I was told engine breaking all the time messes up the Timing chain, i still do it, brakes cost a lot, i just try to do it smooth and consistent. But what ever works w/ ur style

 

Thanks for all the replies. I guess the final answer is do what feels the most comfortable and that's kind of what i've been doing. Thinking about it i think the way i slow down to a stop is i keep it in 5th or 6th and let the bike slow itself down and when i get close enough to the stoplight or stopsign i hold in the clutch and go through the gears down to 1 or 2 depending on if im doing a complete stop or a rolling stop.

The only thing i wasnt aware of is that it is possible and (ok?) to upshift without holding in the clutch?

 

Yes to both. Roll off the throttle, tap up, roll on.

 

hell yeah its ok...these are high performance machines after all

 

Personally I think the best compromise is pull the clutch, gear down to 2nd or 1st (depending on your speed) and keep in your clutch till you stop If something happens (like someone behind U doesn't have breaks etc) U just release the clutch and there U go. No wear on the clutch and no wear on the gears, and your safe...

As for the shifting and clutch. I think it's better to use your clutch when shifting up cause it's cheaper to replace a clutch(just one engine cover) then to repair a stripped gearbox (remove the whole engine)
I know the old blades were prone to start slipping out of gear if you didn't nurture them when new (or popped a lot of wheelies ) , (don't know about 600s)

 

I use engine braking, but I blip the throttle to match RPMs when downshifting, then roll off the throttle to slow down once I'm in gear. If there are cars behind me I'll tap the brakes just so they know I'm slowing down.

I do clutchless upshifts most of the time, and clutchless downshifts some of the time, mostly just because I can. I think it's a good exercise to work on throttle control and being smooth.

 

true a friend of mine was made a hood ornament one time because of that i make it a habit to play with my brakes until a car stops behind me when at acomplete stop you never know whats goin thru someones head at any moment

 

Like the other guys are saying, either style is fine... it's more of preference. I personally really enjoy the sound of a bike as it's engine breaking and coming to a stop. I engine break all the time and I'm almost up to 50,000 miles on my original clutch. What kills a clutch is wheelies when you rev the engine up and drop the clutch. Hard acceleration does put some wear and tear on a clutch but nothing like a clutch drop when trying to do a wheelie.

 

I use engine braking when coming to all stops, engine RPMs matchto bike speed. Once your skills are up you know what gears to be in at what speeds without even thinking about it.

Welcome to the sportsbike arena, very fun when riding correctly.

 

sight I still have so much to learn...I blip even on the up shift and always use the clutch just b/c I'm freaked out about bruning mine up or something...I still freak out on occassion when you get the classic F seriesclunk switching from first to second gear...but other than that I'm still trying to figure out my new gearing...went one down in the front Need some more time in the corners becuase feeling your *** end slide while going around a turn is not fun...no matter how cool it might look lol