Hard to down shift

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Two times now i have had to come to a quick stop on the freeway after riding 70-80 mph for a period of time. Both times I stopped only using the brakes. When I tried to shift down through the gears to 1st while stopped while waiting to take off, the trans would hang up between gears ( I say between because the shift light looks like " - "). It was very hard to get it back down to 1st. Does anyone know why?

Have you ever shifted from sixth gear into first gear on a motorcycle while at a dead stop before? Motorcycle transmissions don't work like car transmissions. Constant mesh (motorcycle) transmissions don't work like this. The gears need to be rotating to allow them to properly engage and disengage. The gears have dogs that interlock with each other and they need to be rotating to properly align the dogs.

Have you ever shifted from sixth gear into first gear on a motorcycle while at a dead stop before? Motorcycle transmissions don't work like car transmissions. Constant mesh (motorcycle) transmissions don't work like this. The gears need to be rotating to allow them to properly engage and disengage. The gears have dogs that interlock with each other and they need to be rotating to properly align the dogs. As with the post about the member not knowing he had his sidestand down, here again I am very surprised any more experienced riders don't understand what is going on with this.

At one point I considered posting a poll, asking riders if they did or did not downshift into every single gear as they came to a stop.

That is to say, it is possible (I have been doing it practically from day one) to shift quickly down through the gears from top to first with the clutch pulled in whilst on the brakes. But not after you've come to a stop. You need to let the clutch out a bit between every shift if you are at a complete stop.

To see anyone not aware of this technique is surprising. It's sloppy to let the clutch out after every shift when coming to a stop. You anticipate how much you need to slow down, pull the clutch in once, apply the brakes, and click down as many gears as you need before releasing the clutch again. Works perfectly.

My left foot automatically clicks down the right number of gears, it requires no thought at all any more. That ten bucks worth of attention Keith Code talks about can be spent somewhere else.