As mentioned b4, down shifting helps save wear on breaks and keeps you in more control of the bike. Matching rpms w/ road speed gives you even more control as well as minimizing unnecessary wear on the bike. It is illegal for a commercial vehicle to free wheel, (put the clutch in or put in neutral when coming to a stop). The reason? They want commercial drivers to maintain control of their vehicle.

 

some of y'all must be really slow when downshifting if you have to blip the throttle to bring your rpms back up..... i go through this every day (as i suspect a lot of you do too). i ride in a 65 zone for 12 miles or so, which then goes down to 45. i'll cruise along in 6th (about 70) until i'm coming up on the reduced speed zone. when i let off the throttle, and pull in the clutch, i'm taking all forward power away from the wheels, which means that the bike is gonna slow down, i shift into 5th, let out the clutch, and it's a smooth transition at about 60 mph, downshift again into 4th, let out the clutch, again, smooth transition, and lock the cruise at 49 or 50....

blipping your throttle seems to me to only serve to stroke the rider's ego, 'hey look at me....'

 

I give up, you guys win. People on street bikes, racers, hell, even race cars blip the throttle when downshifting only to draw attention to themselves. It has nothing to do with performance, control etc. Slipper clutches on race bikes are a waste of money because they are not needed to equalize road/engine speed.

 

I get what you're saying but the OP said this -


He's talking about stopping. You're talking about slowing down to adhere to the posted speed limit. But, even in your scenario, I still rev match (although it's very subtle).......yes, to look cool. Every time I do it, a line of hot women follow me. Try it sometime.

 

Many of the worlds top sports cars with paddle shifters, automatically blip the throttle on downshifts so as to not upset the balance of the vehicle...

I guess all the manufacturers are really trying to do is stroke the owners egos by bringing them attention? roflmao

Meanwhile, if done properly, you are only bringing the revs up to less than 2,000 in normal city driving, maybe a little higher at highway speeds.

 

i do the same thing when i'm stopping to, continuing on down below 4th. of course, this is all moot if you have to stop quick, but works great when you're coming up on a red light.

my wife might have a problem with a line of hot women following me home. maybe she'd let me keep one or two though



there is a huge, huge, huge difference between your harley and a 'top sports car'. regardless of how much you paid for that dyno tune

 

[QUOTE;there is a huge, huge, huge difference between your harley and a 'top sports car'. regardless of how much you paid for that dyno tune [/QUOTE]

Undoubtedly but... the theory, application and effect, remain constant.

 

Gearing down will make ya a better operator. Coming to a halt in 3rd gear & then needing to move will move ya slowly forward, while coming to a halt in at least 2nd will get ya moving faster...when need be. Also, its less stress on the brakes. Plus, ya spend less time in indecision & thought whenever ya download the gears to idle speed.

 

Brakes are lot cheaper then clutch. When I see yellow or red light I get off gas. No one behind, just let engine drag down the speed. Someone behind I keep eye on them and when I see them backing off also for the light, I downshift as I slow but do not let clutch out. However I match gear for my speed till right before throwing foot out I will be in low. That way I am also ready if say light pops to green I am ready to go if I am doing 20 or doing 2. That last part takes practice.

 

I do both,engine & pull in the clutch when i reach a point in my stop.