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In my minimal experience, and this is helped by my experience driving a manual tranny car before, you really don't want to downshift to 1st gear. I mean if you are moving very slowly in a parking lot for example, and you downshift from 3rd to 2nd, and you get slow enough for 1st...what I do is just put it in neutral after 2nd gear..

..when it has slowed to nearly a crawl, then I might put it into 1st to move along - at this point, putting it into first is more like starting from a standstill, because the bike is moving so slow. But i would rarely downshift from 2nd to 1st, because at that slow a speed you can kind of roll for a minute until you are ready to put it back in first.

That probably made no sense to anyone. lol.

On a bike you want to do it differently... When you get down to about 10MPH hold the throttle a bit (or "blip it") to spin the engine faster and put it in first... then use the clutch to modulate really low speed operation (a burst of power here, another there). That way, if a pack of really fat people in spandex charge you intent on ripping you from the bike and distorting your world view you won't stall as you attempt to flee.

when i started riding, i was terrified to downshift because i knew i could lock up the back wheel and eat pavement. just got slow for a bit and practice any part of riding that makes you uncomfortable as much as you can at low speed in a parking lot until your comfortable. now, i am pretty smooth with it although i still make mistakes sometimes and drop to 1st instead of 2nd.

good luck. and the people here will help you with ANY question no matter how dumb it may seem im sure everyone here had to learn it at some point. thats why we are all here to learn and share.

not to disagree with Bike Poseur, but i would never leave my bike in neutral when i am under way. if a car starts to back up and you need to move i'd rather be in first (or second depending on speed) and be actively in motion than just rolling along. this would allow you to escape more easily if you have to.

the same sort of thing for being in neutral at a light, you want to be able to take off if you need to.

^^what bok said^^ neutral is for lazy people and its dangerous.

Sevulturus wrote:someone's probably already done this for you, but

1) you're in 3rd
2) pull in the clutch
3) release the throttle
4) step down on the shifter
5) rev the throttle to higher RPM then it was at while you were riding
6) smoothly release the clutch

you're now in second

You skipped a step:

1) you're in 3rd
2) pull in the clutch
---->Watch your tach spin to redline and listen to your rev limiter kicking in
3) release the throttle
4) step down on the shifter
5) rev the throttle to higher RPM then it was at while you were riding
6) smoothly release the clutch



Plus, step #5 is unnecessary and negates the effects of engine braking until the RPM's calm back down.

ZooTech wrote: 2) pull in the clutch
---->Watch your tach spin to redline and listen to your rev limiter kicking in

in enjoy that part though, makes me think im riding faster because it sounds so loud and fast :-p



JWF

I'm not sure what the canadian starter course it like, but you might want to take the american MSF course (assuming you're here in the states) now. You'll certainly master downshifting before you pass it. It's really quite a good course.

I did what you did in a panic stop, even when I was heavy on the brakes I still was downshifting (case ofhabit). I must have been downshifting too quick in comparison to my braking and let the clutch out and hear a nice skidding sound.

Saved it though, just a little fish tail.

ZooTech wrote:
Plus, step #5 is unnecessary and negates the effects of engine braking until the RPM's calm back down.

step #5 was unnesscessary on my old CX500, but the bandit does need to be rev matched on downshift or it will try to introduce "the boys" to the gas tank, 4 cylinder bikes, especially sportbikes have very strong engine braking compared to a twin or single.

besides its much easier to rev match on the bandit since I no longer have to squeeze the brake lever really hard like I did on the CX500, the bandit only takes 2 fingers to stop.