Anyone got an air or electric shifter on their bike? I've been told that it's extremely bad to "float" a bike. Being a truck driver, I float my truck all the time. Is it really that big of a difference? Would it hurt the bike to shift without the clutch on a regular basis? I'm not really looking at it to speed shift. I'm just wanting to stretch out my legs to the highway pegs faster. What do y'all think?

 

It doesn't take that long to go through the gears,whats it take,15 seconds max? I think you can hang on for that agonizing time period.

 

Wasn't really askin for opinons about my riding habits. More so someone that knows more about the electronic/air shifters than jaw jackin. Thanks anyways...

 

Being a trucker myself for 20 + years and riding for better than 30 years, here's my take on it. I keep the clutchless shifting for the truck and I always use it on the bike. The big difference is you are going to neutral everytime to disconnect power before your next gear in the truck since there are no synchros, you know as well as I do, you don't get your next gear unless you have your engine speed and road speed matched perfectly for the next gear. When done right it shifts like butter from gear to gear without the clutch.

Your bike on the other hand doesn't have synchros either, BUT is a constant mesh transmission and you don't go to neutral between shifts like the truck, instead you are sliding directly from one gear into the next gear immediately. Your bike's trans has no way of disconnecting the power between shifts unless you do use the clutch because all the gears are constantly turning against each other. Most of them are just free-wheeling, but the drum, shift forks, dogs and ultimately your foot decides which ones actually carry the power from the mainshaft to the countershaft. That's why you'll never shift your bike without the clutch as smooth as the big truck .... unless you actually use the clutch to disconnect the power ... you will feel an abrupt jerk without it.

I can row up/down through the gearboxes on my KX 500s all day with no clutch and they feel fine and never broke anything. I tried it a time or two on the Ultra and just doesn't feel good to me, also consider it weighs almost half a ton with me and gear ... the dirtbikes are only 200 something. It's your bike so do as you like and I couldn't tell you how long it would last doing so. Considering how our cheap cranks are pressed together along with compensators that don't last long for some, it doesn't sound like a good idea if you ask me. Ask Mark from Baker Transmissions (also a member here) and see what he thinks about it.

Here's a couple vids of the Pingel electric shifter I found ... watch close at some of those shifts and tell me if you would really want to do that to your bike. Some of the shifts didn't look too bad, but some of them had me cringe. Also be prepared to drop over $1,100 for one unless you can find a better deal.

 

Also take a look at Klicktronic.