| Author | Message | ||
     1_mike |
Any of you XB owners, shift your Harley transmissions without using the clutch ? Mike | ||
| Andymnelson |
Coming from a sportbike background, I did that...once. Lol, "GRIIIIND, CLUNK!" | ||
| Boliver |
I always use my clutch. Some say you don't need to but my money is way too hard to come by and I would just soon make it all last as long as possible. HD transmissions are notoriously clunky anyway. What would make one think it would help to shift without the clutch? Just my two cents. I'm with Andy on this one. | ||
| Ronin1 |
I do it all the time. must be just me. | ||
| Jim_m |
yup, sure do. not often, but when I'm just cruising around, I'll let the gear shift up without the clutch. No clunking, no grinding, no drama | ||
| 1_mike |
Yea..as the question asks, who...beside myself ? I've shifted clutchless since my first bike back in 86. The practice came from my cars, which most were at the time four speed transmissions. I took the clutch apart the other day on my 2003 R1 because of a strange noise I was looking for. The bike has 99,085 clutchless shifted miles on it and everything in the clutch looks almost new. The friction plates, the steel plates, the small steel, blanchard ground spacers. Took the stator side apart too... Found nothing wrong anywhere..!? Put it all back together..the damn sound seems to be gone..!? Funny about the XB or Harley engined bikes, the heavy flywheel doesn't let the engine come down in RPM fast enough for the first two shifts to be "smooth". 4th and 5th gear shifts are pretty easy to do smoothly, both up and down. 2nd and 3rd pounds the drive belt too hard. My XB is a 12S. Thanks gang...just wondering, and the page needed something new to talk about...! Mike (Message edited by 1_mike on November 30, 2010) | ||
| Greg_e |
Higher RPM also seems to work better, but I have noticed that 1 to 2 is really bad, 2 to 3 bad, 3 to 4 also fairly bad but I'm not normally going fast enough to make it work right out of 3rd. | ||
| Noone1569 |
I do when just cruising around. Downshift what way sometimes as well. | ||
| Ourdee |
I've done it a couple of times, but not a habit on my XB. That said. I wiped out a 4 speed tranny on my datsun B210, but I'd catch and engage reverse while rolling forward in it for fun too. I went through 3 3 speed t-156 trannies in my CJ5, but it had a 360 pushing over 300 horse and would lift the front end hitting 3rd at 85 mph. Did I mention the Zoom clutch? All my jap bikes survived clutchless up and down shifts all there lives with me. I did snap the output shafts on both my Bennelli bikes though. | ||
| 1_mike |
Ourdee - Hmmm...is someone here hard on vehicles...? You don't have my address do you ? Mike | ||
| Ourdee |
The one in Covina, or the other place? | ||
| 1_mike |
Covina is a big small town....(insert smile here)! Mike | ||
| Xb9er |
My 04 XB12S hated and sometimes didnt shift when I tried to power shift. Fun thing, my 06 XB12X and 03 blast! dont mind it at all. | ||
| Fast1075 |
My XB12 DOES NOT like it at all...my DRZ400 on the other hand will upshift and downshift cleanly all day long with a blip of the throttle. | ||
| Sifo |
My 04 XB12S hated and sometimes didnt shift when I tried to power shift. Fun thing, my 06 XB12X and 03 blast! dont mind it at all. I thought that the trans had been updated in '06 to a better shifting unit. I'm not positive about that though. My '06 XB12 will upshift without the clutch quite nicely. I don't normally do that though just because of a similar discussion some time back. I was convinced by that discussion that between the trans not being the slickest thing out there and the heavy flywheel and fairly wide ratios in the gearing, it just may not be a good choice with the XB. Higher RPM also seems to work better, but I have noticed that 1 to 2 is really bad I've also always heard not to do this on the 1 to 2 shift. Use the clutch when going through neutral. I'm not sure I would ever want to cluthless down shift either. Our Street Triple feels much smoother with clutchless shifting. The HD trans just isn't as smooth as modern racing units. In many ways Erik did an amazing job polishing a turd. |
