JP-forty-three
New member
I got a message from James Lickwar about questions regarding downshifts. James is my main instructor in the afternoon portions of our school, and has a lot of knowledge and sound techniques. As some of you may know I don't ever spend anytime in chat rooms or forums, but I wanted to see if I could be of some help if possible and get some of your questions answered - Hope that is ok. I want to add beforehand that whatever works best for you is great, and this is just another way of looking at something. RPM management is absolutely everything to me and how I ride.
Reading some of your posts, there are many of you that understand the way we teach downshifting at STAR schools. I like that someone wrote that I’m not NOT advocating blipping the throttle, because blipping the throttle totally works and I use it. Before we explain the technique I try and teach, lets figure out what causes bad downshifts.
We all know not enough RPMs when going to a lower gear are what makes our bikes act up upon corner entry, but why? First off there are three things that kill our RPMs: rolling the throttle off, pulling in the clutch and applying brakes. All three of those things cause the RPMs to die and therefore we have to blip to bring them back up.
What I try to teach is this: When we initially roll off the throttle, too many of us wait too long to click our first downshift - hence we lose RPM. Say we are going down a 4th gear straightaway into a 2nd gear corner. If I’m @ 11,000 rpm with a redline of 14,000 rpm in 4th gear, couldn’t I theoretically go to 3rd gear without doing too much? Think about that - I clicked a downshift but I never had to blip. If I’m at 13,500 rpm then I will roll the throttle off a couple thousand rpm to allow the motor not to over-rev into the red zone. My throttle is closing but my RPMs are going up and working for me. Now that I have gone to 3rd gear the time I take to get down to 2nd is very short. I want to have all the RPMs that I can use to help slow the bike down while I am braking.
Someone else wrote how they caught themselves pulling in the clutch lever a bit too far. That is very observant. By only pulling in the clutch lever half the distance that most of you do, that is RPM gained to help you with your downshifts. Go to your bike and start it. Pull the clutch in, put it in gear and let the clutch lever out in super slow motion. Look how much clutch you release before your bike starts to roll away. Now think how many RPMs you lose when you pull it to the bar on each downshift.
This is a bit harder to explain in writing as opposed to where I am normally teaching this in the classroom. If you go to any of the links of our
onboard videos of me buzzing around the tracks of America, listen closely how quickly the first downshifts are getting done when the motorcycle begins to decelerate. Where I do blip it is usually when I’m coming from a wide open 5th or 6th gear straightaway. Getting down to 2nd gear while heavy braking sometimes requires a blip as my RPMs are going down so fast it is needed. Listen and you will hear that.
The last part of this is realizing you don’t DROP the clutch, you RELEASE it. Once I’m in my lowest gear you will hear and see that I am very deliberate on how I get the rear wheel and engine on speaking terms. We all have heard how smooth equals fast, and being smooth on your downshifts will help you to set a consistent entry speed into corners.
In closing, here are a couple things to remember. The earlier you can get your bike into the gear you want to roll thru the corner, the better. Don’t make downshifting the last thing you do before turn in. An unsmooth downshift or release of the clutch will upset the bike as you try and turn it in. We all know what false neutrals are. Wouldn’t it be great to not get them when we want to turn the bike in? By getting my downshifts done earlier, I can correct a possible false neutral while the bike is upright.
I’m sure there will be questions but I hope that I have been able to help in some way.
Thanks and ride safe
Jason Pridmore
www.starmotorcycle.com
Reading some of your posts, there are many of you that understand the way we teach downshifting at STAR schools. I like that someone wrote that I’m not NOT advocating blipping the throttle, because blipping the throttle totally works and I use it. Before we explain the technique I try and teach, lets figure out what causes bad downshifts.
We all know not enough RPMs when going to a lower gear are what makes our bikes act up upon corner entry, but why? First off there are three things that kill our RPMs: rolling the throttle off, pulling in the clutch and applying brakes. All three of those things cause the RPMs to die and therefore we have to blip to bring them back up.
What I try to teach is this: When we initially roll off the throttle, too many of us wait too long to click our first downshift - hence we lose RPM. Say we are going down a 4th gear straightaway into a 2nd gear corner. If I’m @ 11,000 rpm with a redline of 14,000 rpm in 4th gear, couldn’t I theoretically go to 3rd gear without doing too much? Think about that - I clicked a downshift but I never had to blip. If I’m at 13,500 rpm then I will roll the throttle off a couple thousand rpm to allow the motor not to over-rev into the red zone. My throttle is closing but my RPMs are going up and working for me. Now that I have gone to 3rd gear the time I take to get down to 2nd is very short. I want to have all the RPMs that I can use to help slow the bike down while I am braking.
Someone else wrote how they caught themselves pulling in the clutch lever a bit too far. That is very observant. By only pulling in the clutch lever half the distance that most of you do, that is RPM gained to help you with your downshifts. Go to your bike and start it. Pull the clutch in, put it in gear and let the clutch lever out in super slow motion. Look how much clutch you release before your bike starts to roll away. Now think how many RPMs you lose when you pull it to the bar on each downshift.
This is a bit harder to explain in writing as opposed to where I am normally teaching this in the classroom. If you go to any of the links of our
onboard videos of me buzzing around the tracks of America, listen closely how quickly the first downshifts are getting done when the motorcycle begins to decelerate. Where I do blip it is usually when I’m coming from a wide open 5th or 6th gear straightaway. Getting down to 2nd gear while heavy braking sometimes requires a blip as my RPMs are going down so fast it is needed. Listen and you will hear that.
The last part of this is realizing you don’t DROP the clutch, you RELEASE it. Once I’m in my lowest gear you will hear and see that I am very deliberate on how I get the rear wheel and engine on speaking terms. We all have heard how smooth equals fast, and being smooth on your downshifts will help you to set a consistent entry speed into corners.
In closing, here are a couple things to remember. The earlier you can get your bike into the gear you want to roll thru the corner, the better. Don’t make downshifting the last thing you do before turn in. An unsmooth downshift or release of the clutch will upset the bike as you try and turn it in. We all know what false neutrals are. Wouldn’t it be great to not get them when we want to turn the bike in? By getting my downshifts done earlier, I can correct a possible false neutral while the bike is upright.
I’m sure there will be questions but I hope that I have been able to help in some way.
Thanks and ride safe
Jason Pridmore
www.starmotorcycle.com
Last edited: