Clutchless downshifting/ Auto-blipping

And careful banging down more then 2 gears and letting the clutch out (unless you're on the brakes long enough to get down that amount of speed) or you can do damage to the motor. Been there, done that, got the bills to prove it.

 

And fuel injection is just a crutch for people who don't know how to tune carburetors...

Sometimes technology replaces fundamentals. Every superbike on the grid is running advanced TC. That doesn't mean the riders don't have throttle control, just that there's a better way now.

Live in the now man!!!

 

Exactly. Not only that, but you are begging for false neutrals and finding yourself in a gear other than the one you wanted.

I agree that blipping isn't necessary, but at least fan the clutch enough to engage the transmission between every shift. Grabbing a bunch of downshifts with the clutch in sounds terrifying.

 

And when all this stuff fails and you never learned how to properly downshift or use your right hand as traction control you meet the pavement pretty fast.

Carbs are for people who hate themselves. Or dirt bikes.

 

how much money do you have??? http://www.pingelonline.com/prodcat/kawasaki-electric-shifters.asp

With a few add ons from MPS... youd be at $1500ish. But full transmission control at your finger tips (and electronic gizmos)
Its a pretty slick system.

 

Yeah, don't blip is not a bad advise at all. On my gsxr 600 and 750 through the years I had gotten into the habit of adjusting the slipper all the way loose and on downshifts it felt almost like a two smoke- little to none engine braking which helped me be stronger on the brakes and not upset the chassis too much, never had to blip and never perfected the technique.

That's not going to be the case on the zx10r. I have a gen 4 and the bike is so much more demanding to ride in every imaginable aspect, my old gixer 1000
went around the track on auto pilot compared to this angry thing, finished turns better too.
I noticed in your other thread someone mentioning that the gen 3 was an easy bike to ride, they were probably drawing comparisons to a 500 cc two stroke, easy to ride fast has never been my findings with any of them.

If you don't have the skill buy the electronic aids, no shame in that. Simple example- plenty of people don't use TC on the big bikes at the club level and plenty of people do. 99% use TC at the pro level here, let's not shame them here for not having a steady throttle hand and good feel for rear wheel grip levels. Oh, and Moto GP guys don't blip either, they must be all fuckin hacks.

 

Ive damaged lots of rear tires, some chains & sprockets and quite a few egos doing this but so far, no engines..

supermoto style FTW!

 

This dude said it best, case closed here.

 

No they have very expensive electronics.

You can mechanically overrev your bike slipper or not. I let the clutch out between gears but grabbed one too many. Maybe the bike was about to spin the bearing and I added some extra stress? I just know I wouldn't go from 5th to 2nd and dump the clutch.

 

Great info guys, this is why I like starting threads

 

Guess I'll end up being the only person blipping downshifts while everyone else is spending money on slippers and auto-blippers.

Honestly, if slipping the clutch like crazy allows you to retain focus on reference points and such, more power to ya. Everyone has different technique.

But it sure is hella fun to coax the engine to bark and sing on entry to a corner. I find the bike wants to back into a corner a bit more predictably when rev matching also. Anymore, it's all about fun for me. I could care less about that .1 of a second. We all go back to work on Monday.

 

When I watch motoamerica I see people doing both.

 

It's all really about preference and what works for you. I personally think you should work on the fundamentals IE blipping on downshifts. It's really not hard and it gives you an option to use when the electronics and or other aids refuse to work as they should. I'd learn to ride first then use the additional tools available.

 

I haven't had any issues blipping, it just takes attention because it isn't muscle memory yet. practice practice practice

 

I was the opposite, been doing it for a long time so it was hard to stop or select when I would do it.

I would also suggest mastering the technique because it is handy if your entering a fast corner that you just need some engine braking and a downshift for, it upsets the chassis much less then if you just downshift and dump the clutch.

 

The faster the the rider, the slower their hands move... If your trying to drop time, an auto blipper is not the answer.

 

This.

Danny Walker (long time road racer on every stage, pro flat track racer, head of the American Supercamp, chief for the Red Bull AMA team and overall badass on a bike) spent some time talking about it when me and Eddie did the camp.

He said when he brings in new riders that is one of the first things he does, removes blipping from their riding. He says it is completely unnecessary on modern bikes (with slippers) and has the data to prove that blip ping does nothing but lengthen braking distance, regardless of which rider is on the bike.

 

Off the top of my head I can only think of 2 corners that I blip. And both of those are because I letting the clutch out while leanedover and can't afford to get the chassis out of shape.

The right hander in front of hot pit at Barber when I go from 3rd to 2nd while leaned over.

Entrance of T3 at Jennings when I go from 6th to 4th and am threading the needle on that really fast corner entry on a really tight line and can't afford to get the bike out of shape.

Other than that, I never blip.

 

With that being said, the autoblipper and clutchless downshifting on the 1299 ridiculous.

Downshifts are just as easy/fast/smooth as upshifts, without ever touching the clutch. I can't wait to try it at Talladega.

 

Yea I saw people on ducati forum drooling over the 1299 haha