throttle blipping & clutchless shifting: fun or necessary?
 

I was reading thru my copy of Total Control by Lee Parks when I came upon this nugget (funny how you find new things in old sentences you've read before)

The reason being that if you need to get up and go, you can't be in the middle of shifting. The chapter continues into clutchless up shifts and rev matching downshifts. It makes sense when I think about it, though rev matching / throttle blipping is something I've been working on for a while now. But the clutchless up shifting I can do with concentration on Ororo... and without thinking on Yolie thanks to the stock quick shifter. Yolie also has a slipper clutch so the consequences for not-quite matching revs aren't that great

But I rarely do either. It seemed like fun but unnecessary on the street. Sounds cool, yes definitely. But overkill, even with the assists built into my bike. So what's everyone else's take on it? How often do you do either?

Hasn't this been discussed a lot?

Clutchless UPshifting is okay to do.

Rev matching is a good idea all the time. What a lot of people don't get is that when you are shifting up you are rev matching as well. So if you do it to downshift, it's also good.

I try to rev match downshift as much as I can in my car too, it's easier on the clutch synchros.

Not from this angle I feel. You can ride without ever doing either. But the presentation seemed to imply that both should be incorporated into normal riding

I think the text you're reading and referring to is ultimately saying that there's danger everywhere, so they're giving the reader as many tools as possible.

You can learn to shift very fast on a bike, just practice. Shift up a fraction (and I really mean a fraction...think 1/60 th of a second) after pulling in your clutch (just a tad) then ease the clutch off.

I generally only clutchless shift from 1st to 2nd when I hop on highways...anything past 2nd gear roaring at 10k + rpm is just begging to be heard and see by popo in my area. I'll admit it sounds badass though.

Rev matching as I downshift has become an constant occurrence. I've gotten used to the engine braking and I enjoy the feel.

No reason to do either one on the street.

Fun? Sure, why not.

Matching revs on the street is only helpfull on bad road conditions to keep from breaking the back tire loose. Gravel, water/rain. That kinda thing. But you probably should be riding more occordingly on those days in the first place.

Not that theres any harm in it either either way if you do it "Correctly" , if your not though then you could actually be adding a certain level of greater risk to yourself for no reason.

K.I.S.S. Always.

This is what I mean. Sure, it'd be nice to go on your first track day with familiarity of the techniques. But on the streets both techniques are essentially unnecessary. I rarely use the quick shifter on Yolie because in 1st and 2nd gear, it's not the smooth experience you'd imagine unless you're up around 10k+. And that's both ill advised and sometimes not even possible between stop signs :p

But if there's an actual safety implication at play, should riders be incorporating it into their toolbox as they progress from "right hand: brake, left hand: clutch"?

I don't like clutchless shifting, but I always try and throttle blip. Seems like it's easier on the engine and clutch to rev match. Sometimes I can hit the sweet spot when upshifting and it kinda pushes me forward like a lil power boost. Not sure if that's a technique or not. I like the feel and sound of engine braking too :)

I use clutchless upshifting all the time once I get to 2nd gear. It just sounds cool and is a lot cheaper than the aftermarket throttle cutoffs that you can add. It seems to feel smoother the higher in the rpm range I am when I shift.

I rarely do any clutchless downshifts.

I think that the passage you are refering to, is more about shifting to stay in the
powerband, than about how you get there. i.e. if you are slowing to a stop, don't
just pull in the clutch and wait till you stop, then downshifting from 4th to 1st.

Always keeping it hot, so you don't lug if you have to accelerate, to avoid an
obstacle/hazard.

Personally, I always 'blip' throttle/shift, up or down, to match RPM to tranny speed,
while using the clutch. I never bothered learning to clutch-less shift, cause till you
do master it, it's hard on the gear-box when you blow the shift. I've always considered
clutch-less shifting to be a track/strip technique, rather then a street protocol.

Ern

On the street, I'm rarely ever coming down from speed so hard to require throttle blipping on Yolie. Of course I downshift through the gears when slowing / stopping. But most my hard stops on both bikes are usually in 1st or 2nd. Not a lot of downshifting there.

As for clutchless up shifts, I have to remind myself to use the quick shift. Staying in Yolie's true power band would be... ill-advised :p