shifting question(s)
 

I am fairly new to riding, but im a mechanic by trade so i know how things work. I am fairly smooth with my speed shifting going up the gears, but I think my cautious style prevent me from experimenting on the road with speed shifting down,

I worry about matching the throttle on the way down and giving her too much kick and have 'er launch my nose up. That's not cool.

So should I be "flicking" throttle like I do on the upshift? If so, which direction? Or should I just let off the throttle?

Also.

I drove trucks for a few years, so naturally I shift at low rpms. Usually around the 4.5-5.5 up and 2.5-3.5 on the way down. Is this a good thing? Bad thing? Or does it matter?

Depends on your riding style really and what you want to get out of the bike, I don't know what you ride, but with my bike the fireworks don't really get started until 6000rpm. But I also like bimbling along and letting the low end torque do it's thing.

You don't really need to do anything, just ease out on the clutch. You can lightly add some throttle to match RPMs if you really want to but it's not necessary unless your really pushing the revs and then trying to downshift abruptly.

Downshifting isnt going to anything to "the nose" unless your holding the throttle wide open and then drop a gear.

I'm confused about "flicking" the throttle on the upshift too.... Can't imagine why you would need to do that.

Well, how I was taught to shift.
1- accelerate
2- preload shifter (gently pressure in the direction you want. Won't engange until throttle is released)
3-simultaniously pull clutch lever a bit, and flick the throttle quickly. Just a snap.

Umm.... No reason at all to do any of that.

Pull clutch, shift, let go.

If anything, to shift faster.... accelerate, let off the throttle for a millisecond and simultaneously shift, don't even need the clutch. ;)

Are you trying to match revs so that the shift goes smooth when you let go of the clutch lever?

Unless you want to get fancy just shift the same way you would a manual transmission car.

1. Release the throttle as you pull in the clutch
2. Shift
3. Engage the throttle as you release the clutch

In days gone by, racers would 'blip' the throttle when down shifting to match engine speed with road speed. Under extreme race conditions the rear wheel could lock up if this wasn't done, causing a loss of control entering a corner.

Wanna-be racers would try to imitate this while riding on the road, understandably wishing to emulate the sound created by their track heroes.

Nothing wrong with doing this if that's what floats your boat, but it isn't necessary while riding on the road, it unduly complicates a simple process.

If you take your bike to the track, you may want to learn the skill, but even then, you'll only need it if you're riding on the ragged edge.

Well I certainly don't race the thing.

Recently I have started downshifting without the clutch or matching rpms. Just let it hit the ~3500 mark on its way down and push my shifter down. Seems to be the smoothest around 3500ish

Like Zaqwert said, speedShifting up through the gears by just loading the shifter and for a very brief moment unloadiing the engine will snick it into the next gear, but I'm questioning the no clutch downShift, I've not done much research into it but it would seem that it is going to wear parts out sooner than they should.
Gears and transmissions are really meant to transfer power in one direction, and I'd worry about the wear and tear on the transmission by loading the shifter and waiting for the gears to mesh to drop down a gear.

Unless you are in the upper rev range then dropping down two to four gears for a tight turn, the rpm change dropping one gear is not all that much and it won't lock the backend momentarily. Just let the clutch out sorta slowly, not a dump the clutch move but with some finesse.

Best thing to do is go somewhere safe and practice it, soon it just becomes natural and you don't have to think about it.