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Harsh Shifting?


Cohiba54

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Try preloading the shift, kind of like when doing a power shift without using the clutch. For this you do use the clutch and throttle as normal, but ahead of that sequence preload the shift leaver. This will help smooth out the last bit of systematization within the transmission. Works on up or down shift but will take a few tries before you get it. I discovered this on the K1200LT, it had a big clunk 1st. to 2nd. too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have never had to use anything like pre-load in my shifting! Downshift on any bikes should never be a problem, and if it is, I think that you need to find an old-timer to show you how to "rev-match". I never even knew that's what it's called until recent years, but that's how every riders that I knew downshift on a bike when I started riding in the '60s! :)

 

The wetheads "can" have clunky upshifts, especially in lower gears, and at low speed and acceleration, BUT it is possible to get noiseless shifts, once your bike is broken in "properly", like mine, and you also have to learn some techniques (beside pre-loading) for noiseless and smooth shifting at low speed. I guess the only place where I think pre-loading can be handy is when you shift from neutral to 1st, BUT then my bike is never in neutral when I ride, and it's always parked in 1st, which is another old habit! I can never understand why any one would park in neutral, but there are several reasons why one should always park in 1st!

 

Want to hear noiseless shifting? Watch this video of the highlight of one of my recent ride, on my '15 RT. The microphone is attached to the front of my jacket, about 1/2 way down, and so the audio is everything that one would hear from the bike. Watch on a desktop computer, otherwise the audio is likely to sound a little tinny!

 

Edited by PadG
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With Shift Assist Pro preloading the shift lrever will execute the shift, so that technique is not so useful on bikes with that feature.

 

Even with SAP I tend to use the clutch on down shifts as I am smoother when tooling around with the my wife on board than the computer and when riding frisky I have had a few SAP down shift delays on execution which can get scary if you are even slightly stuffing it into a turn. But even my '15 RT which is not known to be the smoothest shifting machine is sooo much better than my '99 that I'm not complaining. Is it snick smooth like the best shifting bikes, no, but pretty close.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the RTs tend to have a fairly long shift lever throw and one way I have found to get clean smooth shifts is to get a boot with a very stiff toe. A simple steel toe work boot may not be stylish but for $50 on sale it does about as much as all zen shifting techniques, like preloading the shift lever, partial clutch disengagement (single plate dry clutch models) etc.. The human factor can't ignored either. If you have never been confident about executing smooth shifts it is a learned skill and worth the practice time to master.

 

 

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