Gear Shift Direction?

[penno]

Why do road bikes shift up through the gears but race bikes shift down to go to a higher gear???????

I'm guessing it makes it possible for racers to shift to a higher gear while cranked over but why not just have it consistent?

Not the most pressing issue but i'm just curious to know..........

And if you are experienced with both, which do you prefer?

[Six Addict]

ur exactly right as to why race bikes have the reverse pattern ... left hand corners, you shouldnt need to shift down during a corner so its easy to just bang the lever down....

as to why road bikes are the way they are... id suggest clicking up to go up a gear and down to go down a gear is fairly logical...

[Strika]

Yep spot on! If I am doing a stack of track work, racing and practice, I usually run my road bike in a reverse pattern too, so I don't confuse the two. But if I am just doing the odd trackday, I leave the roadie in a street pattern. It makes it easier if you lend a mate your bike too, as thy are not likely to fck it up! But, I actually prefer the race pattern to the road pattern. It also makes it quicker on upshifts as well, as you are stomping down on the lever, rather than pulling it up with a muscle, making for fast changes.

As an aside and perhaps an interesting fact for some, Mick Doohan originally did not run a quick shifter, instead, choosing to change manually himself. They tested a speed shifter on him, but he was quicker without it!!!! He is a God!

[Six Addict]

noob question here... how easy is it to change ur roadie to a race shift pattern??

[aardvark]

Personally I prefer to have all my bikes with the standard shift pattern - ie: up to change up.

To me, it makes sense to work with the other forces working against the body, not against. You accelerate, your body moves backwards, pull the lever up/back with you. Brake, body moves forwards/down, push gear lever in same direction.

A lot of racers have their levers set the opposite way so they don't get their foot caught under the lever whilst changing up a gear mid corner. Some racers (like Vermulen if my memory serves me) don't.

[Neka79]

umm yea i think its to help with up changes that are really down... when cranking.. so ur foot isnt under the gear shift lever...

i tried it on a "race" bike i had once.. i couldnt get use to it... so i changed it back....

i prefer normal shift for the road...

[Neka79]

noob question here... how easy is it to change ur roadie to a race shift pattern??

depends on the bike.... some are pis easy, sum arent so easy...

have a look at ur gear shift lever... if u can rotate the bar that runs from the lever to the spigot 180degrees, its easy.. if it has more linkages , it can be a bit tricky (have seen bikes where u need to trim fairing etc to do it)...

[Blurr]

but common sense tells me that you need to shift down at a faster rate than shift up. Therefore when your belting down the straight and hit turn one stomping down the gears would be easier than lifting up. Your never going to change up gears at that fast a rate!!

just my 2 cents

[MrWasabi]

interesting topic. i spotted this watching the supers the other day but i thought it was too many beers, so i didnt say anything lol...
now that its out in the open, i did notice something else, when they were shifting and they went to clutch cam, i noticed that they didnt press the clutch to change gears either. They only seemed to use the clutch when going into a turn...
can someone explain the concept here?

[Six Addict]

they dont clutch on any upshifts ... wastes too much time, and they engineer the 'box to cope with the abuse ... the clutch is still needed on down shifts and for starts obviously...

you'll also notice that with your bike you can shift from 5th to 6th, relatively easy, without using the clutch as long as the revs are right and ur not just idling down the road... 4th to 5th on the cb with the right revs was easy...

[Neka79]

u can just abt get away with any gear change without a clutch if u get the revs right.....

i often dont use clutch on upshift (lazy) .. and sumtimes, on downshift.. tho they reckon its not good for ur bike...

my 70,000km cbr was still ok box-wise!!

[robracer]

As has been pointed out an Upshift in any gear with no clutch is possible & even at low revs can be done in all gears, bit of practice & you will find yourself doing it all the time, especially if you do a few track days

[Strika]

but common sense tells me that you need to shift down at a faster rate than shift up. Therefore when your belting down the straight and hit turn one stomping down the gears would be easier than lifting up. Your never going to change up gears at that fast a rate!!

just my 2 cents

Blurr, it's actually the opposite to that. Banging a shifter down is a far quicker action than lifting it up. This is part of the reason racers use race pattern. The other is as said, to be able to shift up a gear while cranked over to the left. Plus, it's not as important for a fast lap to downchange quickly as it is to upshift quickly. You don't have to alter your braking force to change down, whereas, you have to shut the throttle, (Even if it's just for a split second controlled by the quick shifter) in order to unload the gearbox to change up. Thus, you need the upchanges to happen as fast as possible, to reduce the time the throttle is shut.

[Strika]

As has been pointed out an Upshift in any gear with no clutch is possible & even at low revs can be done in all gears, bit of practice & you will find yourself doing it all the time, especially if you do a few track days

Rob clutchless down shifts on a sequential gearbox like our bikes, can be done at high revs! I learned to do it once when I lost a clutch cable in a CBR600 on a sunday where no shops were open. So, I rode 650klms without the clutch. As long as you can manage to unload the gearbox at the right time, it will downshift without any damage. It's tricky to nail it, but it can be done if you practice it, or have no choice, like I did!

[MiG]

I can do clutchless shifts at any revs on both the GPX and TZR although it's bloody harsh on the GPX at high revs. The TZRs light engine even allows quite nice clutchless downshifts.
I've noticed a fair few racers at the high levels (MotoGP, WSB, BSB) using the standard shift pattern, so it's not like it's only for retards lol