Downshifting while braking for a turn

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lunchmeat · #1 Unread post by **lunchmeat** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:33 am

Alright.

I know a lot of people don't really do this when coming to a full stop, and most of the time, I don't either; I'll pull in the clutch and downshift as I'm stopping until I'm in first at a complete stop.

However, whenever I have to slow for a turn, downshifting and braking is a real chore. Does anyone have any tips for this? I find it difficult to pull in the front brake and blip the throttle at the same time to get the revs in the right place. Should I even be trying to blip? I suppose I could let the revs drop and ease the clutch into each new shift, but that just seems like it'd take too much time, and I don't think it'd be that smooth anyway.

Any suggestions? Comments? I'm sorry if this has been asked before (and it probably has).

xk · #2 Unread post by xk » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:45 am

From my limited experience I found that the best way to downshift in preparation for a curve is to pull the clutch and downshift to the gear required to take the curve while braking.

Hopefully the speed should be lowered enough to engage the right gear without significant jolts when you get to the curve.

I'm a newbie, hope I'm not giving the wrong advice but it seems to work fine for me.

jonnythan · #3 Unread post by **jonnythan** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:49 am

lunchmeat wrote:Alright.

I know a lot of people don't really do this when coming to a full stop, and most of the time, I don't either; I'll pull in the clutch and downshift as I'm stopping until I'm in first at a complete stop.

However, whenever I have to slow for a turn, downshifting and braking is a real chore. Does anyone have any tips for this? I find it difficult to pull in the front brake and blip the throttle at the same time to get the revs in the right place. Should I even be trying to blip? I suppose I could let the revs drop and ease the clutch into each new shift, but that just seems like it'd take too much time, and I don't think it'd be that smooth anyway.

Any suggestions? Comments? I'm sorry if this has been asked before (and it probably has).

I downshift before the turn, then start braking.

If it's a tighter turn and I need to drop more than one gear, I pull the clutch and hit the shifter til the tranny is in the right gear *while* braking. Then I engage the gear just before I enter the turn.

Sev · #4 Unread post by **Sev** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:57 am

I'll click down through a couple of gears without braking, then once I get to the desired gear.... say 2nd for 50-70km/h 3rd for 80-100km/h etc etc I'll brake a bit (small amount) to drop my speed to the bottom of the rev range, then look around the corner, get on the gas and tip my shoulder in. Power out and blast off to the next one.

The only brake I use while downshifting is the rear and that's to light it up so people behind me know that I'm slowing down - just in case the car isn't really paying attention.

If you're racing, then you just pull in the clutch late, hammer on the front brakes and downshift to the correct gear. Then you smoothly accelerate while letting out the clutch at the same time. But when you're racing you're not overly concerned about rev matching as you're slowing down, just when you're getting back on the power, and a touch of clutch slip will take care of that.

MAKER · #5 Unread post by **MAKER** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:28 am

msf teaches you to brake with both brakes and down shift at the same time when you are coming to a stop.

i do the same thing when preparing for a turn, only i judge the angle of the turn (90 degrees or more?) then I down shift into 2nd for normal turns, and if its tighter i slow way the bleep down and maybe even take it in first.

Scott58 · #6 Unread post by **Scott58** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:17 am

If your in the turn when downshifting you may just have to fan the clutch to keep from locking up the back tire. Practice!

Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:13 am

There's no good reason to downshift in a turn unless you're coming to a stop. Get it all done before the turn, let your suspension setup and go.

So before you start the lean have your downshifting done, brake, ease out the clutch, look press and roll.

lunchmeat · #8 Unread post by **lunchmeat** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:32 am

I'm with storysunfolding on this one - I once took a turn incorrectly and had to kinda coast through it (it was a downhil right-hander, and I was really bad at downshifting in preparation, since I didn't want to crawl up to the turn). Let the clutch out and BAM - engine braked so hard, the bike shook, I nearly got thrown off...luckily, I wasn't going very fast and the revs weren't wayyy out of whack. That, and I ride a Ninja 250. I was thankful for that. (I should have just suffered the shock while I was going in a straight line, and then turned, but I didn't want to crawl...)

So no downshifting during turns - you have to downshift in preparation for the turn, but if you do so during a turn, it upsets the suspension, from what I've heard (and experienced).

I'll give these techniques a try and see how it works today.

Edited heavily for typos.

jonnythan · #9 Unread post by **jonnythan** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:40 am

lunchmeat wrote:I'm with storysunfolding on this one - I once took a turn incorrectly and had to kinda coast through it (it was a downhil right-hander, and I was really bad at downshifting in preparation, since I didn't want to crawl up to the turn). Let the clutch out and BAM - engien braked so hard, the bike shook, I nearly got thrown off...luckily, I wasn't going very fast and the revs weren't wayyy out of whack. That, and I ride a Ninja 250. I was thankful for that.

So no downshifting during turns - you have to downshift in preparation for the turn, but if you do so during a turn, it upsets the suspension, from what I've hard (and experienced).

I'll give these techniques a try and see how it works today.

It's certainly possible to shift in a turn. I do it sometimes. In fact I had to do it this morning. I was on an interstate entrance ramp lined with trees so I could not see the whole ramp. I hit it at about 55mph (45mph indicated on the yellow sign) in 5th gear. Traffic was (very unusually) slowed down, so the vehicle in front of me started slowing down. I downshifted to 4th, bled off a bit of speed, then maintained about 40mph onto the interstate.

The key is to be *smooooooooooooth*. Like buttah.

Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:53 am

So if you hadn't been speeding on a blind turn....

Just kidding, we all end up dropping a gear on a turn at some point and you're 100% right, a nice slow easing out of the clutch will make it smooth as long as you didn't drop 3 or 4 gears. However, it's much better to not have to downshift in the curve, especially if you're taking the turn fast as even more traction will be taken up by the turn.

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Downshifting while braking for a turn

Downshifting while braking for a turn

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