I was reading a Gary Semics motocross technics manual a friend lent to me and Semics says to down shift with no clutch because you can better tell what gear you are in.He also mentions that there is no damage caused to the tranny by doing this.
Anyone have experience with this riding in the woods or trails or is this limited to motocross?Thanks for any responces.
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it dont hurt till the bone shows.
as far as down shifting without clutch to tell what gear your in,it could come in handy if you forget.as far as no tranny damage,that isnt so true.if you are going fast enough and drop 2 gears you could hurt something,and no only that lockup the rear tire and that wouldnt be good at high speeds.
On a modern MX bike, shifting can be done without the clutch and it will not damage anything alot. Over time, the forks could get bent and the dogs could wear out. On my KX, I have shifted primarily W/O the clutch for a year and when I had the tranny apart a year ago, it showed no wear.
I'm just the opposite. I think it's a pain in the ass to downshift without the clutch because I like to brake rather hard into turns. If I didn't use the clutch I would have to coordinate braking and downshifting simultaneously. It kinda disrupts my concentration when I try it, and I end up messing up a turn. You should go with whatever works for you though.
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If you have't crashed you haven't lived!