Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Gear Position Indicator

we'll I've been keeping a tab of my gears and it seems to be working good. I've been rev-matching (or close to it) it back down to 2nd. So far so good, but sometimes I forget what gear I'm in still and take it all the way back down to first (getting it into gear at about 20mph, doesn't require any extra work work) and then to 2nd.

Sev wrote:Gear Position Indicator

my bike is too old i guess, it didn't come with one.

If it screams I change up
If it chugs I change down

If I am slowing down approaching a junction or corner etc I change down to engine brake.

Sometimes I get it wrong and bounce it into first when I thought I was changing into second, but it reeally is no big deal.

GSI's are for big jessies...

I try to AVOID looking at the Tachometer when riding. It just takes too much time/effort.

As an MSF instructor, I tell folks who worry about road speed/engine gear to NOT look down at the indicators, they're already trying to pay attention to enough things. For the most part, as adults who've spent time driving, they have a basic sense of what "10-15 mph" feels like. If they're going too slowly, I'll tell them to increase speed for a particular excercise (newbies almost NEVER go too fast).

Once you're out on the road, you can continue with listening feeling the engine for the correct gear. That should be sufficient to know whether you're in the "right" gear for your speed, or not.

Having a gear indicator is a crutch that in my opinion can lead you astray.

P

OMG I saw this thread and thought, well if I dont feel wind on my face im wearing a full face helmet if I feel extremely hot on a 50 degree day I am wearing my armored jacket with insert. If my hands are warm on a 20 degree day that means im wearing my heated gloves.

Then I opened it and realized it was about what we wear but actually shifting lol.

anywho I dont have a tach on my bike. really dont see a use for one either. Just listen to the bike and it will tell you when to shift.

I use to count.. now I can tell when I am rounding the curve... my left foot does things while my mind is thinking about all the crap I need to do at work... I guess it is practice.. I don't know when I stopped counting.. near round the time I stopped thinking about the turns before I took them. I guess it just happens..

I rely on engine RPM and my speed. I've gotten to the point where I know what gear tops out at what speed or when it's close to topping out.

Lion_Lady wrote:I try to AVOID looking at the Tachometer when riding. It just takes too much time/effort.

As an MSF instructor, I tell folks who worry about road speed/engine gear to NOT look down at the indicators, they're already trying to pay attention to enough things. For the most part, as adults who've spent time driving, they have a basic sense of what "10-15 mph" feels like. If they're going too slowly, I'll tell them to increase speed for a particular excercise (newbies almost NEVER go too fast).

Once you're out on the road, you can continue with listening feeling the engine for the correct gear. That should be sufficient to know whether you're in the "right" gear for your speed, or not.

Having a gear indicator is a crutch that in my opinion can lead you astray.

P

I have a few different bikes and they all have different feels. However, I find the tachometer is a very useful tool not going between them but in my commuter as well. It can tell you your speed, give a a good indication of available power left in a gear, make sure your engine is idling correctly (a too low idle in some of my bikes will keep oil from circulating as it's supposed to do) to name a few uses.

storysunfolding wrote:

Lion_Lady wrote:I try to AVOID looking at the Tachometer when riding. It just takes too much time/effort.

As an MSF instructor, I tell folks who worry about road speed/engine gear to NOT look down at the indicators, they're already trying to pay attention to enough things. For the most part, as adults who've spent time driving, they have a basic sense of what "10-15 mph" feels like. If they're going too slowly, I'll tell them to increase speed for a particular excercise (newbies almost NEVER go too fast).

Once you're out on the road, you can continue with listening feeling the engine for the correct gear. That should be sufficient to know whether you're in the "right" gear for your speed, or not.

Having a gear indicator is a crutch that in my opinion can lead you astray.

P

I have a few different bikes and they all have different feels. However, I find the tachometer is a very useful tool not going between them but in my commuter as well. It can tell you your speed, give a a good indication of available power left in a gear, make sure your engine is idling correctly (a too low idle in some of my bikes will keep oil from circulating as it's supposed to do) to name a few uses.

I wish I could look at my tach for clues to idle speed, etc. Unfortunately, with my bike being a late 90's (99 to be exact) Nighthawk, it has been afflicted with STDS, or Sudden Tachometer Death Syndrome. This seems to be a common thing for these bikes, sadly. I only really wanted it to work while trying to tune my bike after I got it. Now that I've had that done for me, I'm seriously considering ditching the tach altogether.

As for the gears, my biggest problem is knowing whether I've shifted all the way up to 5th gear yet. I'm still quite a newbie at riding bikes, so I haven't become accustomed to the RPM's these things kick out compared to my truck. Cruising along at 75 on my Nighthawk sounds like I'm killing it, but I'm pretty sure it's only because I am used to a much lower RPM range.

gsus wrote:I have a 1983 Honda Shadow with a 6 speed transmission. In the straights it's fine, I can drop it down a gear or 2 if need be, the problem is when I'm approaching a turn. I seem to have difficulty remembering what gear I'm in, and don't know how many down shifts I need to do. So I end up shifting all the way down to first and then back up to the appropriate gear (usually 2nd gear, around my neighborhood). What do you guys do to keep track of your selected gear?

heheheheh, If im going to forget (Ill admit i do sometimes) it usually is when getting around 5th/6th gear on the freeways, especially when stuff is going on around me and I lose track of what i was doing gear wise, I usually just confirm with the tacho whether im in 5th or 6th.

Ya get used to it, and mostly you can tell by rpms, but honestly no one really picks a gear by its number, you select a gear thats right for you at that time, doesnt matter what one your in, as long as it gets you to where you wanna be with out using to much gas