quickshifter help

[ccr32]

Thought I'd revive this thread a few months on from the last post to see how people have been getting on with their respective quickshifters...

Any issues? Still working nicely.

Naturally I am now in the market for one at the cheaper end of the spectrum and am wondering if Healtech or HM Superlite is the way to go.

What say ye?

[moanthebairns]

Dear santa.

[mike150]

I bought an HM Superlite for my GSXR, I changed it to low sensitivity after day 1 as it was requiring way too much force to change gear..................

Love it although I don't use it all the time as it does change gear quite aggressively so if you are pottering about town or just taking it easy it's more pleasant to change gear with the old fashioned way by backing of the throttle. If you are going for it on a track day, drag race or even on the road they are great.

[upsidedownmark]

HM Superlite running report:

Yes, very pleased (duc 848). Bloody brilliant on track, especially in the wet. For my money it lets me change up in places i wouldn't normally do so for fear of upsetting the bike. Bit quiestionable under about 4krpm, generally skip using it for 1st-2nd.

Probably about to come off as I'm selling the bike. Sadly can't put it on my new (old - 5EB) R6 as it runs high voltage ignition.. unless I can figure out something clever.

[FartKong]

Here's the thread about my Superlite -

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Since then I've done Donnington and it was great on track. I don't really use it until higher up the revs as it doesn't seem to work well when toodling along.

[gsxr renegade]

When mine were working, they were great.

What i have since found (after sending my second one back) is that the bolt securing the gear shift rod to my gear change lever was slightly loose, allowing a bit of free-play. I do wonder if the extra vibrations caused the units to fail.

Anyway, if i had the choice again (which i will do next summer) i'd probably look to get a 2nd hand HM plus or similar for the extra adjustability, rather than a brand new superlight.

[trickywoo]

Having bought the Healtech Quickshifter a few months ago thought I'd throw my two cents in.

Its a nicely designed kit and was easy to fit to my GSXR 750 K4 with my only gripe being the too short earth cable. Having looked all over the bike there was really only one place it would go (and then only just long enough) where the tail unit mounts to the subframe. I mounted the sensor in line with shift rod, without the supplied washers as I wasn't getting enough strain measured with them fitted.

The app is now on iphone as well as android and is nicely designed and easy to use.

All of the functions are adjustable from the app and the fact you can see what the sensor is doing real time makes setting up easy. I went with a 40% threshold which hasn't given any false cuts and works with normal lever pressure perfectly.

The stock cut times were way too long leading to feeling engine braking during shifts but these were easy to adjust (in 5ms increments) and for a range of RPMs. You can also set the first rpm threshold below which the unit doesn't cut the ignition. This is a nice feature along with the option to disable the QS entirely via the app.

I don't know if its a belt and braces approach or an admission the unit may fail but the it comes with a 'jumper plug' which bypasses the control box. I've got this in my jacket pocket just in case.

Spare strain sensors are only £30ish and at £240 for the unit I think its great value.

I've ridden a few bikes with factory QS and this is on a par but of course with the added benefit of being adjustable.

[Mr OCD]

Nice write up chap.

[trickywoo]

Mr OCD said:

Nice write up chap.

Thanks. If anyone has any questions I'm happy to help if I can.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the unit came with two 'boxes' but this may just be for my bike as its not very clearly featured on the Healtech website.

The control unit which I mounted in the tail is small but the other unit is something like 5cm x 3cm and needed to be mounted on the inner frame rail - again some of the wiring was a bit short and I couldn't quite mount it in exactly the place I would have liked.

[ccr32]

trickywoo said:

One thing I forgot to mention is that the unit came with two 'boxes' but this may just be for my bike as its not very clearly featured on the Healtech website.

The control unit which I mounted in the tail is small but the other unit is something like 5cm x 3cm and needed to be mounted on the inner frame rail - again some of the wiring was a bit short and I couldn't quite mount it in exactly the place I would have liked.

IIRC, this is a Suzuki specific thing to stop it throwing errors that I remember reading about a while ago.

trickywoo said:

Thanks. If anyone has any questions I'm happy to help if I can.

One of my concerns with the Healtech is that fact that it cannot tell up from down shifts, and therefore what is happening when shifting down through the box - do you notice it cutting the ignition when shifting down? Guess it would only apply a cut if you were above the rev threshold you've set and apply enough force to the gear lever, but not impossible to trigger I am guessing if downshifting during some 'spirited' riding, perhaps...

[trickywoo]

ccr32 said:

One of my concerns with the Healtech is that fact that it cannot tell up from down shifts, and therefore what is happening when shifting down through the box - do you notice it cutting the ignition when shifting down? Guess it would only apply a cut if you were above the rev threshold you've set and apply enough force to the gear lever, but not impossible to trigger I am guessing if downshifting during some 'spirited' riding, perhaps...

I've never noticed a cut going down but then using the clutch the revs fall fast and may well be below the threshold when I press the lever.

I can't see it being a problem even if it did cut.

[upsidedownmark]

Point with a strain gauge is that the threshold should be set such that when shifting WITH the clutch you will not create enough load to trigger the cut. So no cuts down the box, and no cut on clutched upshifts, or if you roll off to change

There should be more load to initiate the 'quick' shift (i.e. without the clutch and without rolling off the throttle), so that you're damn sure it's fully engaged with the new gear before the cut finishes. That's why the threshold is adjustable even on the basic units.

[ccr32]

upsidedownmark said:

Point with a strain gauge is that the threshold should be set such that when shifting WITH the clutch you will not create enough load to trigger the cut. So no cuts down the box, and no cut on clutched upshifts, or if you roll off to change

There should be more load to initiate the 'quick' shift (i.e. without the clutch and without rolling off the throttle), so that you're damn sure it's fully engaged with the new gear before the cut finishes. That's why the threshold is adjustable even on the basic units.

Didn't think of it that way actually, good point. As you say, you wouldn't want it to half-shift when using the quickshifter so you'd set it such that only a 'positive' shift triggers it.

Thanks

[Mr OCD]

upsidedownmark said:

Point with a strain gauge is that the threshold should be set such that when shifting WITH the clutch you will not create enough load to trigger the cut. So no cuts down the box, and no cut on clutched upshifts, or if you roll off to change

There should be more load to initiate the 'quick' shift (i.e. without the clutch and without rolling off the throttle), so that you're damn sure it's fully engaged with the new gear before the cut finishes. That's why the threshold is adjustable even on the basic units.

Yup. This.

It's why my HM is set to low sensitivity, so you need a firm shift to engage the QS. It also avoids false neutrals.