Triumphrat

Originally Posted by zelatore

Actually, rev matching is specifically done to avoid causing a lurch. Any racer will do it as a matter of course. Heck, some 'smart' flappy paddle gearboxes in cars can even do it now.

It used to be a rite of passage among sports car drivers to learn to toe-and-heal downshift - this is a technique allowing you to use you left foot to work the clutch and your right to work the brake while at the same time giving a little blip to the throttle during each downshift to insure a smooth, lurch-free engagement of the clutch. The last thing you want going hard into a corner is a sudden lurch from the rear wheel(s) - good way to end up in the ditch. Of course these days few people know how to do it in a car as many modern manual transmissions are good enough to let you 'cheat' a bit. On a bike, you're doing the same sort of thing only using your right hand to simultaneously brake and blip the throttle.

It's not really a big deal if you're just cruising around. You have time to gently let out the clutch and let the inertia of the tranny/rear wheel bring the engine up to a matching speed. But if you're pressing on, rev matching allows you to get the clutch out quicker without causing a lurch as the engine tries to come up to the speed of the lower gear.

It's actually easier (and smoother) on the equipment to do it than not to do it with any manual transmission, car or bike. If you had a non-syncro trans, you'd HAVE to do it to shift.

I had to learn it when I was racing an Alfa - the syncros simply weren't strong enough to let you downshift at all under race circumstances or even when pressing on at a brisk street pace. It eventually became second-nature. So yes, I do it on the bike as well.

Originally Posted by Harry007x1

If you want to understand why we blip the throttle during a downshift read Code Break in the December issue of Motor Cyclist. Keith Code sums it up quite nicely. Here's a small excerpt; "and just so it's clear, the throttle blip is done so that the engine revs match the bikes speed once the clutch is released, making a smooth transition to the next gear down. Your the human slipper clutch".




Sent from my iPhone using Motorcycle.com App