1 up 5 down!

None from me. My ShiteOldGSs used to have working gear indicators but
when they broke it wasn't something I felt inclined to fix. I'd
occasionally find the facility useful when in top and a glance at the GI
would confirm I didn't have another gear to go up. Otoh, when they broke
I would occasionally cruise along at umpteen revs in 4th, thinking I was
in top.

So there ya go. Swines and roustabouts.

 

My R1100GS has a gear indicator, too, but I don't use it much.

 

The difference is that if N is at the bottom, you'd often or always end
up shifting into N, and then you'd *have* to shift back up into 1.

If N is in between 2 and 1, you can skip N on the way down, and be in
1st during the stop. And that's useful for when some idiot cager behind
you wants to do a SMIDSY and stop at the line instead of behind you.

 

Matchless (1957 G3LS at least) gearboxes were 1 up 2 (or was it 3?) down.

<drifts off into incoherent reminiscences of felt oil filters and exploding
big ends>

 

Well, you can argue the point with me if you want to; the OP asked why
the gears are set up this way; I gave some plausible explanations and
showed how they fit in with how I ride (or, more likely, how my style of
riding fits in with how the gears are set up). I guess you're stuck with
counting gears even though you don't have to...

 

It's an important skill, probably under-developed in most riders because
there are few dire consequences from mis-counting. OTOH, most corners in
street riding are taken in 2nd gear. I like to be in 2nd as I have grown
accustomed its cues on road speed. (2nd gear on my bike is usable between 15
and 85 mph. That about covers the range of speeds I'm interested in. Your
second gear might differ.) Aside from that, keeping count means you can stop
shifting into the non-existent 7th.

 

Bear says...

Half urban myth, half truth.

The RD250 and RD350A had a 6 speed box with the usual '1 down 5 up'
gearbox but 6th was, for some fucking obscure reason known only to some
slanty eyed engineer, blanked off and as such unuseable. Motorcycle
Mechanics - as it was then, it eventually became Performance Bikes - got
their resident 'expert' involved and he explained how to liberate the
missing 6th gear. What he didn't explain was how to put a stop on the
selector drum to ensure you couldn't engage 1st gear directly from 6th.
We've all done it, been flat out in 6th and looking for the next gear
up.

Cue lots of very damaged RD250 and RD350As, and not an inconsiderable
number of broken young lads.

To be fair to MM, they did print an apology and a supplement explaining
the correct method of stopping the selector drum from going full circle
in the next month's issue.

Yamaha decided the RD250 and RD350B should have all 6 gears available.

 

Cryasor says...

My FS1E had all 4 gears down with neutral at the top. When I bought my
RD250E it took me all of 5 minutes to get used to the box being
different, but there's no way I could ever get on with British style
right foot gearchanges.

 

And you've never missed a shift, or miscounted ever?
Shifting down and expecting power to be there from 1 to N
would happen at the WORST possible times. Personally, I'd
like to see N locked out unless the wheels are not turning.
THEN I wouldn't care if it were at the bottom or between
first and second.

I don't usually use N. My RZ needed the phases of moon to
be in alignment to find it.

 

It keeps the mind active.

 

Cam Penner <>

Well, of course I have. But not that often.

That's a reason that makes sense.

 

snip>

I knew it could be done but didn't know anyone who'd tried it.

I'd still argue against the fact that Yamaha made a 2 stroke with a
suicide box. They didn't - mechanical **** wits made them suicide
boxes.

 

Two things I do compulsively on a bike. Shift and cancel
my turnsignals. I always shift down to first AS I slow.
Again, once stopped. If I'm at a light for more than 20
seconds, I'll shift down into first again. I also shift
into first just before taking off from any stop too. That
little green Neutral light on my guages is in pretty much
factory fresh condition.

 

I started to post the same reply, and then realised that that wasn't
what the OP asked; the mandate was for left gearchange, right brake. I'm
not sure if it mandated the gearchange direction, but that was minor
compared to standardising gears/brake.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Turby wrote

Well it would be nice if they did but so far all the ones I have
devoured have been illiterate.

And just for the record the Califnian Medjool Dates that you lot are
probably so proud of are not a patch on the Israeli ones which, in turn,
are downright insipid when compared to Jordanian an Iranian offerings.
Not that Medjool dates are actually that wonderful either, just big.

 

Well, putting neutral somewhere next to 1st makes sense, because you're
in neutral only when you're stopped, and to start moving from a stop
you need to get into 1st gear. Putting 1st BELOW neutral also makes
sense, because then all it takes to get moving from neutral is a quick
push down on the shift lever (much easier than pushing up on the lever
that would be required if neutral was all the way down on the bottom).
The rest of the pattern follows from this basis (1st right above
neutral).

I suppose another shift pattern that fits would be neutral on top, then
down to 1st, then down to all the other gears. But the current pattern
was probably chosen to make it intuitive: "push up to go up a gear".

-Gniewko

 

I wonder why racers use the upside-down pattern instead of simply
adding a heel rocker. That would easily solve the problem of upshifting
in turns - push down with your heel to upshift.

-Gniewko

 

Probably to avoid accidental changes mid-corner as they move around on
the bike.

 

Turby wrote

Well yes, force of circumstance and all that old tosh.

Israeli Oranges, traditionally large, not terribly juicy or particularly
sweet but easy to peel orange coloured fruit, marketed as Jaffa Oranges
over here, are absolute shite. What we are seeing now though are
smaller things from the same family but so tasty it is untrue, South
African Mandarins are to die for.

 

But that's not why they put it there; They put it there so that
neutral would be BETWEEN TWO GEARS. Why? Because neutral is not a
stop. If you always push the lever until it stops, then you'll
always end up in gear -- never in neutral. This is considered a
Good Thing, especially by those riders who NEVER shift into neutral
at stops.

-- Foo!