Noticed on the way home, almost by accident, that this is possible?! By simultaneously rolling a bit of throttle on and pressing down on the shifter, it slinks into a lower gear without any grumbles. Is this something obvious that I have missed until now?! Or should doing this be avoided for fear of lunching my gearbox?! If this is perfectly normal then surely it stands to reason that an quick down-shifter could be fitted in the same way as a normal quickshifter could..? Again, this could well be something that already exists (other than on a S1000RR or 1299) that has completely passed me by...!
Yeah,and a quick shifter only works going up the gears as the blade doesn't have a fly by wire throttle so the auto blip function required to down shift doesn't work. Yes a little blip of the throttle smooths out down shifts but use the clutch too,unless you like expensive repair bills
Thanks both. Had a feeling I shouldn't have been doing it! Talking of blipping the throttle on downshifts, is this still recommended despite having the slipper clutch? I seem to remember reading somewhere that it re-engages as soon as power is fed through to allow you to power out of corners without it slipping, therefore would blipping going down fool it into thinking this is what is happening and therefore not allow it to skip as expected/intended?
With a well timed blip it's very possible but it's hard on the gearbox and also has more of a chance of unsettling the bike if you're on it as it's harsh. Using the clutch allows you to feed the gearbox back into the engine even if you don't really notice you're doing doing it. I pretty much always use clutchless upshifts if I'm riding a bike without a QS but never down unless i'm bimbling along and am a bit bored.
Whether or not it is true I was told that gears were hardened (face hardened?) only on the tooth edge/side used when changing up. So basically it can be done but don't do it.
Not sure about this,I thought purpose of slipper clutch was to stop back wheel locking when you come down the gears quickly and there's too much engine braking. It was some guys on here that mentioned a small blip of throttle when changing down as it gives a smooth shift as opposed to the usual Honda clonk. I tried it and when timed right it gives a really slick downshift.
slipper clutch is just a mechanical process,theres no "fooling" it into something else,wether you blip or not,if the slipper needs to slip it will. it takes some doing for a slipper clutch to actually work,if your finding that on the road your slipper clutch is slipping,then it either needs adjusting (springs,or pressure plates) or for fear of sounding like an old woman,your riding needs to be addressed as for the whole blipping thing,and even clutchless down shifts,it a personnal thing,i nearly always blip,especially going from 3rd to 2nd,or 1st when i've been on full chat,as that tends to be the biggest speed/rev change,and as nice as slippers are,they can still unsettle the bike when you tipping in.
