10 Motorcycle Riding Tricks You Don?t Know, Yet

Thanks for posting that link:wink:
I rarely use the clutch above the 1st to 2nd upshift, just a blip of the throttle and some toe pressure.
 
Look where you want to go. I've used that for years. A sort of "negative" target fixation. It's amazing how well it works but it does take a lot of practice.

Change up without the clutch. How to make your clutch last longer in city riding!

Some of the others I wouldn't recommend unless on a race track - like compressing the front forks going into a corner! They're a good idea and work well but can be dangerous on the open road with cretins about!
 
Yep use all of them at one time or another.

Not using clutch in routine riding? Nope. I'd rather wear out the clutch than the synchro dogs, that's what it is there for. I have used the method when clutch cables have broken.

Try this tip....ride without the clutch at all. At a stop put the bike in 1st. When ready to go hit the starter button. Upshift by releasing throttle pressure. Downshift by blipping.

If you don't know something as simple as counter steering then you need to take an MSF course, now! Of course, if you have ridden a bicycle you already know how to do it, you just don't realize it :)
 
Good tips all. Last summer when we were at Rocky's for the Pre-National Rally Rally, Rocky noticed that my clutch cable had frayed wire sticking through the lining. It was on a Saturday afternoon and I was planning on riding to Montrose on Sunday to see my son and daughter-in-law. I called the Honda dealer in Montrose and they said they'd order the clutch cable on Monday and would have it on Tuesday morning. I was a couple hundred miles away. So I only used the clutch when stopped and when starting. Did all my shifting, up and down, by just matching revs. The cable lasted but wouldn't have lasted much farther.
 
Motorcycles use selector forks to change gears.

In my experience not using the clutch results in premature wear of the selector forks and this can be a much more expensive fix than replacing the clutch plates.

I agree it is OK to shift without a clutch in an emergency but I would not recommend it in normal riding conditions.
 
The selector forks move the dogs to engage the gears. The dogs are what you can feel 'crunch' when you shift.
 
I use clutchless shifts on bikes that can handle it well. Typically upshifting is more likely to be easily doable. My NT and FJR are both fine at upshifting sans clutch use. I used to have a SL350 that was great, both ways. I got so used to it I had gotten out of the habit of using the clutch. I had to reacquire said habit when I got my '75 GL1000. This bike was not happy being treated this way.

I've had 2 occasions when I had to drive cars without using the clutch - even to start moving. Unusual situations in both cases: A broken clutch cable for one and a severely sprained ankle being the other.
 
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karl said:
http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/05/28/the-brake-light-initiative-treatise-on-motorcycle-control-using-your-braking-skills/

The fella that taught me to drive showed me how to drive without a clutch. Most folks have a mental picture of what happens in a gearbox that just never happens. The more you learn the more that you knew turns out to be wrong. Ain't lernin fun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_transmission
Click to expand...

And some of us have rebuilt transmissions for people who thought they could shift well without the clutch ;)
 
Dont know what your point is.

It all boils down to rev matching and the force behind the gears.

If the revs are matched exactly then the method really doesn't matter. But, if the revs are off, then it does. With the clutch disengaged then one side has little force behind it and the dogs can engage without much problem. Like putting on the rear wheel and matching the splines.

With the clutch engaged both sides have a great deal of force behind them. If revs not matched then the dogs will "grind" at each other until they are matched.

The dogs are a wear item and are intended to be replaced when the transmission is rebuilt. Length between rebuilds depends on how much they have been abused.
 
I am not saying I know bike trannies to any great degree, but I gotta go with Charlie here. Unless someone can show me a computerized graphic of what the heck they are talking about in not unloading the entire gear system before shifting, you have to increase the wear on something in the gearbox as you move the shifter mechanism against gears that are loaded up, even if it is only trailing throttle. Maybe the wear is small....maybe a good rider can "feel" the gears unload at the exact right point that they shift from leading throttle to trailing throttle...but while you are feeling with the shift lever you are wearing...just like you can wear out a throwout bearing in a car by riding the clutch.....shifting without the clutch is an answer to a question nobody asked....

May you never have to watch synchro gear parts flow out with the tranny oil of any type of transmission...

charlie b said:
Dont know what your point is.

It all boils down to rev matching and the force behind the gears.

If the revs are matched exactly then the method really doesn't matter. But, if the revs are off, then it does. With the clutch disengaged then one side has little force behind it and the dogs can engage without much problem. Like putting on the rear wheel and matching the splines.

With the clutch engaged both sides have a great deal of force behind them. If revs not matched then the dogs will "grind" at each other until they are matched.

The dogs are a wear item and are intended to be replaced when the transmission is rebuilt. Length between rebuilds depends on how much they have been abused.
Click to expand...
 
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