i always had rice burners, so this question may sound dumb to experianced HD riders. what is the safe way to downshift on a sportster? i have a 06 883c? thanks

 

There's a part in your owners manual that tells you.
from 5th-4th=40mph
4th-3rd=30mph
3rd-2nd=20mph
2nd-1st=10mph
Ride safe!!

 

OH NOES [:'(]I'm doing it wrong!

 

When I downshift, clutch in, give a little gas to bring up the rpm before shift, it makes smooth shifting, because you match the rpm to your gear ratio. You always have the power ready in case something happen and you want to take off fast. How to downshift safely? That's what I did, not sure if you call it safe.

 

I've noticed that I downshift more agressively than most of the Harley riders especially with the new SE2 slipons the low rumble of deceleration sounds awsome. Just my riding style I guess.
I do the same as 128auto and burp the throttle so the gears mesh smoothly, I don't think it's unsafe to the transmition parts as long you do it smoothly.

 

Burping the throttle only works when you transmission is in neutral and your clutch is engaged. Otherwise all you're doing is making noise.

 

[sm=bs.gif]

 

When I downshift, clutch in, give a little gas to bring up the rpm before shift
Isn't that what I said here? [sm=gears.gif]

 

I was going to say the same thing as 128auto. I have an import also and thats what I do in it. It saves the tranny. Clutch in, quick little twist of the wrist to bring rpms up, and down shift, clutch out. It makes the shift smooth and keeps from jarring the tranny so much. I believe the "technical" term is rev matching. It will also keep you from losing the bike. If you are in 5th and you want to drop to 3rd, you sure as hell don't want to tap down to third quickly and release the clutch. The back wheel will break loose and could potentially be dangerous. In your import, if you did the same thing you might here a bark from the tires but you wouldn't lose control.

here is a video of it on a sport bike. he is coming to a stop but the same principle applies to any speed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb7dxrTAyb0

 

B.S? I'll tell you what you do. Google Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia. Look up "double clutch". (That is the proper way to synchronize the engine and transmission.) Obviously because of the configuration of the motorcycle transmission it is impossible to double clutch a motorcycle. After you've read about double clutching, let me hear from you again.