Advice sought on gear changing ...

[Mark_SV]

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to smooth out my gear changing on the SV. Down changes are going OK by matching revs. However, up changes are proving harder to do smoothly clutchlessly. So I'm giving up on clutchless up changes. Or should I ... ? Does the vee twin thing make clutchless changes tougher to do smoothly?

Any advice?

[Mikey G]

I tried on mine the other day and found it very clunky and on times i missed somehow and ended up between gears, but my Fireblade powered Locost does this very smoothly with just a little back off on the throttle and it will slot in nicely. Maybe the Honda design is better or the fact it has more miles on than the bike?
Bearing in mind i'm still getting used to 2 wheels

[veetwin]

Don't back off fully during the up change. If you are gunning it at full throttle, just back off to around 60% and only during your foot movement.

[rsvmilly]

And make sure your pressure on the gear lever is confident. You'll only need to let off the throttle the tiniest amount - say a quarter. Timing is everything.

Suzi gearboxes are amongst the smoothest and best although as was posted above, yours might be a little tight if it has covered low mileage.

[EvoBarry]

as above really, when you're ready to change up just apply pressure on the gear selector, then when you back off slightly the gear should slot in nicely. I'd imagine a V-twin would be harder than a four due to lower revs generally, and the lumpier delivery on top of that, but it should still work ok I guess.

[rsvmilly]

V twin makes no difference. My Aprilia changes up clutchlessly very easily.

(Only tricky bit can be finding neutral when I stop!!)

[EvoBarry]

I stand corrected

[stooz]

I need to ask, why bother? my finger is next to the clutch lever anyway, so why not blip a squeeze on it and get it over with?

[rsvmilly]

stooz said:

I need to ask, why bother? my finger is next to the clutch lever anyway, so why not blip a squeeze on it and get it over with?

Quicker and, once you're practiced at it, smoother.

I never bother doing it from 1st to 2nd, across neutral though. Far too lumpy.

[Steve_T]

On my SV, I don't shift clutchless 1->2, but from 2 upwards I can. 2->3 is a bit harsh and requires more of a sharp close of the throttle, but from 3 upwards it's no bother. Light pressure up on the pedal, roll on gently off the throttle and the lever should slot home sweetly. Main thing is don't force it, let things take as long as they need.

Steve.

[Momentofmadness]

Cluthless changes def work more easily / smoothly at higher revs - I'm sure you will find it the gears 'snick' into place easier when accelerating hard...

I'd def recommend a bit of experimenting (on a road you feel safe doing so of course!)

Have fun

[Mark_SV]

Steve_T said:

On my SV, I don't shift clutchless 1->2, but from 2 upwards I can. 2->3 is a bit harsh ...

Yeah, that's exactly what I've found to date. However, I'll try taking longer over the change to see if that smoothes it out. (I soon gave up on clutchless 1->2 because of too many false neutrals.)

Momentofmadness - Yeah, higher revs make a big difference, but the vee twin thing means I only have high revs when accelerating very hard.

Also, the chain seems to need to be well adjusted to help with smooth changes. I seem to remember reading in Bike that SV changes are particularly sensitive to chain tension. Anyone else find this?

Cheers

[fergus]

within reason, you should be able to execute clutchless changes from about 2000 revs. It's just a cse of reducing the load on the gearbox enough so that when you roll off the throttle (for a split second), the next gear can be engaged. If you think about how a quick shifter works, it is exactly the same. The gear linkage pressure sensor realises you want to change gear, so momentarily cuts/retards the ignition to back the loads off the engine to allow you to change up.

practice makes perfect. All bikes should be able to do this, except for ones with tractor gearboxes (honda)