riding downhill

[Dichotomous]

hills are those nice little things that let you realize that life has its ups and down, and after all the hard work is often a great veiw and a high point, but then it goes down and that same beautiful hill also allows you to realize that life sucks as well and that you will have to work hard again to get to that beautifull hill top and into the good air.
that being said if was coming down a long hill I'd probably neutralize it, or at least clutch it in, I dont see how with the clutch completely in that it will hurt anything, if anything reduce drivetrain wear, and increase fuel milage as well. if I am missing something completely let me know, or if this is just technique, then, well, do what feels comfortable and seems to work for you.

[Mud]

when i go downhill, i hop off the bike and walk it down

[jmillheiser]

iirc the '06 gixxer might have a slipper clutch. This further complicates things.

on a non-slipper clutch equipped bike a sudden surge of engine braking (i.e. dragging the clutch on a 4th to 1st downshift at 65 or so) will likely cause the back tire to lose traction and attempt to pass the front tire, usually resulting in a lowside at best, or more likely a highside once the back tire regains traction.

The effect is very similar to stomping on your back brake as hard as you can and letting go as the bike starts to go sideways.

The slipper clutch is supposed to slip when you downshift reducing the amount of engine braking to the back wheel and reducing the chance of the back tire braking traction. Slipper clutches are very expensive and popular with racers as it allows them to downshift faster.

[Sev]

That being said if was coming down a long hill I'd probably neutralize it, or at least clutch it in, I dont see how with the clutch completely in that it will hurt anything, if anything reduce drivetrain wear, and increase fuel milage as well. if I am missing something completely let me know, or if this is just technique, then, well, do what feels comfortable and seems to work for you.

The problem with that, is that you're giving up 1/2 your ability to control the bike, and matching revs to speed when you're in neutral/clutch in rolling down a hill is not all that easy. Just like going around a corner you want to be able to keep power to the back. Say someone is coming up behind you really fast. If I'm using engine braking to maintain my speed then all I need to do is roll my right hand a little and I speed up.

You need to release the brakes, blip the throttle ease out the clutch and hope that you're in the right gear to hit the powerband. From there you need to accelerate in order to escape the threat coming up from behind.

Additionally if the hill gets shallower or steeper I can compensate by just adjusting the throttle slightly, while if you have the clutch in, you either need to let loose or ride more on the brakes which is just as easy, but reduces your ability to accelerate or decelerate.

Don't forget that having your front brakes on while at speed and trying to turn is a BAD idea.

[shane-o]

hills are those nice little things that let you realize that life has its ups and down, and after all the hard work is often a great veiw and a high point, but then it goes down and that same beautiful hill also allows you to realize that life sucks as well and that you will have to work hard again to get to that beautifull hill top and into the good air.
that being said if was coming down a long hill I'd probably neutralize it, or at least clutch it in, I dont see how with the clutch completely in that it will hurt anything, if anything reduce drivetrain wear, and increase fuel milage as well. if I am missing something completely let me know, or if this is just technique, then, well, do what feels comfortable and seems to work for you.

another issue with riding the clutch (angel riding) or sticking ya bike in neutral whether your going down hill or not, is you lose a lot of your ability to brake

if you brake with the engine under load you will stop in half the distance than if you try to brake while pulling in the clutch or out of gear... try it

[runsilent]

Here's a pretty good read on downhills:

http://www.msgroup.org/DISCUSS.asp

Scroll down to #128

[Chris8187]

With a car, shifting into neutral or with clutch out wouldn't really be a big deal, but with a bike it is different. It is harder to match revs with a bike just because the rpm range is usually twice the size of a cars and like shane-o said, you do lose a good amount of braking ability. Engine breaking is a lot more pronounced in bikes than in manual cars even from my brief experience with bikes.

[Dichotomous]

this is kinda like the flip face helmet kinda thing. Not trying to spark a flame war or get flamed, but honestly it seems to be another "practical and usefull VS completely perfectly safe" debate. no its not perfectly safe, in car or bike. So? neither is being on the road in a car or bike.... and yes, in those situations, when there are very specific cases happening all at once, with a bike that has high revs, yada yada, then it could become a bad thing. once you start to release the clutch you could tell if you were in the wrong gear, my bike has less rev's than my old civic did, people dont drive badly around here.... but excuses begone, yeah its dangerous, but not really to the point to completely dangerous in every situation, this would be part of that personal judgement thing, there are some hills and situations I will ride the clutch or neutralize it, but I dont let any hard and fast rules apply to it. You are risking yourself intentionally being on the road, you are doing so more perhaps in certain situations by doing this technique, never said that wasnt true. I do belive the margin of risk is negliable if sound judgement is used to NOT do it in high speed traffic or around turns or in the rain or such, know your bike and know your situation and decide if its a good idea or not, if you chose wrong, its your own, or my own for me, fault. thats my last post in this thread, go ahead and prove me wrong that personal judgement is not the best idea by using very specific conditions.....

[shane-o]

this is kinda like the flip face helmet kinda thing. Not trying to spark a flame war or get flamed, but honestly it seems to be another "practical and usefull VS completely perfectly safe" debate. no its not perfectly safe, in car or bike. So? neither is being on the road in a car or bike.... and yes, in those situations, when there are very specific cases happening all at once, with a bike that has high revs, yada yada, then it could become a bad thing. once you start to release the clutch you could tell if you were in the wrong gear, my bike has less rev's than my old civic did, people dont drive badly around here.... but excuses begone, yeah its dangerous, but not really to the point to completely dangerous in every situation, this would be part of that personal judgement thing, there are some hills and situations I will ride the clutch or neutralize it, but I dont let any hard and fast rules apply to it. You are risking yourself intentionally being on the road, you are doing so more perhaps in certain situations by doing this technique, never said that wasnt true. I do belive the margin of risk is negliable if sound judgement is used to NOT do it in high speed traffic or around turns or in the rain or such, know your bike and know your situation and decide if its a good idea or not, if you chose wrong, its your own, or my own for me, fault. thats my last post in this thread, go ahead and prove me wrong that personal judgement is not the best idea by using very specific conditions.....

mate, im pretty sure no one was dissing you at all.

riding the clutch in the grand scheme of things can be a usefull technique IMHO

and as you said, you have to look at everything in its context and situation, and then decide if its a good idea... i agree with you

[Sev]

Actually, I think the most important thing is not having it in neutral down a twisty road. Because you don't really want to be braking and turning, that's the basis of my argument. You're better off (in my opinion) keeping some power to the back tire and working your way around the corners. It's just smoother.