BGOL, Block Shifting, and Sequential Gears
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 1:57 pm
Hi, all. This is the first of my posts asking questions that have occurred to me as I've read through this forum and which I hope will be answered and stimulate helpful discussion!
Today's question is a bit nebulous, but I'm trying to work through what the implications for me as a motorcyclist are of the ideas of block shifting and Brake/Gear Separation.
My normal riding style (which I expect will change as I integrate more of what I've been reading here!) on approach to a corner or junction goes something like this:
1) Get into the right road position
2) Release the throttle to begin slowing
3) Possibly change gear, depending on whether the corner requires a lower gear than I'm in
4) Further use of engine braking, now that I'm in a lower gear
5) Possibly further gear changes if I'm coming from high speed into a tight corner
6) As I near the corner/junction, use brakes if necessary to reduce speed further
7) turn in, possible overlapping with the last bit of braking
Now, I can definitely see the benefit of avoiding changing gear in a corner (though I'll still do it on occasion with care) and I can see the benefit of getting all (or at the very least the majority) of braking done before turn-in. I can see the benefit in terms of brake lights for following traffic of using the brakes earlier rather than later, and not relying too much on engine braking.
I'm certainly not claiming that the system I've instinctively developed is the best (and I can see holes in it) but I'm just relating what I usually find myself doing.
The main bit I'm struggling with is this
Block changing: If I leave all my gear changing until the last thing on my list before the corner, I still have to go through all the intermediate gears in order to get to whatever gear I want to be in (sequential gearbox and all that) so I don't see that block shifting can offer me anything, and given that I feel it's apropriate to actually make use of the intermediate gears I have to go through anyway. What do people think?
There are other things, (I'm sure people will take note of my use of engine braking, for example) but I think that's the one that's really quite bike-specific, so I'll post the others in separate threads in the general forum.
Thanks in advance for the replies which I expect to be of high quality!
Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny
Today's question is a bit nebulous, but I'm trying to work through what the implications for me as a motorcyclist are of the ideas of block shifting and Brake/Gear Separation.
My normal riding style (which I expect will change as I integrate more of what I've been reading here!) on approach to a corner or junction goes something like this:
1) Get into the right road position
2) Release the throttle to begin slowing
3) Possibly change gear, depending on whether the corner requires a lower gear than I'm in
4) Further use of engine braking, now that I'm in a lower gear
5) Possibly further gear changes if I'm coming from high speed into a tight corner
6) As I near the corner/junction, use brakes if necessary to reduce speed further
7) turn in, possible overlapping with the last bit of braking
Now, I can definitely see the benefit of avoiding changing gear in a corner (though I'll still do it on occasion with care) and I can see the benefit of getting all (or at the very least the majority) of braking done before turn-in. I can see the benefit in terms of brake lights for following traffic of using the brakes earlier rather than later, and not relying too much on engine braking.
I'm certainly not claiming that the system I've instinctively developed is the best (and I can see holes in it) but I'm just relating what I usually find myself doing.
The main bit I'm struggling with is this
Block changing: If I leave all my gear changing until the last thing on my list before the corner, I still have to go through all the intermediate gears in order to get to whatever gear I want to be in (sequential gearbox and all that) so I don't see that block shifting can offer me anything, and given that I feel it's apropriate to actually make use of the intermediate gears I have to go through anyway. What do people think?
There are other things, (I'm sure people will take note of my use of engine braking, for example) but I think that's the one that's really quite bike-specific, so I'll post the others in separate threads in the general forum.
Thanks in advance for the replies which I expect to be of high quality!
Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny