Quickshifters ? Yes, No, Maybe ?

[Tricky]

I think a large number of the responses in this thread have possibly missed my main point for suggesting it, ( especially the Spanish Dingle , but he is is probably the most narrow minded individual I've ever met and stuck in the 1980s so no suprise there ) but I think those of you that are talking about it purely as a performance advantage possibly haven't used one on a track on an absolute screamer of a bike like Ceri's ZX6
it really has nothing to do with her reducing laptimes ( AFAIK she's never bothered timing them and has no interest in so doing), and has never been why I suggested it- it's about enjoyment levels, and the sort of bike the ZX6 is.

It revs to 16k rpm and unless you've got at least 8-10k up you really aren't going anywhere fast.
Gear ratios are close, so when you are on it, they come fast, and it is just so so much fun (IMO of course) keeping it pinned and just giving it another gear, then another, then another- makes it just like a playstation game, but so much much better
I wouldn't be suggesting one if it were some big lumpy twin, but the ZX6 just absoloutely cries out for one , to me.

And @weeksy the one you linked to is the one to get IMO- a lot of money, but the best.

Anyway- my ten-bob's worth, FWIW

[Horse]

Beemers are fucking odd though...but they never did anything track orientated until the S1000R

Ahem!

BMW Type 255 Kompressor was a supercharged boxer twin race motorcycle from the 1930s. A BMW 255 Kompressor was ridden to victory by Georg Meier in the 1939 Isle of Man TT and the first win by a non-British competitor in the premier 500cc Senior TT class.



That bike was probably fitted with ein Langsamerer Schalthebel (Slower Shifter)

[Dodgy69]

I think a large number of the responses in this thread have possibly missed my main point for suggesting it, ( especially the Spanish Dingle , but he is is probably the most narrow minded individual I've ever met and stuck in the 1980s so no suprise there ) but I think those of you that are talking about it purely as a performance advantage possibly haven't used one on a track on an absolute screamer of a bike like Ceri's ZX6
it really has nothing to do with her reducing laptimes ( AFAIK she's never bothered timing them and has no interest in so doing), and has never been why I suggested it- it's about enjoyment levels, and the sort of bike the ZX6 is.

It revs to 16k rpm and unless you've got at least 8-10k up you really aren't going anywhere fast.
Gear ratios are close, so when you are on it, they come fast, and it is just so so much fun (IMO of course) keeping it pinned and just giving it another gear, then another, then another- makes it just like a playstation game, but so much much better
I wouldn't be suggesting one if it were some big lumpy twin, but the ZX6 just absoloutely cries out for one , to me.

And @weeksy the one you linked to is the one to get IMO- a lot of money, but the best.

Anyway- my ten-bob's worth, FWIW

and don't forget, they do sound nice... Not sure if you can get a blipper for it.

[Tricky]

I think a large number of the responses in this thread have possibly missed my main point for suggesting it, ( especially the Spanish Dingle , but he is is probably the most narrow minded individual I've ever met and stuck in the 1980s so no suprise there ) but I think those of you that are talking about it purely as a performance advantage possibly haven't used one on a track on an absolute screamer of a bike like Ceri's ZX6
it really has nothing to do with her reducing laptimes ( AFAIK she's never bothered timing them and has no interest in so doing), and has never been why I suggested it- it's about enjoyment levels, and the sort of bike the ZX6 is.

It revs to 16k rpm and unless you've got at least 8-10k up you really aren't going anywhere fast.
Gear ratios are close, so when you are on it, they come fast, and it is just so so much fun (IMO of course) keeping it pinned and just giving it another gear, then another, then another- makes it just like a playstation game, but so much much better
I wouldn't be suggesting one if it were some big lumpy twin, but the ZX6 just absoloutely cries out for one , to me.

And @weeksy the one you linked to is the one to get IMO- a lot of money, but the best.

Anyway- my ten-bob's worth, FWIW

and don't forget, they do sound nice... Not sure if you can get a blipper for it.

Some people (not me) would call you a saddo for thinking that.

Anyway, I've re-thought things and decided that nearly all of my post above is complete bollocks.
And it's as much use as an ashtray.

[weeksy]

Blippers so sound ace yes. They're more effective for me than a QS I think.

I don't know what we'll do at the moment, but interesting to get opinions

[Dodgy69]

If it was me I probably wouldn't bother if its only UP shifts. If up and down then yes definitely.

[Falcoholic]

I’m guessing no-one is missing manual advance/retard, hand shifts, or acetylene lights...

Yeah but I'd still love the chance to ride something like that.

QS on a race bike I get it. How much time do you lose changing gear over few dozen laps? Quite a few when you're chasing the clock and the lap times I would imagine. On the road maybe not so much. It's subjective, I suppose.

[Yorick]

It won't be long before the new toys for Gold Wing owners are QS and launch control

[KungFooBob]

It won't be long before the new toys for Gold Wing owners are QS and launch control

Get a DCT Goldwing and you don't need a quickshifter.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I’m guessing no-one is missing manual advance/retard, hand shifts, or acetylene lights...

Yeah but I'd still love the chance to ride something like that.

QS on a race bike I get it. How much time do you lose changing gear over few dozen laps? Quite a few when you're chasing the clock and the lap times I would imagine. On the road maybe not so much. It's subjective, I suppose.

Do they still use zeroshift in MotoGP or was it banned? They use it in F1 still AFAIK.

It's very much like the VW DSG system in that you have two gear shafts, but you still only have one clutch on the race system.

In a race it deffo makes sense.

[TBR_Matt]

I actually race for 3 yrs without a quickshifter, and have suspension data and timing data buried on a laptop somewhere

Dipping the throttle upsets the bike for a start, it also costs time, maybe a tenth per shift.. over the course of a lap that can be quite a lot depending on the bike and track..

Also have footage from someone who was behind me, and you can see when I'm shifting, and each time the bike behind would nudge say, half a bike length closer enough so by the end of the straight they were alongside me... purely from lost time shifting

So definitely massively helpful on track, both in time and keeping things smooth when the bikes banked over and you want to shift

For a road bike, its definitely only worth it for the pure pleasure of it.. for people worried about gearboxes... it depends a LOT on the quality of the quickshifter... a good high end quickshifter can actually be better than using the clutch.. the simple way bike gearboxes shift gears, is not great, there's always scope for dogs to chip away at eachother.. smoothness is the key

[ace llani]

I had one on a pre injection R1 I raced.
Once set up properly it was great.

Didn't make me any faster, but it's all about smiles per hour - I enjoyed using it.

Flat knacker upshifts, seamless gearchange - was nice.

Wouldn't bother on a road bike, but racing/track days, I'd say it's a nice thing to use.

[Bigyin]

I have ridden a couple of road bikes with quick shifters and i struggled with them as i rarely use the clutch on upshifts on either of my bikes most of the time and tend to preload the lever for gear changes and roll slightly off the throttle. On a bike fitted with QS as soon as i touch the lever it changes which took me quite a while to try and get used to and resulted in some lumpy unexpected gear changes.

The particular system on the 1260 Enduro Multi cuts the power too long on upshift from 5th to 6th to the extent that when accelerating hard at 3 figure speeds and make the 5th to 6th shift i found myself rocking forward as my balance was upset as the power cut and then getting rocked back again as it kicked in. Quite disconcerting

Not against the per se, just dont see a practical road use for them...... but then i never used the slipper clutch properly till i took the Multi on track and used it to drop down the gearbox at the end of the straight for the 2nd gear hairpin and just dump the clutch and let the clutch sort it out nicely

[Trogladyte]

I'm struggling to understand some of the comments on here. But I can't claim much experience. My Superduke is a big twin, but far from lumpy. It has an up-down QS with autoblipper, slipper clutch and some clever fuckery that stops the rear decelerating too abruptly, and doing a hop skip and jump. And it's a joy. I'm not going to repeat the stuff I said earlier in the thread, but I use it constantly, from pootling about town, to hooning in the country lanes. It copes with it all. You can be doing 50 odd in 2nd, leant over in a bend, and jam it clutchless into first, and it isn't even remotely upset.

[Claude]

I absolutely love qs. I wouldn’t buy a road bike without up and down qs now.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I'm struggling to understand some of the comments on here. But I can't claim much experience. My Superduke is a big twin, but far from lumpy. It has an up-down QS with autoblipper, slipper clutch and some clever fuckery that stops the rear decelerating too abruptly, and doing a hop skip and jump. And it's a joy. I'm not going to repeat the stuff I said earlier in the thread, but I use it constantly, from pootling about town, to hooning in the country lanes. It copes with it all. You can be doing 50 odd in 2nd, leant over in a bend, and jam it clutchless into first, and it isn't even remotely upset.

So basically you can be as ham fisted as you like and the bike still has you covered. The only argument is whether or not you think that is a good thing.

[Claude]

For me it’s the enjoyment factor not the performance there’s something very addictive about keeping the throttle pinned and just banging up through the box, likewise coming up to a bend and knocking it down the box with the delicious auto blip.
Sounds amazing, feels amazing and is just a whole lot of fun.

[Trogladyte]

I'm struggling to understand some of the comments on here. But I can't claim much experience. My Superduke is a big twin, but far from lumpy. It has an up-down QS with autoblipper, slipper clutch and some clever fuckery that stops the rear decelerating too abruptly, and doing a hop skip and jump. And it's a joy. I'm not going to repeat the stuff I said earlier in the thread, but I use it constantly, from pootling about town, to hooning in the country lanes. It copes with it all. You can be doing 50 odd in 2nd, leant over in a bend, and jam it clutchless into first, and it isn't even remotely upset.

So basically you can be as ham fisted as you like and the bike still has you covered. The only argument is whether or not you think that is a good thing.

You could say the same about every advance in bike technology, from suspension damping to ABS. It's a tool, and having clever tech changes where the limits are, and allows you to do different things. But as with any tool, you have to learn it limits, and explore the envelope it gives you.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah i agree, like I said ages ago you'd be hard pressed to find a bike which doesn't do at least some of the riding for you...ever since they created auto advance ignition etc. bikes have been at least a little automated.