Several people I know have air shift on their bikes, it has a cut out when it shifts, not something you notice, it just happens. The one guy has a CVO Street Glide that he runs hard, always air shifts, doesn't use a clutch. He loves it ...........

 

The Hondas seemed to shift ok without using the clutch. I've tried it with my RG when I had the stock tranny in it and it didn't lend itself well to an easy shift. I think the matter is that the motor doesn't wind back down as fast as the Honda does so the tranny doesn't unload enough to slide the shift forks easily.

 

Used ta slam the gears alot on my 80 FLT but allways clutched on down shifts..

 

Used to do it on a 90cc Honda a lot when the cable broke, and didn't have money to buy a new one. ....... Years ago.

 

I got used to doing shifting without the clutch on Kawasaki Police 1000's, after breaking several clutch cables. I got pretty good at it, and it was very handy when pulling into an intersection and needing both hands to stop traffic.

My 98 Electra Glide wouldn't do it, but my 07 Ultra does it almost as easy as the old Kawasaki. How often do people have to replace the clutch cable on Harleys?

 

Shift however you want, it's your money..

 

Ya, I'd say, shift yer clutch to the moon and back. Whatever floats yer boat.
In the log run, your HD service department will become your best friend.

 

i used to race sportbikes in the mid 90s....had a honda cbr 600.here is the fastest way to shift..used by most racers and drag strip guys.

put your foot under the shifter like you are going to shift up and keep the pressure on it....the load on the engine will keep it from shifting. then just tap the clutch...gear will slip right in in a milli second.

if you try to do it by backing off on throttle its to hard to get it perfect and you use valuable time getting the engine back to where the rpms were


on my sportster i never do it ...just shift like a regular fella...im never really in a hurry on it

 

Have done it by mistake, but don't make a habit of it. Get a Pingel if you want that.

 

Used to a lot years ago when drag racing.With the Harley shift mechanism you can preload the shifter,as soon as you blip the throttle, drop the load for a millisecond, it will shift to the next gear,provided it all works.It is all a matter of getting to know your machine.Shifting like that makes over revving a real possibility.