First I know the 80% of your braking is from the front wheel. I have a 09 Street Glide with ABS
When I am braking hard with my rear brake I cannot downshift without releasing some of the rear brake. Yesterday I needed to slow down quickly so I used both brakes. The only way I could keep downshifting was to release the rear brake? This has happened before? I was taught when braking to avoid something also downshift so you have power to get out of whatever you needed to slow down for. I would think I could possibly use either brake & be able to downshift if needed? Anyone else have this problem/fix? Why is braking effecting the Tranny?

 

I would recommend taking an Experienced Rider Courses with the MSF, you take it with your own bike. You learn how to do exactly what you are talking about and more.

 

see you don't know how to you need a course to teach you. I can do it but I have 08 no abs and did not take the course.

 

It's not a bad thing taking these classes. I have been riding on and off since I was 11 on dirt bikes. I took the Experienced Riders Course a few years ago and still learned something. If I purchased another bike I would take it again with that bike. It's a wise idea to know as much as possible about controlling your bike and being able to react in panic situations.

 

every military base i was stationed at required you to pass their own advanced riding course to get your privilege to ride on base......that makes 4 advanced riding programs i have attended......i learned something new at each of them and they have saved me from accidents on at least 3 occasions that qualify as panic situations......the only reason i knew what to do was because of those courses....I highly recommend them

 

What you're experiencing doesn't have anything to do with the brakes effecting the tranny. I think we've all experienced this in one form or another and it's common to just about any make and model motorcycle you care to name. What I think you're doing, because I've done it too, is you're not being as precise with performing the downshift and completely releasing the shift lever before trying for the next gear. The end result is the transmission winds up not completely in a gear, or possibly stuck between gears and then it won't go to the next one because things aren't lined up properly. I don't know if I'm doing a good job of describing this or not but it's what I "think" is going on. For me, I get out of it by dragging the clutch, a little, while applying pressure to the shift lever. Once I'm back down to first gear, everythings good and I have no more problems until the next time I get sloppy with the shift lever.

It's important to downshift as you slow down so don't worry about that. Just try to be a bit more deliberate about catching each gear and then getting completely off the shift lever so the shift mechanisms can reset for the next gear change, whichever direction that change needs to be. We only seem to see this problem while downshifting. I think that's primarily because downshifting is the only time when we're likely to make a multiple gear changes (say, 5th to 2nd) at one time. We almost never do this while upshifting.

Hope this makes sense!
Ride Safe,
Steve R.

 

Hog Yild
The problem is the tranny will not physically let me downshift if I am braking hard with the rear brake (as said I know front is 80% of braking power). I was using both brakes when I discovered the problem. Try braking with just your rear brake & see if it does the same with yours? Any other bike I have had did not do this non do I think it should? Will talk with the dealer next weekend.

 

You haven't said why you are braking hard. Because you need to come to a quick stop? Or because you are going too fast for a situation.

Regardless, if you are in need of braking hard, then forget about downshifting as it is pretty obvious that you are in a more important situation. Once you get your speed down quickly, do your downshifting before you stop, or once you stop.

 

I don't think I've ever experienced what you are describing on my bikes, I assume your clutch is pulled all the way in and you are applying both brakes and downshifting the transmission. With the clutch fully applied I can't understand why it wouldn't downshift or upshift for that matter. I question whether your clutch is needing some adjustment?

 

I've never heard of any link or sensing system between brakes and tranny.