Lockup

Locked up the back wheel yesterday when I accidentally went into neutral(not pressing gear down enuf) when I went into gear the backend locked up temporarily and did a wee skid, all part of the learning process me thinks, is this a common thing, or am I $*&% lol!

it happens to everyone. Although- less so the more i ride! bombing in to a corner then hitting neutral def. isn't fun! just learn to blip the throttle when changing down!

Has happened to me a few times too. I still haven't got the hang of throttle-blipping.

[KnightRider]

Interesting, I havent passed my test yet but I am aware that I do already blip the throttle when changing down. I guess this is a habit that I have developed from driving the car!

[G]

I have also done this recently and wondered what the feck i had done, had a nice little twitch of the rear end

So when changing down to say go around a slow corner, if you hit neutral instead of 1st it will lock up?

The lock up will happen when you go into gear, if you hit a neutral the rear wheel won't do anything, as there is nothing to stop it turning freely.

Example: (All figures are made up, I can't remember what revs=what speed in each gear for an SV)

30mph = 5,000 rpm in 2nd = 8,000 rpm in 1st

Bimbling along at 30mph in 2nd you decide to change down to first. The engine has to go from 5000 to 8000 rpm. The only thing that can change the speed of the engine (if you don't blip the throttle) is the rear wheel turning. However if the force of the engine is greater than the grip available to the rear wheel, the engine will stop the wheel, rather than the wheel accelerating the engine.
Instead, if you blip the throttle during the down change, you increase the rpm that the engine is turning at, so the rear wheel doesn't have to accelerate the engine at all (if you do it perfectly) and away you go.

It's all about matching revs to the gears your going to be in after the change, but you don't need to be spot on a healthy blip will do just fine.

All of the above is as I understand it, and may be totally wrong. I've got a slipper clutch now, so it's not as bad, but I still blip (I like the sound )

What happened in the above cases (I guess) is that going into neutral allowed the revs to drop away much more than normal, so the rear wheel had EVEN MORE to do to accelerate the engine once a gear was engaged again. Hence the lock up.

Very good explanation rigor, and spot on.

The only thing I have to add is that the SV, being a V twin, is more susceptible to locking the wheel on downchanges than an IL4 (even less prone on a 2 stroke) because of the increased engine braking.

Dont worry, it is easy to do and you will soon learn (or crash trying )


One of the few "downsides" to the many upsides of a V twin!

you can lessen the locking effect by letting the clutch our slowly instead of blipping the throttle, but blipping works better, quicker and sounds better!

Originally Posted by graemepaterson

I have also done this recently and wondered what the feck i had done, had a nice little twitch of the rear end

So when changing down to say go around a slow corner, if you hit neutral instead of 1st it will lock up?

Rigor's got the full explanation but to add something on, hitting neutral while going round a corner will do something else entirely and it isn't very nice when it happens at all...

Having the engine in gear (particularly on a twin with the greater engine breaking) will dramatically change the line your bike takes through the corner. It depends on what you are doing with the throttle but if you are rolling off then the engine braking cuts out and you will drift wide, if accelerating/feathering it you don't have the help of the engine to hold your line by driving you through the turn.

In short, hitting neutral while in/approaching a turn makes cornering very disconcerting as you will drift wide. Horrible feeling when it happens but no problem if you counter-steer and don't get target-fixated.

How should i perform the "blip"? I normaly do it as i shift the gear, i.e. clutch, gear+ blips, clutch out.

Or should i

Clutch in, gear, blip, clutch out? i.e. all separate?

All i know is that if i dont blip, its not a smooth downchange as the clutch re-engages

Matt