left out.
 
No syncro's in these bikes. There are plenty of pics on my facebook site to see how the trans is laid out in there.
 
Power shift my 09 almost every shift going up, but I have a Linear Shift Sensor hooked into my PC V. Works every time. . . hold it WOT and kick the shift lever. No issue no drama just nice smooth shifts.

I use a Pingle electric shifter for my Warrior. Hold it WOT and push the handle bar mounted button. Super quick and smooth.

These are two of the best ways to power shift a motorcycle.

IMHO
 
At the track I fan the clutch between shifts....You "no clutch" guys should be really cautious when up kickin'. I guess if you "know" you're bike it's all good but one bad clunk and you'll be picking up the tranny with a shovel.
 
While people say it's possible to clutchless shift any manual transmission I can say that some are much, much easier than others. Obviously sports sedans and such with short-throw levers tend to be a lot easier since this shift happens a lot faster...I do those the same way as the bike. Pull/push on the shifter towards the next gear and ease off the gas, slips right in.

However I tried doing this on my old '93 F150 with the 4.9L and a manual. The throw was probably 18" between first and second, since it was a floor mount shifter. Seriously, first was about touching the dashboard, and second was maybe an inch or two from the bench seat. Longest throw I've ever seen. While I did get it to shift without the clutch, it was kind of hit-and miss. Since the throw was so huge, in the space the box was in between gears the sync between engine and vehicle speed would get messed up. I found that if you pre-loaded the shifter, let off the gas until it came loose, then instantly got back on it, it would usually slip in. Could never get it to shift under power. Too much hassle though, just press the clutch.

Loved doing the two pedal stomp with it though, it was only a 2wd open diff. Floor the gas and clutch, dump the clutch in second, big smokey 1 wheel burnout all the way down the block, even with that 160hp I6.
 
Well, Like they say you learn something new everyday. This is one area of the bike that I didnt mess with when my cases were apart.

I took a look at the pics Sean. Why doesn't all trans work this way then?
Why use Syncro's in all honesty aren't they just extra parts?

Roy
 
Well just to be a little off the subject:

I pre load the shift lever on all up shifts. works good for me but power shifting ( with out all the extras) is not for me.

:biglaugh:
 
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