I went riding with a buddy and he told me that when I downshift to rev-up the engine a bit then let the gear out. Is this right?

 

Yes, he's right. You need to just blip the throttle a bit so that the engine rpm's increase slightly to match what they're going to be when you downshift. That way, the rear tire doesn't slip. If you don't blip the throttle, then when you downshift, you should feel the rear tire grab a bit as it forces the engine to increase the rpms. Normally this isn't to bad, but if you do it leaned over or when you have a decreased traction, you're going to slide. Practice the blip! :-)

Chavez.

 

Only if your riding a Harley..

I dont see a need to rev the engine up before you down shift. Its certainly not needed in my opinion.

Is he talking about clutchless shifts? If he is, I wouldnt suggest downshifting clutchless. It can be done, but you stand a greater risk of bending a shift fork, not to mention the sudden loss of traction to the rear wheel with the sudden gear change. The clutch allows the rear tire to gradually gain traction. Clutchless upshifts are fine, but I would use the clutch on a downshift.

 

When I downshift, I'll drop the RPM (close the throttle), pull the clutch in while shifting to the lower gear, then raise the RPM back up while releasing the clutch so that the RPM match with those of the lower gear. Basically blipping the throttle. I do this while upshifting too, and have noticed much smoother gear change transitions.
There's been a couple of times while decelerating hard that I've experienced wheel hop as a result of not revving the engine enough prior to releasing the clutch while downshifting (from higher speeds). It definitely pulls your attention away from the desired task, lol.
The thing I'm trying to work on now is applying the brakes while simultaneously blipping the throttle, which is kind of a difficult technique to adopt.

 

I rev match on my downshifts about half the time. At slower speeds and during slower decelerations it's less imperative than when slowing quickly for a turn or hazard. At slower speeds I will just downshift and let off the clutch slowly. But when you are traveling quick and have to slow quick doing this could result in the aforementioned wheel slippage which I have experienced light amounts of while experimenting.

To rev match is easy, once you figure out the right amount to blip the throttle that is.... but something I have noticed is that the downshift should be as quick as possible to achieve more accurate rev match. The rpm's drop quick and that clutch grabs quickly. Good luck.

 

I DEFINITELY rev-match when downshifting at least 90% of the time,

 

Ideally, match reving gets the motor up to the speed it will/would be turning once you let the clutch out, that way your engine is doing the braking, not the clutch, , plus it makes downshifting MUCH smoother.
I do it when driving a stick car too,

 

Rev matching obviosuly sounds cool, and saves your clutch a little more. How many people do clutchless upshifts? I was just wondering because my hand is starting to hurt from pulling the clutch so much.

 

I almost NEVER use the clutch once I'm rolling, EXCEPT for downshifting,