Clutch or no clutch
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,572
Likes: 5
From: Templeton California
RE: Clutch or no clutch
I doubt that clutchless upshifting when done right will damage anything.I also doubt that it's much faster or easier for most of us, or of any real value on the street.I've known many who swear by it.I can do it but never smooth enough to make me happy.I'm so used to using a clutch that it's actually slower for me, so much for "speed shifting".
Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
RE: Clutch or no clutch
An older friend of mine has been riding since before ww2 and still owns his first 49 Harley. He is arestoration guy and works on pre 30s engines. This guy who has more time on 2 wheels than anyone that i know has been shifting without a clutch whenever he feels like it for 60 years and has never had a problem with any of his many bikes trucks cars ect.. . If the engine and tranny speed are correct it is fine. You need a good ear to be good at itwith some machines, old spur gear trannys. I dont know about everyone else but i tend to take the advise of someone who has been riding an wrenching his own bikes for more than 70 years. As all the old guys say , it's all in the shift.
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 754
Likes: 2
From: New Bern, NC
RE: Clutch or no clutch
IT'S A HARLEY!!!!!!! It's not a 140 Farmall nor is it a Crotch Rocket. But, You and you all can do anything you want. However, I have always loved the sound of a Harley going through the gears, clutch in, clutch out, letting each gear pull the bike forward. I guarantee you will stop what you are doing to listen to that sound as a Harley goes by. I want others to hear that Harley Magic as I did and want to own a Harley. Even with the "snick, snick" of a Jap bike, I have strip the transmission dogs doing fast shifts.
Road Master
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 881
Likes: 2
RE: Clutch or no clutch
Will you hurt it. Not if your doing it right and the speed versus gearing is right they'll slide together with minimal friction but what your doing is your wearing the gears round thats why if you do it for awihle you'll find it getting easier and easier to do. Over a long period of time you will wear the gears down to the point where they can slip and fail to mesh properly. You will need to ensure your changing that fluid a little more often then recomended in order to get out those fine filings from the gears. Truck drivers drag racers and alot of old timers have been shifting clutchless for years. The benifit to the clutch is when you pull it all power is diengaged and when the gears mesh it allows them to coke together fast since the speed from the drive gear is transfered to the final.
Road Master
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 949
Likes: 1
From: Way Down Texas Way
RE: Clutch or no clutch
Well,
My dirt bike is a KTM 400 EXC that's an '02 model and I race Harescrambles with it. Normally a Saturday and Sunday, ten to fifteen races in one series a year andsporadic races, enduros, GrandPrix'setc.here and there in other series along with a trail rides and a few trips to the practice track. The courses are usually a 7 to 10 mile closed loops generally starting on a Motocross track and going out into the woods for the remainder of the course for multiple laps as the race is long.......the faster you are the more laps you get in............
Some of the track is very technical (tight woods, gullies, hills) and some is blasting (60-80+ mph on short straights depending on how long the straight, how big a bike or how big your ball$ are) and all of it is WFO for the whole race (if you can).
I'm not that fast (hence Draggin S) but you are constantly going from first or second on the low end up through whatever gear until the next dip or turn and it will wear you out especially on the tighter tracks. This bike is nowgoing on it's fifth season and I may have shifted up and down somewhere over Five Gazillion times and the gearbox is still good......that's without the clutch. You don't have the time or the arm to use a clutch.......so I guess the trans could go out the very next time I get on it.......if it happens I'll let you know..............
My dirt bike is a KTM 400 EXC that's an '02 model and I race Harescrambles with it. Normally a Saturday and Sunday, ten to fifteen races in one series a year andsporadic races, enduros, GrandPrix'setc.here and there in other series along with a trail rides and a few trips to the practice track. The courses are usually a 7 to 10 mile closed loops generally starting on a Motocross track and going out into the woods for the remainder of the course for multiple laps as the race is long.......the faster you are the more laps you get in............
Some of the track is very technical (tight woods, gullies, hills) and some is blasting (60-80+ mph on short straights depending on how long the straight, how big a bike or how big your ball$ are) and all of it is WFO for the whole race (if you can).
I'm not that fast (hence Draggin S) but you are constantly going from first or second on the low end up through whatever gear until the next dip or turn and it will wear you out especially on the tighter tracks. This bike is nowgoing on it's fifth season and I may have shifted up and down somewhere over Five Gazillion times and the gearbox is still good......that's without the clutch. You don't have the time or the arm to use a clutch.......so I guess the trans could go out the very next time I get on it.......if it happens I'll let you know..............
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