Riding/Rolling In Neutral?

Hello!
I have a car with manual transmission and I noticed it is very convinient to use Neutral on some roads. For example on the road to my house I can roll for about 5+ continues kilometers on N (I do not shut down the engine, just put to N).
Question:
Hot to do it with motorcycle? Should I just use the clutch or switch to N? Is it ok to roll up to a stop light by using the clutch (small distance for about 100-200 meters)? Maybe a stupied questions, but I always afraid that clutch line can be broken some day...
Thank you!

Why would you want to roll along in neutral, as I understand it your gearbox will not last keep doing that. Also you will not be fully in control of the car especially if you have to break or speed up suddenly in selecting the correct gear, each to their own I suppose.

I somtimes snick it into neutral when coming up to lights that have just turned red, and that i know stay red for ages.

otherwise, i wait till the bike is at standstill

I dont know how good/bad it is for the bike though...

Matt

Its a funny one this. If you try to get the bike into neutral while still doing a fair speed the shafts in the gearbox won't be at all happy. You get the same effect if you select down too many gears too quickly when slowing for the lights for instance. On the GSX if I go from 6th to 3rd while coasting from say 50mph it sounds like the gearbox is going to drop out of the bike, it almost bangs into gear and thats with the clutch in. I can't remember the details but the shafts with all the cogs in the gearbox are rotating at different speeds and you are ok with synchromesh selecting once or twice but if you keep going then the difference in rotational speed between the two shafts gets too great and they slam together instead of meshing smoothly.

To cut a long story short just pull your clutch in....thats what I used to do down long gradients on a CBR1000 to save on fuel.

I thought it was bad. I guess its ok at 10mph or less though, when i sometimes go through 3 gears from 4th to first, for example.

downhills i just stick it in a high gear (6th) and let it roll down engine braking dosnt hold me back too much

Matt

Only thing that would be negative would be letting the clutch back in too quickly, same effect as a good dollop of brakes. Excessive clutch wear if you kept doing it but if you blip the throttle to speed the engine up as you let in the clutch then its not a problem.

It pains me to watch youtube videos of riders who don't blip the throttle when changing down, they must get through a new clutch every year and a new rear tyre every 3k's!

Originally Posted by RhythmJunkie

Only thing that would be negative would be letting the clutch back in too quickly, same effect as a good dollop of brakes. Excessive clutch wear if you kept doing it but if you blip the throttle to speed the engine up as you let in the clutch then its not a problem.

It pains me to watch youtube videos of riders who don't blip the throttle when changing down, they must get through a new clutch every year and a new rear tyre every 3k's!

Ooo i hate it too, i either feed the clutch back out slowly, or give a good blip - its quite important on the SV and other bikes with no slipper clutch I think, makes everything more stable

Matt

[Essex of Essex]

Highway Code 102

Coasting. The term describes a vehicle traveling in neutral or with the clutch pressed down. Do not coast,whatever the driving conditions. It reduces driver control because

• engine brakeing is eliminated
• vehicle speed downhillwill increase quickly
• increased use of the footbrake can reduce its effectiveness
• steering response will be affected particularly o bends and corners
• it may be more difficult to select the appropriate gearwhen needed

This is in a section of the code applicable to drivers and riders.

You also use up more fuel, any modern (post 94) engine will use fuel costing where as in gear it will use zip, nil. (fuel injection only)
you also loose all points above (essex of essex)

[Stu]

Originally Posted by viva_unix

Hello!
I have a car with manual transmission and I noticed it is very convinient to use Neutral on some roads. For example on the road to my house I can roll for about 5+ continues kilometers on N (I do not shut down the engine, just put to N).
Question:
Hot to do it with motorcycle? Should I just use the clutch or switch to N? Is it ok to roll up to a stop light by using the clutch (small distance for about 100-200 meters)? Maybe a stupied questions, but I always afraid that clutch line can be broken some day...
Thank you!

I do it in the car like you.
I don't agree with the post above that it uses more fuel. If I coast for a mile down the road without losing speed (slight downhill) compared with engine breaking meaning I have to accelerate again.
Anyway, I would not do it on the bike as you could fall off! yes you lose centrifugal forces of the engine keeping you upright.
Did your instructor not tell you to keep the revs up on the U turn? Did he not explain properley why? It's not worth saving a bit of fuel & falling off.
But if you still want to do it, pull the clutch in don't try & find Neutral then try & find 6th gear again when you're ready to accelerate. It is not a car gearbox where you can just choose any gear you want in one movement.
The only time I might say oK would be pulling up to a stop in second & just put it into Neutral instead of first then neutral. But that not even what I do.