Throttle blipping.

[James Deuce]

That darn Keith Code has done my head in again.

Here's a challenge for you.

When down changing, braking heavily, and blipping the throttle between each change, are your forks pogoing up and down?

As you rotate your throttle hand back to blip the throttle, you can inadvertently add pressure to the brake lever.

The goal here is to keep the bike's attitude and forces acting on the front tyre consistent. This is especially important when braking heavily and down changing rapidly, as even a small variation of the forces working on the front tyre can cause a sudden and rapid loss of front wheel traction, just when you have 99% of the bike and rider's weight torturing that there front tyre.

I've found that letting my fingers move back over the lever as I rotate my hand back modulates the pressure on the lever enough to avoid that pogoing action. Not perfect yet, but I'm working on it.

Damn that Keith Code.

[Mr. Peanut]

That's what two strokes are for, bang it down two gears and drop the clutch.

I've noticed that effect though.

[Fat Tony]

I thought getting a bike with a slipper clutch would sort this for me... did it hell... blipping the throttle's far more fun anyway

[sAsLEX]

What fingers do you brake with? as I guess this would play a part. Some use index and next, some a whole hand and I have seen some racers use outside 3 and depending on which type of grip you use really dictates how effectively you can isolate blipping from braking.....

[bugjuice]

mine/I don't, cos I've practiced enough that I can brake hard but consistently with the first 2 fingies and blip quick so that the bike doesn't change its character from what I want it to do.. Pays to practice!

[TerminalAddict]

I haven't figured out how to blip and brake

should I put both hand on the right bar? One for braking, one for blipping?

[James Deuce]

Two fingers. Index and "instructional" finger. I hadn't honestly thought about this aspect of riding, but when I read that Code article in PB - boing, boing, boing.

The key to getting better at anything is isolating what you could improve and then improving on it.

The side effect to working on this aspect of braking is isolating and planning each action on the way into a corner. It's given me more "virtual time" on corner entry and I don't use up as much mental process leaving space for other things like altering lines for 4WDs on my side of the road.

I thought I had it sussed too bugjuice - until I started monitoring the process. 50% of the time it was good. The rest of the time, just a little bit hopeless.

[Flyingpony]

Why blip the throttle .... it's so much easier just to plant the engine RPM at about 2x idle and use engine vibration to ensure all down shifts click into place smoothly each and every time your foot demands one.

Besides, releasing the clutch while under heavy brakes is suicide ... the rear locks up real quick due to transmission ratio torque etc ... not a good idea to lose traction when you need traction and any input from the engine braking is mute since speed can be readily washed off quicker than down shifting can keep up. So basically, once I have to start down shifting, the clutch remains disengaged until the right gear ratio for acceleration is reached - typically that means going from 5th or 6th (55km/hr) into 2nd (8km/hr), clutch gets disengaged around 20km/hr just before engine stalls.

Therefore, you are left with concentrating on what you're doing - braking heavily, avoiding collision and down gearing, with absolutely no concern about blipping and it's impact on applied front brake pressure or rear wheel traction loss due to transmission ratio torque.

Well, that's the approach I need to use when riding this 150cc bike, it probably doesn't apply to those with larger engine capacity and their higher gear ratio's.

[bistard]

mine/I don't, cos I've practiced enough that I can brake hard but consistently with the first 2 fingies and blip quick so that the bike doesn't change its character from what I want it to do.. Pays to practice!

I dont have a choice,I only have two fingers that bend on my right hand,still manage to brake,pretty fecking hard & blip the throttle without the Jim2 pogo
situation,all practise I suppose
The best way around the whole thing is a "slipper clutch",what a fantastic invention,should be on all sport/race bikes

[James Deuce]

Flyingpony needs a Jedi master.

Real bikes with real engine braking will lock the rear at the drop of a hat, plus matching engine revs to transmission speed will save a lot of wear and tear, plus master it and your corner entries will be MUCH smoother than just banging down through the box.

When I was racing (no, not chariots you cheeky monkey), the RC's idle speed was set to 3000rpm and you'd glide into sweepers like you were on a magic carpet. Still had to blip to get it perfect though.

[ManDownUnder]

mine/I don't, cos I've practiced enough that I can brake hard but consistently with the first 2 fingies and blip quick so that the bike doesn't change its character from what I want it to do.. Pays to practice!

Gotta admit I think I'm in the same camp but Jim's post has given me food for thought...

I know that when it really matters (overcooking a corner and braking like a crazy man) I don;t bother changing down - the engine can rev right down for all I care... I just want to stay on the road.

[bugjuice]

Why blip the throttle .... it's so much easier just to plant the engine RPM at about 2x idle and use engine vibration ..blah blah somebitshere.... their higher gear ratio's.

sorry, not to cut your post down, but it's already up there to read..

The theory of blipping is to maximuse the potential of engine braking on the rear wheel, without locking up the rear, cos the engine revs died down below the point it should be at, thus locking the rear. This also helps to keep the engine at high rpms (just under the ideal power) for the exit of the corner. Any sized engine is capable of doing it. Smaller engines don't suffer as much, because the torque they produce isn't great enough, but still can happen. It's more important when the engine size increases, because it's easier to upset the rear with the engine and the torque it produces. It's only really important tho, when riding hard. When normal riding, there's no call for blipping, unless you're lazy like me and just don't use the clutch (but that's another debate).

Find someone to guide you and give you tips (if you're interested in this route and want to learn some new tricks) and suck what you can, I don't mind offering up either..

[vifferman]

Linked brakes.

[bugjuice]

makes them a bitch to back-end the bike in!

[toymachine]

I love blipping the throttle... i just downshift using a blip even if i'm doing 14kish rpm... and use engine braking, can do whole rides like this (apart from like intersections etc obviously)

As far as braking and blipping, so far I can only do a blip while lightly holding the rear brake...