Down shifting to decelerate?

[Fallout]

Originally Posted by dkid413

Your tyre is the only part of the bike in contact with the road so when you scrub off speed I'd have thought the the friction through the tyre is the same whether you use engine braking or brakes.

I'd agree with that, if done smoothly. But in the heat of riding quickly, that sudden bite of the clutch would probably be like a quick stamp on the back brake, rather than a slow press. At least, that's how it sometimes feels. Probably just a weakness in my riding. I feel like that sudden moment of bite when the clutch comes out might be harsher to tyres (and the drive chain) than smooth progressive braking.

Don't get me wrong. I smoothly let out the clutch most of the time, but I'm prone to errors when pleasure riding, and preoccupied with the approaching corner.

[QUOTE=AZZ3R;2717230] Blipping your throttle aswell as going down the box smoothen's the gear changes, doesn't stop any harshness. If anything it makes it worse because your upping the revs & lowering the gear.
QUOTE]

Not sure about that one. See this thread http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...=blip+throttle

Explains what blipping the throttle achieves

Originally Posted by Fallout

I'd agree with that, if done smoothly. But in the heat of riding quickly, that sudden bite of the clutch would probably be like a quick stamp on the back brake, rather than a slow press. .

Just a riding style thing. If it bothers you then make a concious effort to change. If it doesn't then don't

Originally Posted by flymo

Entitled to your own opinion of course.

But the brakes are designed to slow down the bike, they do it very effectively and the level of control is influenced by your skill with them, not a technical limitation.

A little engine braking assistance isnt going to do any harm, in fact it does actually help to steady the bike, but relying on it too much is dangerous and potentially damaging to your engine. Bear in mind that rev limiters have no influence on the engine speed when its driven by the wheel rather than the ignition system.

Using the front and rear brake together properly is difficult, but only because of lack of practice, its because most people do not use them both together.

Hi everyone. Agree with above. If you need to brake you use the brakes, not down change and use engine braking. The two reasons are more wear and tear and second is if you aren't using the brakes then the rear brake light isn't illuminated.....

This is based on car driving (I don't have enough experience on a bike to comment fully) and I was taught this by driving instructor and advanced driving intructors.

However if you need a lower gear for corner or need to scrub off 5-10 mph when travelling 60+ then knocking down a gear would be fine. If coming to a stop brakes imo are a must.

Cheers

Rich

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[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Fallout

When you come off the clutch and the twin torque kicks in, it can slow you down pretty quick. I wonder if that can cause split second locks (or near to locks) when you come off the clutch, wearing the tyre quicker. Blipping the throttle would probably help in that case.

hhhmmm are you maybe referring to the back torque on the clutch then if so you are down shifting way too soon and not matching the revs.

let the revs drop first to an acceptable level (its a twin it will drop fast when you shut the go juice off) say 4-5k then blip throttle to 6-7k pull clutch in change down a gear while still at 6-7k then let clutch out. by the time you let the clutch out you will be doing 4-5k again but because you are now in a lower gear you will be going slower. next gear then reduce by 1k revs so on and so on till you come to a stop with the brakes. if it feels jerky when your doing this then your doing it wrong, well that is unless your ragging the titz out of the bike but doing this will just ware your consumables quicker.

smoothness is the name of the game. for instance cracking the throttle open out of corners will eat chains, sprockets and tyres, so instead roll the throttle on. be smooth......

Ok I know I'm a girl and therefore probably don't ride as "hard" as you lads but humour me here

I also blip the throttle on downshifting, I very rarely use the front brake unless making good progress in the twisties. I was taught that good use of engine braking indicates better forward planning in comparison to slamming on the brakes all the time. This thread is the first I quickly learned to blip, and apart from loving the sound it's the riding style I'm accustomed to. Having had to ride all winter and on various crappy road surfaces (eee it's grim oop norf ) I've a tendency to avoid the front brake unless the roads are dry as bone as I'm paranoid about the surface and the front washing out (it's not a nice feeling!) And at least I have to change my brake pads less so swings and roundabouts

At the end of the day you ride how you ride and feel most comfortable with, it's not like engine braking is the only thing to contribute to excessive engine wear. You're not going to know when your engine finally gives up the ghost exactly what factors contributed so just ride it

[flymo]

Originally Posted by missyburd

Ok I know I'm a girl and therefore probably don't ride as "hard" as you lads but humour me here

I also blip the throttle on downshifting, I very rarely use the front brake unless making good progress in the twisties. I was taught that good use of engine braking indicates better forward planning in comparison to slamming on the brakes all the time. This thread is the first I quickly learned to blip, and apart from loving the sound it's the riding style I'm accustomed to. Having had to ride all winter and on various crappy road surfaces (eee it's grim oop norf ) I've a tendency to avoid the front brake unless the roads are dry as bone as I'm paranoid about the surface and the front washing out (it's not a nice feeling!) And at least I have to change my brake pads less so swings and roundabouts

At the end of the day you ride how you ride and feel most comfortable with, it's not like engine braking is the only thing to contribute to excessive engine wear. You're not going to know when your engine finally gives up the ghost exactly what factors contributed so just ride it

Like I said, nothing wrong with a little gentle engine braking helping you out, especially if you are gently slowing down. But good use of the brakes doesn't have to be "slamming the brakes on".

Getting rid of the fear to use your front brakes would be a useful thing, when the cr&p really hits the fan and you need to slow down good and proper (not always something that you'll be planning for) then that front brake might well save your bacon. It will perform far better than any other method of slowing the bike down in a hurry.

Plus, brakes are brakes, that's what they're there for.

+1
front brake is the primary way of slowing the bike down. As you say, ride however you're comfortable but don't negate it all together. Smooth application shouldn't result in catastrophy in most cases. Grabbing a handful might...

If you're dropping the clutch on downshifts without matching engine speed to road speed, yes, you'll probably wear the tyre as you're forcing the tyre to go at a different speed to the road surface travelling under it.. With the SV it's quite easy to get the back to slide doing this....

If you want tyres to last longer, ride smoother, BUT having quickly read the other thread you started about tread depth, I don't think you state exactly which tyre you have. If you've got a sportier tyre, the middle bit won't last that many miles.... If you've worn out a sport touring tyre in a couple of thousand miles, then your riding style is probably a bit extreme....

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Fallout

Do you guys reckon engine braking contributes to tyre wear? When you come off the clutch and the twin torque kicks in, it can slow you down pretty quick. I wonder if that can cause split second locks (or near to locks) when you come off the clutch, wearing the tyre quicker. Blipping the throttle would probably help in that case.

It's meant to be for sliding the *rse end round into the corners isn't it?



Like anything in riding, it is a compromise... the purpose of a shift is to get into the right gear for "whatever", do you do it the "fastest" way and pagger down 5 gears at once while braking at absolute maximum rate? Do you blip and shift so that the tyre is "loose" all the way in to the corner?

If you are smooth (this is KEY!) then downshifting to keep the revs around 6k will probably not cause massive tyre wear. Using 9k engine braking all the time would probably see a difference.

However if you don't know how to change gear properly and get a lurch when you let the clutch out, then this will tear tyres...