I found full chat gear changes far easier with pushing down not up, no missed gears, no false neutrals, and down shifts a little better but less so (old Ducati gearbox after all!)
Wow, lots of replies... here goes The location of this momentus occasion is Sydney Motorsport Park - the racetrack formerly known as Eastern Creek. It's my first outing on an Australian track and one I've wanted to ride since I started watching GPs. Then after seeing Criville punt Doohan there, I definitely wanted to go there. I'll be racing there next year. It took me one 20 minute session round brands indy to get the hang of it and I've never looked back. My road bikes, my racebikes, the superbike school coach bikes - all race shift. Just take your time and concentrate and I found it very natural very quickly. So much so that it makes me wonder why all road bikes aren't reverse shift! Done - cheers bro, you're the bestest. It just feels better to me so I prefer it on any bike I ride now. You're right about the lever off the spline - I'll stick the one on that Ant is sending me. Were you in Assen in '06, our first trip there? Do you remember the bike Butch built that I rode there? It had the linkage still in and had turned it over but the linkage came undone just as the race was red flagged (I think it was Cleggy off), after everything else that had happened to that bike that weekend, and I did it up by hand while we were being held in the pitlane. Then we got released to do a sighting lap and form up and it came undone again so I pulled in and didn't take the restart - bugger! I agree and that is exactly what I'll do I reckon. Cheers mate - I'll be staying tuned to hear how your comeback plans are going. Look at us old DDrs eh, still kicking Didn't seem to hinder Max Biaggi too much either, or Chris Vermuelen ... That's pretty much my experience as well. It just works and it feels natural, it's not something I think about anymore. Anyone racing a DD bike that wants it to shift beautifully go get the gearbox refreshed and setup to proper tolerances by someone who knows what they're doing. It makes such a difference and the bike feels slick! Rich (Louigi) did that to the DD bike I last rode and it was awesome. After we got Anthony (Mike Dawson's mate) to setup the suspension properly it was the best thing to ride. It would do anything I wanted it to do and having a gearbox that shifts so easily really makes life easy when you're cranked over in a long corner and winding it on.
Just to confuse you even more, Leon Haslam jumped on my old 999R at Jerez a few years ago (he was still riding for GSE at the time) and I mentioned it's on race shift, quick shifter etc, he said he runs road shift so I guess it's whatever you prefer in reality
The one that earnt the team name "Death Trap Racing" ... how could we forget! Funniest moment ever was Eric saying to me "whatever you do, don't follow TP on that bike as it's a death trap!" What did he do in qualifying? Sat behind you in the first lap only to get a face full of oil! Next thing I know is your leg is on fire and you pull over to the marshal's post to get it put out. Classic!
Only problem I still have, been running it a few years, is slow to stop especially getting fuel. Nearly always go the wrong way (easy!) when slowing down to stop. Its really odd
Try your brain with this, car related. For more than 30 years I've been reconditioning automatic transmissions. Any auto car that I drive I always left foot brake. It comes from testing, but in a manual its just instinctive not to even attempt to left foot brake.
