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Ok so all of these are related but here they are:

Can you brake in say...second gear, or third gear and not harm the bike? Or should you always downshift to first? (Edit: And by this I mean coming to a complete stop, not just braking to slow down a bit)

Can you start out in second gear? Or should you start off in first and build up?

When turning, should you downshift to first (or second, whatever you're cruising at) or would turning at second/third gear be too fast?

And what gear do ya'll usually travel in? Second for around town and third (or fourth I guess) for highway? If so, why have 6 gears? Just in case you find a long expanse of empty road with no cops?

Ummm shift pattern is 1N2345(6)

When braking ideally you will have enough time to downshift through each gear, otherwise you pull in the clutch and brake, at the same time you should be using your left foot to stomp as many times as you can on the shift bar. You always, always want to be in first gear BEFORE you put your foot down to stop.

Which gear you're in depends what bike you have and what speed you are going.

By way of example, I usually shift around 5000rpms on my bike, in first this is about 40km/h in second it's 60km/h third is 80, fourth is 100, fifth is 120, and 6th doesn't really accelerate, seems to be more for maintaining highway speed.

That being said, I can push 1st gear to 100 if I want. Or I can do 50 in fifth. It all depends on your riding style.

There are no guaranteed numbers to shift at, usually you'll feel the accelerations power start to wane, so you shift then.

Take the MSF course if you want detailed instructions on how to do it.

Meh I just finished my MSF course about 3 hours ago.

And yah, I passed. We never covered which gears to stop in/start in. All they said was to stop in first but sometimes I doubt that's really an option as it seems to take a bit of time shifting down, letting up, shifting down, letting up. More time than you have on some stops.

But anyways thanks for the help. There were some riders there who were just getting a discount on their insurance and their bikes didn't even have a tachometer. They just shifted by the feel of their bike, not the speed or RPMs.

Shifting isn't my primary concern, shifting under certain conditions (and what it will do to my bike) is.

Aww heck if you're emergency breaking pull in the clutch hop on the binders and stomp away with your left foot as fast as you can. You'll end up in first. It takes some practise, try doing it a couple of times during a normal stop so you can get used to just downshifting really quickly.

One of the things I always flinch at is the sportbike riders who will stop, put both feet down, look down lift up their left foot downshift three times and look up.

They forgot to:
1)keep right foot on the brake so you cannot roll backwards
2) shoulder or mirror check for the crazy donkey behind you in the car who didn't see you stop
3) be in first when you stop

Doing those three things means you can take off quickly if you need to. Happened to one of my instructors, he stopped at a crosswalk and the car behind him stopped. The car behind that didn't. He saw it wasn't stopping and was able to take off just in time to avoid getting bumped. The car that was behind him go shoved forward 15 feet...

Crazy. My MSF instructor got hit by a lady too. She wasn't paying attention at all (yapping on her cell phone) and I doubt she even realized she hit him except that he knocked on her window at the light. She just kinda looked out at him and said "are you OK?" as if nothing major just happend.


So you do shift down into first eh? Something tells me I'll forget to do that quite a bit for a while.

But I plan to be riding around in circles in parking lots (empty...) quite a bit before I even hit the road so we'll see how much remembering I can do...

Practice downshifting to first when you stop. You dont need to release the clutch in each gear. Just hit the shifter until your in first.

In an emergency stop dont agonize about being in first when you get to a stop. In a real emergency your first priority is to GET THE BIKE STOPPED BUT UPRIGHT as fast as possible. This would be the person turning left in front of you situation that causes many accidents. Statistically you are better off upright than laying it down. Though if the brakes lock up and the bike starts to go down just ride it down, dont try to fight it, unless you like flying.

In the event of the rear brake locking up you have about 1/2 a second before the bike starts going sideways, though with a locked up rear you can still bring it to a stop upright if your lucky. If the front locks up you probably have less than 1/2 a second to release/reapply before you lowside, a front brake lowside happens REALLY fast.

Early on spend a lot of time practicing emergency stops and swerving. These are the techniques that will help you avoid accidents.

Shiv wrote:Can you brake in say...second gear, or third gear and not harm the bike? Or should you always downshift to first? (Edit: And by this I mean coming to a complete stop, not just braking to slow down a bit)

You can brake in any gear, but as others have mentioned, you should be in first when you stop. I usually downshift through the gears as I'm slowing for a stop anyway, except once I tap down into first, I leave the clutch lever in. Even when I don't downshift, I'll tap away at the shifter until I'm in first. If you practice, it'll become a habit before you know it.

Can you start out in second gear? Or should you start off in first and build up?

You can start out in second, but your bike may not like you. If you're stopped, start in first.

When turning, should you downshift to first (or second, whatever you're cruising at) or would turning at second/third gear be too fast?

It depends on the turn, road conditions, your bike, etc. You'll have to learn which gear is best for your bike in a given turn. I'm usually in second when turning onto a side street. I only downshift to first if I'm practically stopped. You want enough RPM to not have the engine bog down, but not so much that it's hard to be smooth. In any case, be in the gear you want to be in before you start the turn. I never make a turn in third, but I go around plenty of corners in it.

And what gear do ya'll usually travel in? Second for around town and third (or fourth I guess) for highway? If so, why have 6 gears? Just in case you find a long expanse of empty road with no cops?

It depends on the bike and your riding style. At about 45mph I'm usually in 4th gear, which gives me 4500-5000 RPM. Anything less and there's not much power to accelerate. Anything more and I'm just wasting gas. However, if I'm in a situation where I might need to get on the throttle, I'll cruise in a lower gear than usual. As for 6th... I feel like I need a 7th at highway speeds.

What bike do you have rbickers?

I don't know a lot about bikes but that sounds like an awfully small engine.

I'm slowing for a stop anyway, except once I tap down into first, I leave the clutch lever in.

Don't you have to do this anyways? Doesn't the engine die if you don't?

At least that's the impression I got, never tried it myself.

Shiv wrote:What bike do you have rbickers?

I don't know a lot about bikes but that sounds like an awfully small engine.

I have a Ninja 500R. Why does it sound small?

I'm slowing for a stop anyway, except once I tap down into first, I leave the clutch lever in.

Don't you have to do this anyways? Doesn't the engine die if you don't?

What I meant is that I normally downshift from whatever gear I'm cruising in down to second, one gear at a time -- letting the clutch out to allow engine braking at each gear. At the point I'm slow enough, I pull in the clutch lever, tap down into first, and stop. In other words, I don't let the clutch out and use engine braking in first.

That's my style, anyway. You can (and I sometimes do) just pull the clutch lever in and brake to a stop, tapping straight down to first, but I like to be in a good gear for my speed as much as possible.

Yeah, sorry I should have been a little more clear. When you're "emergency breaking" keep the clutch in and just tap away with your foot. If you practise it a couple of times you won't even think about it. It just starts happening when you do start that type of breaking.

Otherwise work your way down through the gears. Take your time, there's no rush if you plan things right

And sportbikes are designed to rev a LOT higher then cruisers so it'll sound like a smaller engine, but it puts out a ton of grunt.