Yes, I also find that if I have accelerated very hard in first or second and have reached nearly the speed I want to cruise at I just "hit" all the rest quickly as I go through them, its all so effortless anyway and I like the sound of rapidly changing gears too :-)

Jules

 

I always skip a gear or two upshifting. When I am coming to a stop I pull the clutch in and as im slowing I will downshift, but I never let the clutch out. Is this not a common practice? I also pull in and hold the clutch if going down a big hill. This cant be bad for my bike, is it?

 

^ Just harder on the brakes is all.

 

If coming to a junction and I am arriving fast I will usually end up tap dancing down them quickly just before the wheels stop so in that respect I dont use gears to slow down ..I have always been of the mind both car and bike I would rather have break wear than engine gearbox wear ..all those heavy fast overruns are all extra wear and tear ..typically in the car I will just let my foot of the accelerator and slowed down for a junction in top gear until my speed is real low then I can just pop it out of gear at low speed and gentle break the rest of the way :-)

Jules

 

That a good point "Jules", I've done both. Sometimes I'll down-shift slowly as I come up to a light. But u can't be to quick, U can immediatly notice ur gearbox taking the weight. On the other hand sometimes u R caught by surprise and end up having to stop without downshifting. Then down-shift once u've stopped but I've also noticed that the gearsdon't go in as easily when ur bike is not moving....

 

Downshifting wont hurt your motor or gearbox, they are quite stout. The only thing that may take some extra wear is your clutch on high rpm downshifting. However simply rev matching when you shift will mostly take care of that.

 

I had a Yamaha 600 that would not stay in second so I skipped it all the time. That engine eventually blowed up real good. The tranny was damaged when I got it. I pulled it apart and the tranny cases were cracked...I only paid $500 for it so two years of riding for that was reasonable.