Hello everyone.
I was riding my F4i 2005 with my buds last Sunday on the local canyons. My tires were pretty warmed up since we had been riding for quite a while.
I can't recall what gear I was, but I was going 54mph @ 6000 rpm. Then when I was preparing for the incoming turn, I gently applied brakes, and down shifted the gear. When I did that, my rear wheel locked suddenly..... Nothing major happened since I was able to control the bike ok, but I still don't know what went wrong...
I have it on video: http://alvaromelo.blip.tv/file/32689/
Can anyone take a look on it and tell me what did I do wrong??? What Should I have done? Is there any technique to avoid that?

 

rev matching is pretty important but were you using the rear brake at all? if so that could have been part of it. usually the rear wheel will only hop a little, especially since you weren't at very high rpms. I do a crap load of downshifting on the track without much rev matching (I need that engine braking) and I've never actually locked the wheel

 

sounds like you were maybe in third or something and then dropped to first...don't dump the clutch, let it out slowly...
for canyons...keep your RPMs high...like way up there...not at 6K and then needing to downshift...

 

sounds like 2 things maybe a little too much rear brake combined with letting out the clutch too quick, just my 2 cents.

 

Your bike does not have a slipper clutch. If you don't rev match, that rear tire will lock up for a second when hard down shifting.

 

One of the first things they taught me at track school was to blip the throttle when down shifting, a short sharp twist on the throttle as you pull the clutch in then release the clutch, some techno babble about higher revs smoothing the transittion to a lower gear?!?. All I know is that I wasted several rear tires locking the back and blipping the throttle seems to have sorted me out. Might be worth a try as it is a hellavu lot cheaper than a slipper clutch!

 

Thanks everyone for the feedbacks! It kinda of makes sense now.... I will have to learn rev matching and take it easy when letting the clutch out...
Can anyone tell me though, what bikes come with a stock slipper clutch?

 

the kawi zx10r and the new R6...not sure about the gixxers.

 

If you rev match properly, you don't have to ease out the clutch.

 

happened to me a few times when downshifting to 1st in high rpm