Reverse gear box shift

[lukemillar]

Does anyone here (looking in the racers/trackdayer's direction) run reverse gear shift on their bikes? What are the advantages? - to make it easier to shift up in long corners when you're cranked right over etc? Just curious really

Luke

I think it's for positive clutchless upshifts mostly

Think it would confuse the hell out of me. But then if you've only got one bike you might get used to it.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by lukemillar

to make it easier to shift up in long corners when you're cranked right over etc?

I think thats the main reason.

Hmm I have wondered...how many times have I messed up an upshift and how many times have I messed up a downshift?

I'd say hundreds versus zero. Although I never mess up upshifts when absolutely spanking it, only when kind of using the mid range in a hurry. I do wonder if it would be better if I reversed it.

As fizzwheel says, I think it's primarily for upchanges while having it cranked right over. IIRC, RandyO has his set up that way (very cheap/easy "mod" to do, if you're interested). A lad I was talking to who raced in minitwins has his set up the standard way, because he rode road bikes for a while before racing and just couldn't ever get used to it the 'wrong way round'. He said it never really caused him any problems while racing.

I read somewhere a while ago that it is generally considered better to have a reverse shift pattern (eg press down on lever to change up) however when the standards were being set, it was generally considered more logical to have the normal shift pattern (eg up on lever to change up) and that is the one that "stuck". Bottom line is it depends on what you are used to but I suspect that reverse is slightly better otherwise racers would not choose it.

[northwind]

Me, I'd sooner miss a shift on the way up the box than on the way down, since hitting a false neutral on the way into a corner when expecting engine braking can be very unsettling... Not that I miss many anyway To me, the fix for missing upshifts is to upshift better, on the road at least.