Quote:
Originally Posted by kenji_808
Basically that's the reason why there is no grinding of gears on a bike because there are no synchromesh gears to grind, the gears just go to the next gear.
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You can definitely grind gears on a bike. They use the same engagement mechanism as cars (dogs), but without syncronizers.
I used to clutchless shift, up AND down, all the time. One time I did the entire commute to work with one hand, just to see if I could do it... stopsigns involved squeezing the brake until the engine was JUST about to die, then going again. But, one night when riding around with friends, I missed several gears on upshifts, so now I mostly use the clutch.
However, I still sometimes clutchless upshift when the engine is cold and I am keeping the RPMs low. The loads are small during calm, low-RPM acceleration, and because I have to shift 5 times by the time Im doing like 35mph, I would rather make it a little smoother.
I also clutchless downshift when I am making a turn without a turn lane, and want to use my left hand to signal to traffic behind me (in addition to my blinkers). Well, maybe I do it more than that; I sometimes forget which technique I use at any given time, heh. Downshifts are still very smooth and quite fun. Upshifts under high loads just make me a little nervous now, for my tranny's sake.