No idle = More engine braking

[Spyke]

I was told by a bloke that when racing its good to have your bikes idle set so it'l die if 0 throttle is used, therefore when racing your getting more engine braking. is this true? or is it better to have the bike at normal idle

[roadracingoldfart]

If you do that it will make alot of other aspects of the bike very annoying . personally i wouldnt do it. Try it to see what you think and then you can decide yourself aye.

[FROSTY:Me]

Totally the oposite. Wind up the idle.

[Spyke]

i did this on my ct125, the only downside i had was i constanly had to blip the throttle wen i was stopped. but does it give any advantage with engine breaking?

[ZeroIndex]

Why exactly would you want more engine braking? I have my idle turned up when I do stunts etc, and Frosty turns his SV up to like 3k when he goes on the track... I would imagine it would be more jerky having no idle than anything...

[Spyke]

the reason would be so when your coming into a corner where you have to brake, the brakes get helped by the motor reducing its revs and slowing acting as a rear brake in effect.

[ZeroIndex]

the reason would be so when your coming into a corner where you have to brake, the brakes get helped by the motor reducing its revs and slowing acting as a rear brake in effect.

Why not just use your brakes instead? That's what they're there for anyway... Of course engine braking does make a difference, but dropping it to 0 isn't gonna help anything...

[tri boy]

Used to set up the speedway sidecar that way. But we had no brakes. It used to help in that case.
Sealed track, not so sure.

[Tim 39]

we do it on 125's because it does help (they have little engine braking) to slow the bike on the entry after releasing the brakes. on a four stroke a lot of people wind up the idle, so there is less engine braking so less chance of a lockup. so it depends really...

[Spyke]

Why not just use your brakes instead? That's what they're there for anyway... Of course engine braking does make a difference, but dropping it to 0 isn't gonna help anything...

the power goes through the back wheel, if the power is still there as your braking the rear brake will be working against the power, thus wasting valuable braking time?

[Spyke]

we do it on 125's because it does help (they have little engine braking) to slow the bike on the entry after releasing the brakes. on a four stroke a lot of people wind up the idle, so there is less engine braking so less chance of a lockup. so it depends really...

i see your point if you were on a big vtwin that would lock up without the revs resonably easy, i suppose it really depends on what type of bike your on.

[ZeroIndex]

the power goes through the back wheel, if the power is still there as your braking the rear brake will be working against the power, thus wasting valuable braking time?

I'm not talking about winding the idle to 4000rpm on a 11k redline... i'm talking of 1500rpm - 2000rpm max...

[GSVR]

I was told by a bloke that when racing its good to have your bikes idle set so it'l die if 0 throttle is used, therefore when racing your getting more engine braking. is this true? or is it better to have the bike at normal idle

If your braking really hard the rear wheel will have little or no contact with the ground and the engine brakes will lock the back wheel and cause it to hop. This happens especailly going into a really tight hairpin when you have to hook a low gear and are setting a low entry speed.

Also there will be no transition between being on the gas an off it so when you get to the apex or point where you hit the gas again unless you have the throttle cracked open slightly there will be a jerk from the backlash in your drivechain. This all helps to unsettle the bike and reduces the level of grip the tyres have.

I personally don't like to have my idle wound right up but would never have it too low either.

[ZeroIndex]

If your braking really hard the rear wheel will have little or no contact with the ground and the engine brakes will lock the back wheel and cause it to hop. This happens especailly going into a really tight hairpin when you have to hook a low gear and are setting a low entry speed.

Also there will be no transition between being on the gas an off it so when you get to the apex or point where you hit the gas again unless you have the throttle cracked open slightly there will be a jerk from the backlash in your drivechain. This all helps to unsettle the bike and reduces the level of grip the tyres have.

I personally don't like to have my idle wound right up but would never have it too low either.

+1 That's what I was talking about

[TonyB]

On my 2 stroke bucket racer I have the idle speed quite high so that it pushes me through the corner, I prefer riding that way. I haven't tried that with my Ducati yet, but I probably will.