revxus wrote:I'm sort of in the same situation, but a little more confused. Once in first gear, do you always press the clutch in before shifting to the next gear up? Do you always downshift when coming to a complete stop? What if you're just reducing speed to the flow of traffic? Must you downshift then?
I know this may go off topic, but I won't be able to to get into the MSF class until 7/28.
shifting is same concept as cars. basically, it's all about matching you speed w/ the engine speed.
pressing the clutch before you change gears is the normal way. some people including me do clutchless shifting but im not gonna get into that.
you need to downshift when coming to complete stop. the bike can do it but it's not good to start from a stop from a gear other than 1st.
if your speed is too low for the gear you're in then yeah, you need to downshift. you'll notice this when the engine feels like it's almost dying you need to downshift.
when you get used to your bike more, you'll be easily able to tell what rpms/speed for each gear to function well enough.
OK, so I went out today to give things another shot. Things were going great for the first 20 minutes or so, and i felt very in control. Then, gradually, it just started not working again. This i'm noticing is a trend, things start out better in the ride than when they finnish. By the end i get the same scenerio - no matter how slowly I release the clutch, the thing stalls. Effectively, a set of exercises I can do at the beginning becomes impossible at the end. Is it possible this could be a heating issue?
Also, I noticed something I have been doing that may be affecting things. When I downshift into first before I stop, I typically have been grabbing the clutch, downshifting, and then stopping -without releasing the clutch before I stop. Is this effectively leaving the bike in second for when i try to start again?
buddhacide wrote: no matter how slowly I release the clutch, the thing stalls.
Two things will stop you from stalling, pulling in the clutch again and #2 give it some gas!
It's not just about letting the clutch out slowly, you also have to give it some gas as you do it. Pull in the clutch,kick it into 1st gear, give it a little gas, slowly let the clutch out, you start to move a bit, give it more gas, steady untill you're moving.. I know it's frustrating but keep practicing. I had such a hard time with this one day that I just took the bike back to the garage and called it a day, it sucked, but the next day I took it out again and kept practicing.
If you're doing it right in the begining of the day, then you got it. It seems like you just get a little flustered once you stall. Don't let it get to you, talk yourself through it and try it again.
So you dont think its possible that its possibly a heating related issue?. I'm not ruling out my own frustrations, but it really seems that the bike performs worse after I've been operating it for a while.
Let me try to explain what the clutch does in a simple way.
The clutch is simply the interface between the *engine* and the *transmission*. The transmission is connected directly to the rear wheel.
When you have the clutch lever pulled in, the engine is disconnected from the transmission. The engine can be in any state - high RPM's, low RPM's, whatever - and it will not affect the rear wheel.
Likewise, the transmission can be in any state - 1st gear, 2nd gear, neutral, etc.
When you release the clutch lever, it mashes the engine and the transmission together. This causes the rear wheel to turn, since you suddenly have a direct mechanical connection between the rear wheel and the engine's crankshaft.
If you have insufficient power from the engine to keep a certain minimum of RPM's (probably around 400 RPM?), the engine will stall because it can't keep up its own motion. Remember, the engine is attached directly to the rear wheel when the clutch is out, so if that wheel isn't moving quickly enough, the engine will stall.
The "trick" is that the clutch is variable. It's not on-off. It's kind of like a flat plate attached to the transmission. Pulling the clutch in makes the flat plate attached to the transmission pull away from the flat plate attached to the engine. Letting the clutch out presses the transmission plate (which is spinning in direct proportion to the rear wheel - ie, if the wheel isn't moving, the plate isn't moving) against the engine plate, which is spinning in proportion to the RPM's. When these two plates come in contact, they will equalize their spinning.
If they're *mashed together* by dropping the clutch (letting it out quickly), the speeds of the engine and rear wheel will equalize instantly, either stalling the engine or causing dramatic jerky acceleration. If you let the clutch out slowly, the transmission plate - attached directly to the rear wheel - will slowly speed up to match the engine RPM, causing nice easy acceleration.
The various gears are simply various spin ratios that occur in the transmission. For example, in first gear, 2000 RPM might equate to 15 mph, whereas in second gear 2000 RPM might be 35 mph.
Also, if you let the clutch out slowly while the engine is idling, the engine will simply stall. The engine needs to be revving high enough to handle the load introduced by attaching the rear wheel to it. You have to rev the engine and slowly let the clutch out *at the same time*.
I hope this helps a little... but if you're having that much trouble with it, you probably need to get something adjusted.
Thanks guys. That was a great explanation jonnythan. I do know how a clutch works, in theory. I suppose its the finesse that I'm having issues with. I just dont see why I can start a ride smoothly, with the bike and i getting along well, and then having this progressively degrade. I'm going to try tomorrow to focus more on giving a little more power while releasing the clutch, see how that goes.
I have a feeling having a tachometer would help alot, all i really have is feeling to go on.
So, just to ease my neurosis, is it at all possible that some form of overheating to cause this sort of issue or not?
I want to take it to a shop but its not easy, at least until I can drive it there without killing myself at an intersection.
but keep practicing. I had such a hard time with this one day that I just took the bike back to the garage and called it a day, it sucked, but the next day I took it out again and kept practicing. 
