Braking for a stop sign

[azn370z]

When you want to make a complete stop at a stop sign do you downshift through all the gears or downshift a few gears then coast in with the clutch pulled in?

[Alex]

Bad form to coast in neutral for any length of time. You don't have to engage each gear on the way down, though. If you're in fourth, you can decide to downshift directly to second, or even first if you're going slow enough by keeping the clutch lever pulled in while you tap down multiple gears before letting the lever back out again.

[Motofool]

You can do either way.

This is what I do: Downshift as the speed of the bike decreases all the way to first and zero speed.
I do clutch out after engaging each gear and use some engine braking, but that is not really necessary.

[C L]

Is it bad to coast but stay in a gear thats appropriate for the speed I'm going?
Like shifting down as I get slower and slower

[Alex]

"Bad" is relative. If you're in an appropriate gear with the clutch lever out, a rider is able to take quicker action if the need arises. Sudden acceleration means you roll on the throttle to go *now*, rather than needing to let the clutch out and hope that you're in the right gear. Being in neutral or in an inappropriate gear for the current road speed just limits ones' options if something unexpected happens (that garbage truck bearing down on you from behind, that red light runner which you need to accelerate/swerve past, etc.). 99% of the time, there's probably no safety difference by coasting without a care. It's that 1% that gets you, though, that makes it worth it to practice the right way as much as possible.

[nickjpass]

Try to always be in gear... neutral, is pointless. I feel like it's really only there to roll the bike around and do maintenance.

[ChaoSS]

If I am coming up on a red light, I usually downshift and use engine braking a bit to help slow down. If a light changes in front of me or for some other reason I need to slow down more quickly, I tend to brake with the clutch in, but I will downshift as appropriate to stay in the right gear.

Sometimes I'll do kind of what Alex said, and I'll downshift a few gears and run in 3rd or whatever for a little bit, then finish slowing down. This is mostly when I slow down a little too quickly and need to burn off some of the room between me and the light.

[Joshorilla]

I'll double down shift and use the extra engine breaking to slow me down slowly releasing engaging clutch while braking.

So i'm never coasting in neutral, and I don't go through all the gears, mystery option 3!

[nickjpass]

Thinking about it now, I hate neutral. Always manage to hit it randomly... especially during drifts on my dirt bikes.

[alex.s]

neutral is for when you are walking the bike around in a garage. not for when the bike is on.


even mechanically speaking, neutral on a dog box is what i would call a hack. not something for general consumption.

[azn370z]

Sorry for the confusion I meant clutch lever pulled and coasting in 1st gear before I come to to a stop.

[Joshorilla]

Neutural to me is what my bike is in when I turn her on, turn her off, or fancy a stretch at a trafic light.

Although I feel the real question is about a disengaged clutch rather than neutural, for all intent and purpose the same thing.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Joshorilla

Neutural to me is what my bike is in when I turn her on, turn her off, or fancy a stretch at a trafic light.

Although I feel the real question is about a disengaged clutch rather than neutural, for all intent and purpose the same thing.

its better to park it in gear. its like a parking brake. if its in neutral its much easier for it to shift and tip itself over.

[Whiskey]

You can clutch in & drop a couple of gears as you brake, keeping a reasonable gear to clutch out & roll on, neutral is not for a stop sign.

(personally I use it at traffic lights where I know the sequence, there is a get ready light & I have something substantial enough behind me to prevent any idiot from running into the back of me. 99% of cages here are stick shift too - do so at your own discretion)

You're riding a twin, use engine braking

[Aggrotech]

depends...i usually do just downshift through the gears..but i also find myself (if im in 2nd) to just use the brake, while braking downshift into first right when im about to stop then just chill in first until its my turn.

[S1att3r]

I believe neutral is on the bike just to piss me off and make me feel stupid when I don't give a firm enough up shift so I pop it into neutral and rev it to 10k before I realize what happened.

[LoD575]

I blip through the gears when slowing and coming to a stop.

[bkh2]

Generally, I'll downshift through all the gears, but I'll skip first gear. I find that I need to give it too big of a blip. Second gear engine braking seems to bring the bike down to a pretty low enough speed.

[Joshorilla]

Originally Posted by alex.s

its better to park it in gear. its like a parking brake. if its in neutral its much easier for it to shift and tip itself over.

I park my bike while at work in a public car park in the bike section, it's common practise to leave your bike in neutral so that if somebody gets blocked in by bad parking or if a their is a big gap either side of your bike but not enough for anybody to park in, somebody can move your bike a little bit to get theres in or out.

[Alex]

Seems like one would only be comfortable with another motorcyclist moving the bike (though even that would worry me), so wouldn't they be able to pop it into neutral if needed?

[nickjpass]

If someone moved my bike I'd be super pissed. Going to raise hell. I don't like it when people touch things that are mine. If your car was parked poorly, would I move it for you? I guess we were raised differently.

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by nickjpass

If someone moved my bike I'd be super pissed. Going to raise hell. I don't like it when people touch things that are mine. If your car was parked poorly, would I move it for you? I guess we were raised differently.

Happens a bit more here, you see cops where I'm from do the same with their cars double parked out in front of the station, handbrake off & they can roll it out of the way.

I don't really mind if it's a proper biker that moves my bike, scooter riders doing it pisses me right off.

[alex.s]

you don't touch/move someone else's bike. that's just disrespectful.

[Dirty Mike]

Depends on the speed for me. In neighborhood riding I'll downshift to second and ride that gear almost to a stop maybe 5 or 6 mph before clutching in and downshifting to first while braking fully. Higher speeds ill coast in 4th then 2nd then follow same principle as I said before. Engine braking is key to badassery

[cbinker]

i coast with the clutch lever pulled.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by Motofool

You can do either way.

This is what I do: Downshift as the speed of the bike decreases all the way to first and zero speed.
I do clutch out after engaging each gear and use some engine braking, but that is not really necessary.

This is how I do it also, but I will engage each gear on the way down. I try to rev match into 1st whenever I can, but sometimes I'll just take second all the way down and then from ~15mph, clutch in and brake to a stop, then downshift to first.

Originally Posted by Joshorilla

I park my bike while at work in a public car park in the bike section, it's common practise to leave your bike in neutral so that if somebody gets blocked in by bad parking or if a their is a big gap either side of your bike but not enough for anybody to park in, somebody can move your bike a little bit to get theres in or out.

Oh HELL no! If I'm in a public parking space, I will park at an angle in the rear half of the space so that no one swings in quickly (thinking it is empty).

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by BRad704

Oh HELL no!

[Joshorilla]

You may have me mistaken, if I were to park in a carpark car space I would park at the rear on an angle with my tail sticking out, but I am talking about the bike section, which is usually a 50 ft by 20ft square where you can park where you like, usually people do this in two rows with a channel in the middle to ride out from, but if it gets full and you can't get out you need to move someones bike back or forward to do so, so it's considered curtious to leave your bike in neutural without stearing lock.

Did you know in italy and some places in france while parking it's common practise to leave your car in neutural with your wheels facing forward, so if someone needs to get inbetween you and another car and you have a gap behind / infront of you, they will push your car with their bumper "drive into your car", if you ask them they why or get pissy they will say "well, that's what the bumpers are for?"

[TBC]

Originally Posted by azn370z

Sorry for the confusion I meant clutch lever pulled and coasting in 1st gear before I come to to a stop.

Originally Posted by Whiskey

You can clutch in & drop a couple of gears as you brake, keeping a reasonable gear to clutch out & roll on, neutral is not for a stop sign.

I do this often enough. I never put it in neutral and just coast, but sometimes I'll just engage the clutch and downshift through the range as I slow down.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by Joshorilla

You may have me mistaken, if I were to park in a carpark car space I would park at the rear on an angle with my tail sticking out, but I am talking about the bike section, which is usually a 50 ft by 20ft square where you can park where you like, usually people do this in two rows with a channel in the middle to ride out from, but if it gets full and you can't get out you need to move someones bike back or forward to do so, so it's considered curtious to leave your bike in neutural without stearing lock.

Did you know in italy and some places in france while parking it's common practise to leave your car in neutural with your wheels facing forward, so if someone needs to get inbetween you and another car and you have a gap behind / infront of you, they will push your car with their bumper "drive into your car", if you ask them they why or get pissy they will say "well, that's what the bumpers are for?"

TIL: I could never live in Ireland, France or Italy.

I didn't realize you were talking about an actual motorcycle parking area. That would still seems awkward to me (moving someone else's bike), but I DO wish we had much more motorcycle parking areas in the US.

[Lancaster]

Originally Posted by Dirty Mike

Depends on the speed for me. In neighborhood riding I'll downshift to second and ride that gear almost to a stop maybe 5 or 6 mph before clutching in and downshifting to first while braking fully. Higher speeds ill coast in 4th then 2nd then follow same principle as I said before. Engine braking is key to badassery

same for me

[250rr]

Originally Posted by Joshorilla

I park my bike while at work in a public car park in the bike section, it's common practise to leave your bike in neutral so that if somebody gets blocked in by bad parking or if a their is a big gap either side of your bike but not enough for anybody to park in, somebody can move your bike a little bit to get theres in or out.

I don't like people touching my bike. It seems rude to me. On the other hand, if I were parked in a parking area as you describe and I parked my bike in a way that the only option for his egress was for the person I was blocking to move my bike, I wouldn't mind at all if he moved my bike. I would just mind very much if it was dropped.