I need help with my gear changes! Any advice?

**gijoe1313** · 12th August 2006, 23:51

Well, I've had my first day out riding around my neighbourhood and out to my brothers place...and I can say it was a bit of a learning curve!

I find it hard to get to neutral and managing a smooth change through the gears. Several times on take off, I managed to stall my bike

(thank gawd the cagers behind me weren't too pissed off!) a couple of times. Needless to say this could be detrimental to my health!

Any advice or info much appreciated!

**The_Dover** · 12th August 2006, 23:55

Come over tomorrow bro and I'll see if I can identify what you're doing wrong. I'm only a K or two away. PM me for the address.

I promise I wont kill you.

**limbimtimwim** · 13th August 2006, 00:16

Take Mr Dover's offer.

You are probably not doing much wrong. Practise practise practise!!!

A few revs sometimes helps finding neutral (First bike I ever rode was like that, fuckin' horrible). Maybe shift into N while you are still moving instead of when you are stopped. Bike gearboxes seem to cease functioning in a logical way unless the bike is moving at least a little bit. Being in first also helps

You'll get it man! Don't dispair. Remeber what is was like learning to drive a car? All stalling and shit? Same crap all over again. I suggest a few hours in a car park, just practising moving off and stopping, into neutral, into gear and off again. Do it over and over till you start doing it on automatic. Don't get frustrated, don't ride for too long initially, riding a bike is VERY tiring for quite a while.

When you are riding on real roads, you want to not have to think much about clutch/gear control at intersections and spend more brain time-slices working on obeying the road rules, not meeting another vehicle in a painful way and not getting flustered because you think you are pissing other road users off.

**ZeroIndex** · 13th August 2006, 07:40

try changing from 2nd to neutral (as opposed to first).. you can change more gently with the downward foot action..

I've just swapped the gear linkage on my GPX to race-pattern, and as soon as I get my bike back on the road, I can start learning race-pattern style biking

apparantly a lot easier to change up when the bike is leant over on a left-hander

**Kendog** · 13th August 2006, 15:05

I was as rough as guts when I started too (still am sometimes

), but don't worry too much about it, as LBTW said, it's all practice. Is there a car park or really quiet road near that you can practice riding up and down on and changing gear over and over again and slipping it into neutral etc, without having the extra stress of other traffic?
Before long it'll become really smooth and you'll wonder how that happened. Keep up the good work.
Take up Mr Dover's offer, he'll probably be able to give you some really good tips.
Mrs KD.

**Zapf** · 13th August 2006, 20:12

if u are stalling it a few more revs would help... a 250cc 4 cylinder is not famous for torque

Also how long ago was the bike serviced? e.g oil change

if long time ago get it changed with some Motul 5100, it'll make a world of difference in gear change.

**The_Dover** · 13th August 2006, 20:15

I think we got the gear changes sorted.

Next lesson : corners.

**cowpoos** · 13th August 2006, 20:20

Originally Posted by The_Dover

I think we got the gear changes sorted.

Next lesson : corners.

apparently you taught him well....got his knee down on his second corner didn't he?

**ZeroIndex** · 13th August 2006, 21:04

Originally Posted by The_Dover

I think we got the gear changes sorted.

Next lesson : corners.

Originally Posted by cowpoos

apparently you taught him well....got his knee down on his second corner didn't he?

cowpoos: knee down in a good or a bad way?

**gijoe1313** · 13th August 2006, 21:47

Ummm yes, I finally got some handle on the gears...just have to work on the rest of my skills

You can read the sad, sordid and sorry state of affairs on the thread :

Binning Practice with Dover

**Tricia1000** · 14th August 2006, 06:15

You could always try some training?

Tricia

Originally Posted by gijoe1313

Ummm yes, I finally got some handle on the gears...just have to work on the rest of my skills

You can read the sad, sordid and sorry state of affairs on the thread :

Binning Practice with Dover

**cowpoos** · 14th August 2006, 09:53

Originally Posted by Tricia1000

You could always try some training?

Tricia

dovers very experienced at binning love...he's in good hands...

**Tricia1000** · 14th August 2006, 12:48

Originally Posted by cowpoos

dovers very experienced at binning love...he's in good hands...

That is OK then

**Fub@r** · 14th August 2006, 20:40

I have the opposite problem...........I find neutral when I dont want to

**XR250 Si** · 15th August 2006, 10:00

Having just recently done my learners course and basic skills test my mind hasn't gone foggy just yet. My instructor told me, when using the bike don't worry about putting it into neutral when I come to a stop. Just clutch in and sit in 1st. Is this a good thing or a bad habit?

Still a couple of weeks away from purchasing my bike as a shipment of new XR250s is arriving at the end of the month. Do I buy a red one or a black one? Choices, choices. Red means danger, so maybe I take that one

. Anyway, my point? Well, I'm probably going to be a bit rusty on the gear changes when the date comes around

.