Engine Breaking? Hopefully not. Engine braking - is that OK?
 

Maybe a silly Question but im a relatively new young rider... getting to know my bikes.... but i have a silly question which i havent really thought about.... Does Engine breaking damage your bike or have any effect on it at all......

Just curious because i do engine break every now and again!!

D

Re: Engine Breaking
 

No; using engine braking is fine - so long as when you shift down the gears, you dont over rev the bike!

Re: Engine Breaking
 

:D:):rave:

Re: Engine Breaking
 

Engine breaking is seriously bad news.
Engine braking, however, is usually perfectly fine if you're gentle with the clutch and don't let it over-rev.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist being the english teacher. I tried but just coudn't leave the keyboard alone!)

Incidentally, despite my sarcasm above, OP I don't believe there's such a thing as a silly question. Asking questions is the only way to learn.

Re: Engine Breaking
 

So, you downshift through the gears to slow you down. There's 2 possible sources of damage.

Not blipping the throttle and just banging down through the gears, this is never going to be good as it makes crunchy noises. Crunchy noises in gearboxes are generally expensive.

Downshifting at 10krpm, this is going to rev the balls off the engine with the possibility of breaking things due to the extra load on everything, for example the camchain will have far more inertial forces on it than normal, you risk valve float, and piston speed is higher, giving more stress on conrods.
All these things are possibly very catastrophic and instant failure.

So, IMO, do it smoothly, and don't try to get it to rev higher than the limiter and it's fine.

Re: Engine Breaking
 

A wise man (who on account of it being his Birthday today, must be even wiser now than when he told me this in answer to the same question)

Using engine braking along with regular braking is fine and good.

Using engine braking alone is not so good as clutches are more expensive than brake pads.

Re: Engine Breaking
 

A Valuable Point.......... Thank You!!

Re: Engine Breaking
 

Depends if you're going to put enough miles on a bike to need changing the clutch. Anyway what's a set of clutch plates cost? 80 quid? Two sets of front pads replaced twice, 80 quid and maybe four rears, 32 quid?

Not really a relevant arguement I reckon.

Using engine braking can be smoother and more controlled IMO.

Re: Engine Breaking
 

Also, how does engine braking wear clutches out if you match the speeds then fully release it? I don't think the wear penalty will be that big.

Re: Engine Breaking? Hopefully not. Engine braking - is that OK?
 

Just do both engine braking and normal braking smoothly together, thats the best!