involuntary clutchless downshifting practice

[brady]

After reading this thread a while ago (the last posts are recent), I still hadn't attempted clutchless downshifting on the SV. But yesterday the clutch pushrod failed just as I pulled into my nephews football game, so I hit the kill switch and chugged to a stop in the grass beside the parking lot. I had planned on bump starting it when it was time to leave, then looked at the grass and decided to use it as my "clutch" when starting off. A little extra gas right after the click to first from neutral and I was in business with some wheelspin. Turns out the downshifts on the way home were sweet and easy as long as the transmission was unloaded. At stop signs I pulled onto grass or dirt on the shoulder and only stalled it once getting going again. With a little practice finding neutral cluchless I may even take a few more rides before I dig into it.

(PS: what's with the auto thread tag generator telling me I've tried to add too many tags? )

[RandyO]

the clutch actuator mechanism came apart on my SV when I was 75 miles away from home, I managed to make all my stops except one on a downhill so that I could get rolling by gravity in neutral before slipping in gear, the one stop I made on level was at intersection of 11 & 11B in Gilford, I just started the engine in 1st gear when the light turned green

certainly make you think ahead before you just stop

[maxim_X]

My motard has a slipper, so no clutch on the shifts. My SV doesn't have a nice device like that. Anyway, on more than one occasion after racing the motard I will hop in the SV and bang a few down shifts before I remember. It hasn't cause an issue yet.

[brady]

the clutch actuator mechanism came apart on my SV when I was 75 miles away from home, I managed to make all my stops except one on a downhill so that I could get rolling by gravity in neutral before slipping in gear, the one stop I made on level was at intersection of 11 & 11B in Gilford, I just started the engine in 1st gear when the light turned green

certainly make you think ahead before you just stop

I hadn't thought about starting it in first gear, guess that would have worked, too. Definitely made me plan ahead for stops in any case, and hope I didn't need to make any emergency stops. I'm not sure how the clutch rod broke, looks like it had been bent and cracked for a while before it let go.

[Garandman]

I practiced it on my SV at NHMS WHEN MY SIZE 12 boot hit the shifter down a gear instead of up. The resulting slide remains very clear in my minds' eye...

[RandyO]

I hadn't thought about starting it in first gear, guess that would have worked, too. Definitely made me plan ahead for stops in any case, and hope I didn't need to make any emergency stops. I'm not sure how the clutch rod broke, looks like it had been bent and cracked for a while before it let go.

it also made me think about my route home to avoid traffic lights and stop signs as much as possible

[brady]

My motard has a slipper, so no clutch on the shifts. My SV doesn't have a nice device like that. Anyway, on more than one occasion after racing the motard I will hop in the SV and bang a few down shifts before I remember. It hasn't cause an issue yet.

I did it a few times by accident into T1, was surprised it wasn't a big deal, but am still not ready to do it intentionally. If I had a 2-smoker, though....

[stoinkythepig]

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I can't think of any reason why downshifting is any different (mechanically) than upshifting when not using the clutch. If you put a little downward pressure on the shift lever and roll off the gas a little, it'll snick right into gear, exactly the way it does when upshifting using the same technique (other than the direction of pressure on the shift lever...).

[RandyO]

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I can't think of any reason why downshifting is any different (mechanically) than upshifting when not using the clutch. If you put a little downward pressure on the shift lever and roll off the gas a little, it'll snick right into gear, exactly the way it does when upshifting using the same technique (other than the direction of pressure on the shift lever...).

um, no, downshifting is the opposite the transmission is loaded when decelerating , put some downward pressure on the shifter and blip the throttle to relieve the pressure

[brady]

I unload the the transmission either way, but it's what happens right after it's in the next gear that's different. When upshifting clutchless, the revs between engine and rear wheel match almost automatically because they drop as you let up on the gas to unload the transmission. When downshifting, the rev differential is much greater as they're dropping when they need to be even higher to match the lower gear. I downshifted at much lower revs than usual, and gave it extra throttle as it clicked into the lower gear to help it match.

[stoinkythepig]

um, no, downshifting is the opposite the transmission is loaded when decelerating , put some downward pressure on the shifter and blip the throttle to relieve the pressure

My mistake, I meant to write that when downshifting, I put downward pressure on the shifter and roll on the gas a little and it just snicks into gear... I know it won;t work the other way.

[Kurlon]

My mistake, I meant to write that when downshifting, I put downward pressure on the shifter and roll on the gas a little and it just snicks into gear... I know it won;t work the other way.

It can, but the timing is tricky. I used to do it at Boxshop for one turn, hard on the front brake, throttle closed, and to finish the braking as the motor was pretty low in the rev range at that point I'd click it down one, release the brakes and throttle out. It works when the revs get low enough that the motor is no longer effectively engine braking, but it means you have to have a bit of patience on the downshifts. Into T1 at NHMS it means grabbing it after the seam...