i was woundering say i am doing 50 in 4th gear and i need to stop somewhat quickly. do i shift down to 3rd let out clutch, pull back in shift to 2nd let out ect as i am on the front brake or can i pull in clutch down shift to say second wait a second for speed and rpm to lower and then let out clutch blipping throttle? i read how some what doing like 70 shifted from 5th to 2nd and went over. does this only happen if you dont let your speed drop? thanks

 

most gears are forgiving in downshifting, don't downshift into 1st and let the cluth out at high speed. The other gears offer engine braking, first does also if you can use it properly. Learning how to blip the rpm's is a great thing, if you just slam into a low gear at high speed you loose traction. Every situation is different so specific advice is hard to give...

 

Like fuze said the way you asked your question it's hard to answer. Anytime you come to a quick complete stop
use both your front and rear break while downshifting to first and keep the clutch in the entire time. If your not
coming to a complete stop then there are all sorts of variables.

 

Hello & Welcome!!

Why would you want to downshift and skip a gear?

 

Hi all.....
This is def. a silly question but I'll still ask it since none of you know me LOL...love the forum

Does everyone here always keep track of what gear they are riding in? I been riding for 3 years and I rarelly felt the need to remember. So i'm not sure if it's just me, or of other people just shift around without keeping track......I know it is important, but I just never got used to it..................PLEASE LET ME KNOW....

 

For emergency stops, I just use brakes, no engine braking at all. I don't feel I have the skill to manage my clutch hand, rear brake and front brake to maximize stopping, so I just pull in the clutch and forget about it until I need to pick a gear.

I usually downshift two or more gearswhen slowing for any otherreason because I tend to ride in a higher gear. Most people like to be in the powerband whenthey ride, I tend to to be a gear or two higher. Soin 6th gear at 55, I may click down2 to slow for a light, maybe three, but slowly let out the clutch, don't dump it. If you dump the clutch engine braking and use rear brake you could have a bad situation. In general, I tend to use the brakes for stopping and downshifting to get me ready to accelerate , the engine braking is a side effect, but not the reason to do it. The other thing is with 14000 revs to play with, usually two or three gears out of 6 will do the job on the street, the track is another story (and I know nothing about racing).

edit;
As far as knowing what gear I am in, I know when I am 1st,2nd, and 6th. 3,4,5 I am never too sure, but I don't really care.

 

Downshift and use the engine braking even if it means a slide. Back end slide feels like a dirt bike anyway and is totally controllable as long as you arent't in a corner. The thought of nuetral and brakes only makes me scared because it won't slow down near fast enough. Aparently some of you have never had to stop in an intersection where you had a green light and they had a green but no arrow. Don't panic and lock the rear up while downshifting then let the rear off and reapply. I am not a master as I only have 20k miles on cruisers and about 10 on sport bikes but this works for me.

 

I concur, clutch stays engaged during a panic stop.

 

Clutch engaged during a panic stop?

In a panic situation, it would seem to me that your brakes are going to be stopping you faster then your engine rpms can decrease rendering engine braking useless. Also, if you can lock the rear wheel with your rear brake, how much assistance do you need from the engine anyway? If anything its going to cause the amout of pressure required on the rear brake to panic stop to be inconsistant between panic stops depending on your engine rpm. This could cause you lock up the rear as well. Even though you can control a rear wheel skid, it is not efficient braking.

The last things you want to be worried about when slamming on your brakes is clutch control. Pull in the clutch, and tap your shifter down until you cant anymore. Once you get used to this it will be habbit and you can focus on proper brake application which is more important imo. The other benifit is that you do not run the risk of stalling as well.

 

When running from the popo it's OK to go down 2 gears in order to get away.