I’ve been reading Lee Park’s book “Total Control” in preparation for taking one of his advanced riding clinics. He describes upshifting without clutching in the book, which he describes as smoother and easier on the gearbox than using the clutch. The process he describes (paraphrasing) is while accelerating, add pre-load on the shift lever. When ready to shift, reduce throttle about 25% and it will snick right into the next gear.

In 30 years of riding I’ve never done this for fear of gearbox wear. I have tried it now on my ’08 RC, and it works great when accelerating hard (which I do a lot). I’ve still got a nagging concern about gearbox wear. Does anyone have any practical experience that would shed some light on the wear impact of doing this?

 

Sure, it *can* be done, so can downshifting without the clutch.

Your bike, you decide.

But let us know how it works out in the long run

 

Naw, chit MoCo finds out we don't need that lever on the left side, It'll save them bunches on each bike..

 

I do it all the time when racing on my sportbike. For cruising on my harley, seems like there's no point of doing it.

As for wear, cant help you on that. In 2 yrs of track days/racing, i dont see any huge impact on my clutch, and ive taken it apart many times. Doesnt mean the damage isnt there though.

Also, this is on a suzuki, not a harley

 

A co-worker of mine rides a sport bike and also races professionally, and he told me the same thing. It's better to upshift without the clutch, but you need it to downshift. I said maybe on them croch rockets you race, but not on a Harley.

 

I use do do this all the time when I was playing in the dirt years ago. The bike was much lighter and I was usually hauling *** when shifting like that. With my Road King, I don't feel the need to do it. In my opinion there is really no need too. As for less wear on the gears, I don't think so. You would be straining them at best with all the weight of the bike. If you didn't slide into the next gear cleanly you might even chip a tooth. The clutch I might agree with because it isn't releasing and re-ingaging all the time.

 

I had a friend that used to shift without the clutch. Most of the time it went smooth but sooner or later he'd mess up something in the shifting mechanism.

 

[QUOTE=GoodKnight;5406320 I do it all the time when racing on my sportbike. For cruising on my harley, seems like there's no point of doing it.
QUOTE]

^^^+1^^^

not sure what advantage would be. it's simple on a sportbike. not tried it on the hd...

 

+1 ....use to also downshift with out the clutch.I do it on the sportster every once in awhile but that is me just being lazy.

 

I've ridden sport bikes and Harleys.
Sport bikes may "snick" into gear"
Harleys tend to "Clank"
I'll stick to using the clutch