Do you blip the throttle?

[Andz]

Makes no sense to me. LOL! We were just showed in BRC to just pull the clutch in and break to a complete stop then downshift all the way to first.

That's insane.

 

[04fizzer]

Makes no sense to me. LOL! We were just showed in BRC to just pull the clutch in and break to a complete stop then downshift all the way to first.

Your instructors were idiots.

9 times out of 10, you'll fight with the bike to get it into 1st at a complete stop.

 

[mcteague]

Your instructors were idiots.

9 times out of 10, you'll fight with the bike to get it into 1st at a complete stop.

Really. Just try to accelerate in an emergency, like when you realize the car behind you is not stopping quickly enough, while still in 5th gear.

Tim

 

[abacall]

Makes no sense to me. LOL! We were just showed in BRC to just pull the clutch in and break to a complete stop then downshift all the way to first.

Ok, let's try this again. Simpler terms.

When shifting down into a lower gear the engine speed needs to go up.
You can twist the throttle to raise engine speed to the point that it should be when selecting the lower gear.

Example: Without blipping/rev matching
You are in fourth, spinning 5000 RPMs. You want to shift into third.

Pull in the clutch, the trans goes into neutral. The RPMs drop.

Select third, the RPMs need to shoot up to 6500 RPMs.

You get a jerk.

Now with blipping/rev matching.

Pull in the clutch
Select third gear
Blip throttle (twist throttle very quickly so that RPMs shoot up)
Let clutch out.
No jerk, all smooth

All done very fast.
Clutch/gear/blip/clutch.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Ok, let's try this again. Simpler terms.

When shifting down into a lower gear the engine speed needs to go up.
You can twist the throttle to raise engine speed to the point that it should be when selecting the lower gear.

Example: Without blipping/rev matching
You are in fourth, spinning 5000 RPMs. You want to shift into third.

Pull in the clutch, the trans goes into neutral. The RPMs drop.

Select third, the RPMs need to shoot up to 6500 RPMs.

You get a jerk.

Now with blipping/rev matching.

Pull in the clutch
Select thrid gear
Blip throttle (twist throttle very quickly so that RPMs shoot up)
Let throttle out.
No jerk, all smooth

All done very fast.
Clutch/gear/blip/clutch.

Ok now that makes sense. I'll have to try it. Thanks bro....

 

[sjryser]

FZ6 = sequential tranny = hard to downshift at complete stop.

 

[logan77]

I do it cuz I like the sound of my new exhaust, he he.....:thumbup:

 

[cbzdel]

FZ6 = sequential tranny = hard to downshift at complete stop.

I learned that when I was in 6th going 35 like the owners manual told me to do... then had to top all of a sudden.. It didnt work very well hahah!!!

 

[Erci]

I must not up shift fast enough then, it still somewhat jerks me, but I am still not a speed demon... yet lol

It really has nothing to do with shifting fast or riding "fast". It has to do with rev matching. When you shift up, you want the RPMs to be about where they will end up when you fully release the clutch.. if that makes sense. In other words.. if you shift up at 7k, you'll be at about 5k in next gear. So before you release the clutch you want the RPMs to be at about 5k.
You can either roll completely off the throttle as you clutch in and shift up and then bring the RPMs back up before you release the throttle OR just roll of the throttle slightly as you clutch in/shift up so it drops to 5k and release the clutch.
In either case here there is no need to blip the throttle.. it's more about rolling on the throttle smoothly and staying on it

 

[sm00thpapa]

That's insane.

Let me rephrase that my bad. Shift all the way down to first before you come to a complete stop.

 

[necrotimus]

I'm not defending or bashing the basic rider courses but remember it is only a BASIC course and they only have limited time to teach the students things. Basic riding courses teach riders to hold in the clutch while braking and then downshift all the way for a reason but unfortunately they don't really mention why they teach it that way. They do however stress not locking your wheels by over braking which is the same thing that can happen if you down shift "incorrectly". The mechanics of downshifting are not particularly difficult but when you are fighting to keep the wheels under you downshifting may be a little much.

"Smooth downshifting" can be obtained by letting out the clutch very slowly after a downshift. If you are new to downshifting be careful not to lock the rear wheel which can happen if the change in RPMs is too much. The result of a RPM mismatch between one gear change is often just a jerk but the difference between two gears can easily be enough to lock your rear wheel. So do not just drop/pop the clutch ease it out smoothly and slowly. Practice first at a natural shift point where you could either be in one gear or another to minimize the RPM mismatch.

After you are comfortable with 'normal' downshifting you can practice blipping the throttle. There is really no need to ever learn it. Mainly it just sounds cool to wind the motor up and let it come down and you are stoppign at a light.

 

[abacall]

Ok now that makes sense. I'll have to try it. Thanks bro....

No problem, have fun. :thumbup:

 

[tuningfork]

I learned that when I was in 6th going 35 like the owners manual told me to do... then had to top all of a sudden.. It didnt work very well hahah!!!

This table is from the FZ6 manual, these are pretty reasonable shift points for average-paced riding:

Shift up points:
1st → 2nd: 30 km/h (19 mi/h)
2nd → 3rd: 45 km/h (28 mi/h)
3rd → 4th: 60 km/h (37 mi/h)
4th → 5th: 75 km/h (47 mi/h)
5th → 6th: 90 km/h (56 mi/h)


These make decent downshift points as well IMO, that way if you need to come to a quick stop you are probably only 1-2 gears away from neutral or 1st which can be done quick enough without getting jammed up at an intersection, and it's easy to rev-match because you are just hopping around +/- 1 gear in general (because you should in the "right" gear most of the time).

I would say however that I don't downshift back to first untill nearly stopped because I hate the "clunk" if you shift into first at speed, once the bike is rolling it will pull in 2nd just fine for most situations.

 

[AlanB]

Matching revs? Do it every time. Same as in a car, it's the only way to downshift smoothly without upsetting the suspension. I finally mastered heel/toe in a car (braking while downshifting and matching revs all at the same time), but gave up on the bike version. Couldn't master simultaneous front brake and blip, and rear brake only with blip through me off for bringing the front brake into play. Now if I am coming up to a corner or stop, I'll usually do a 3-2 d/s at about 6K, which seems to put me around 8K in second gear and gives some good compression braking.

 

[abacall]

This table is from the FZ6 manual, these are pretty reasonable shift points for average-paced riding:

Shift up points:
1st → 2nd: 30 km/h (19 mi/h)
2nd → 3rd: 45 km/h (28 mi/h)
3rd → 4th: 60 km/h (37 mi/h)
4th → 5th: 75 km/h (47 mi/h)
5th → 6th: 90 km/h (56 mi/h)

Personally, I think those shift points are way too low. That makes you shift at ~5K, meaning that you're between 4-5K at normal riding. That is simply too low to get any real power from the bike and makes moving quickly out of the way impossible.

I keep the bike between 5.5 - 6.5K for cruising in town. If I'm in the country and I know I won't need the power, the recommended works.
Also keep in mind that the stator doesn't charge until after 5K. If you are always shifting before that, you are never recharging the system.

 

[cbzdel]

This table is from the FZ6 manual, these are pretty reasonable shift points for average-paced riding:

Shift up points:
1st → 2nd: 30 km/h (19 mi/h)
2nd → 3rd: 45 km/h (28 mi/h)
3rd → 4th: 60 km/h (37 mi/h)
4th → 5th: 75 km/h (47 mi/h)
5th → 6th: 90 km/h (56 mi/h)


These make decent downshift points as well IMO, that way if you need to come to a quick stop you are probably only 1-2 gears away from neutral or 1st which can be done quick enough without getting jammed up at an intersection, and it's easy to rev-match because you are just hopping around +/- 1 gear in general (because you should in the "right" gear most of the time).

I would say however that I don't downshift back to first untill nearly stopped because I hate the "clunk" if you shift into first at speed, once the bike is rolling it will pull in 2nd just fine for most situations.

Here is the chart for the FZ6R:

Its quite a bit different! Now everyone can understand why I was in 6th gear all the time when I first joined the board haha!

 

[Wiseric]

Blipping while downshifting on the bike seemed to come naturally to me, I probably picked it up subconsciously as a youngster when I got a lift on my dads bikes. Apparently it uses a fraction more fuel but is so much satisfying to have a smooth down change. Never really mastered in a car though but then a cars gearbox is a little bit dfferrent to a bikes so it's not so important to me.

 

[The Toecutter]

I just realised today that I blip the throttle on each and every downshift to smooth things out. Does everyone else?

I blip the throttle every time I pull the clutch when i'm slowing down.I got used to doing this as a kid because most of the junk I rode back then had problems idiling.......

 

[AlanB]

Apparently it uses a fraction more fuel but is so much satisfying to have a smooth down change.

Gotta be easier on the clutch, too, don't ya think?

 

[FZyLarry]

I'm a blipper. Like shreveport1, most of my early bikes were pretty thrashed and blipping for downshifts was pretty much a necessity.