[MOHx21]

What are the pros and cons of regular downshifting vs blipping?

I'm a new rider and I practice on a 5 mile stretch of twisites alomst everyday. I've tried both methods. I find that regular downshifting, that is, easing the clutch out and waiting until the engine speed matches the rear tire speed takes too much time and prepartation while on the twists. I'm a huge fan of blipping, it's fast and its smooth but it definately takes some finesse. I find blipping to be easier for me while on the twists.

I wanted to know if I'm correctly blipping...as I'm approaching a corner...

1) Roll off throttle slightly while using both front and rear break
2) Clutch in quickly
3) I then rev the bike slightly with my thumb, ring, and pinky fingers as I'm still breatking with my pointer and index fingers
4) Downshift the shifter pedal (preloaded) and release clutch

Is this the correct technique? Please correct me if I am mistaken, I'd hate to learn the wrong steps.

 

[Daredevil]

dunno about the street much, but at the track you will hear a million different answers that work for a million different people.

i used to blip, but after a while i would start coming into a corner quicker, and quicker and quicker, until i found out im freaking out, trying to do even more thing at once. (blipping) coming into i would blip, downshift, brake, and have to blip again to downshift once more and when i did this, i had to take my finger off the brake. this started freaking me out. now i RARELY blip, i almost always just feather the clutch. you can get very fast at it, i know im very slow, but blipping is just one less thing to do while going into a corner, and the less you can do, the more smooth you will be.

 

[B|ack_Ange|]

Just pull in the clutch, rev the rpms up a bit, downshift, and release the clutch. Thats all it is.

 

[Boss75]

Big fan of the blip, but I also drive a V8 stick shift daily. I'm very used to it and it's much smoother along with easier on your whole drivetrain if you blip the throttle to downshift.

 

[Noleman]

If you're that new, I wouldn't worry about blipping. Worry more about braking, body position and line of sight first. However, if you reall want the low down on blipping buy this book http://www.amazon.com/Sport-Riding-Techniques-Develop-Confidence/dp/1893618072 . There is a great chapter of blipping and down shifting and the benefits of both.

 

[SuperDave344]

i do it and was tought to do it by dave sadowski at my race school at mid ohio. Its nice if you dont have a slipper clutch to down shift quicker without locking up the rear tire. You wont use this really on the street. If your going that fast on the street then goto a track day and really have some fun and be safe.

Like was said above...your just raising the RPMs slightly to match the RPM youll be at when you down shift to make for a smoother down shift and no rear wheel chatter.

Ok theres my 2 cents lol not that its really worth that much be safe man

 

[dragonium25]

I'm still practicing to get it smooth everytime. I don't always get it right, but when I do it feels like butter. I only blip until 2nd gear, never into first. This is what I do:
- brake
- pull in clutch
- downshift
- blip
- release clutch

 

[MOHx21]

Check this guys clutch control, I was in awe when I first watched it last week. Only thing I can see that he is doing incorrectly is rolling off the throttle while in some the turns but he seems experienced enough.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yAtex41bE <---Copy and paste this YouTube video.


You can see that he is blipping on most of his downshifts and that they are really smooth. You can really only tell he is downshifting by hearing the engine. Is that because hes on a 250 or because he's just really good?

And don't get me wrong here, I don't expect to be that good for a few seasons.

 

[xredsand]

your above steps will work, but if you're doing it step by step just like you mentioned...then try 3 and 4 at the same time. Blip and downshift at the same time as opposed to blipping, then downshifting right after. Cuts your steps down to 3. Disregard if that's what you meant you do. It's just practice, simple as that. After a while once you get used to it...it'll almost feel like 1 step.....

 

[05r6_raven]

that guy in the vid seems to do it pretty good...riding and all. way better than where i'm standing.

 

[rhouck]

dunno about the street much, but at the track you will hear a million different answers that work for a million different people.

i used to blip, but after a while i would start coming into a corner quicker, and quicker and quicker, until i found out im freaking out, trying to do even more thing at once. (blipping) coming into i would blip, downshift, brake, and have to blip again to downshift once more and when i did this, i had to take my finger off the brake. this started freaking me out. now i RARELY blip, i almost always just feather the clutch. you can get very fast at it, i know im very slow, but blipping is just one less thing to do while going into a corner, and the less you can do, the more smooth you will be.

This became my issue as well: I couldn't brake hard and deep and still blip effectively. Now I just feather the clutch; it allows my right hand to focus on braking, my left foot to click downshifts, and my left hand to feather the clutch on each shift. It took far less time to get smooth and is far easier for me.

There are pros that do it each way. The only real "con" to feathering the clutch (that I can see) is slightly accelerated clutch wear vs blipping.

 

[danaatscootdotnet]

This became my issue as well: I couldn't brake hard and deep and still blip effectively. Now I just feather the clutch; it allows my right hand to focus on braking, my left foot to click downshifts, and my left hand to feather the clutch on each shift. It took far less time to get smooth and is far easier for me.

There are pros that do it each way. The only real "con" to feathering the clutch (that I can see) is slightly accelerated clutch wear vs blipping.

This is one of the things J. Pridmore teaches and he's about as smooth as anyone out there. After a few days of practice this month (and 35 years of "blipping") I set up earlier, get my downshifts done fast/early and focus on smooth clutch release while trail braking deep. Be patient mid-corner and get the bike turned, then roll on the gas and stand the bike up early.

I'm sure not one of the "fast guys," but I have dropped my lap times into the semi-respectable zone. :dunce:

JP would go from almost readline in 5th, bam, bam into 3rd and use slow clutch release to real things in and manage RPMs into a corner. Pretty impressive.

-D