Hi fellowriders, some of my friends told me engine braking is bad for my bike this will shorten the life of my transmission.
I am used to lower the gear up to second, before I apply the brakes.
If this style of riding will really hurt my bike.

Thanks for ur reply,

 

Allegedly it does shorten the life of the tranny. Brake pads are cheaper to replace. I brake and downshift together. If I'm not going real fast, I will downshift without braking as the bike is slowing down anyway. I won't do it though if it revs real high if I were to downshift without braking.


BTW, I see you're from Joisey.....what exit?

 

Wear is wear, it just a matter of perspective of what you want to wear compared to how you want to drive. I'm a big time engine braker and been doing it in all my cars, trucks and motorcycles, many of the cars with over 200,000 miles. I've never had a tranny problem from it.

Beary

 

X2 here. Started doing this when I worked on farms with both of my grandpas. They told me that engine braking's a lifesaver. Don't trust them brakes on big ol' trucks cuz anything can happen. Ever since I've been doing it for 36 years. No problems whatsoever.

I also agree with dawg on braking and downshifting together if necessary depending on the driving conditions.

Thorey

 

Might hurt your automatic tranny but the harley tranny? Unless you've switched to an automatic in your bike I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

I believe the reason that people state that engine braking is bad is the fact that when you engine brake it unloads the tranny and transfers the force to the backside of the gears etc...

I dont believe it would be a big deal and most likely wouldnt cause any damage as long as the rpm's arent very high. When the rpm's are high and you decel its the engine you have to worry about as opposed to the tranny. It is very hard on the engine to rev it out then cut the throttle with the clutch still engaged to rev down on its own.

 

It does load the gears but design wise I'm pretty sure it built in.
Been doing it for yrs..no problems

coming off the mountains i might get a backfire once in awhile from loading up the cylinders...

 

You should be engine braking. Of all the right reasons to engine brake the number one reason would be: You should always be in the gear proportional with your speed. If you are slowing down and someone goes to pull out in front of you, you want to be in the right gear so you can power out of the situation if need be.

That said, there is no shortage of dumbasses who pull in their clutch and just pop down 5 gears or so while slowing down and then find they are not in the right gear when they need to pop out the clutch for whatever reason. What usually happens is they about go over the handlebars. Good stuff right there.

lp

 

I do it all the time, gear according to speed never an issue in over 25 years of riding..