alright this may be another stupid question from me, but here it goes. when shifting gears on my raptor do i have to hold the clutch in? when i first started riding my bike i did this, but now i just shift up and down w/out using my clutch. is this harmful? thanks

 

idk too muck about it but I think you should be alright if ya power shift..just make sure ya got them rpm's up but Id use your clutch if I were you

 

IMO, if you keep shifting without the clutch, you will be posting another '01 tranny down the drain.

 

The trick to shifting w/o the clutch, is getting the engine speed matched up with the transmission speed. In a car (the extent of my transmission knowlege) a manual transmission has what are called "syncro's." These syncros do most of the matching for you, but it helps them if you let off the gas a little when shifting up, and give it a little gas when shifting down (numerically speaking, not actual ratios).

This sets the foundation for power shifting. Once you get experienced enough with how the car drives, and understand how syncros work, theoretically, the only time you should need the clutch, is for getting moving from a dead stop. This is accomplished by listening to the engine RPM's, and timing your shifts, so that by the time the engine RPM's drop a "certain amount" they are the same speed as your transmission, and the shifter will just "drop into gear." Experience is the only way to learn this.

In my limited experience on motorcyles, this is even easier. When going from 2nd to 3rd for example, just let of the gas for a fraction of a second before shifting. This takes the tension out of the tranny, and the gear should pop out of the lower gear, as the engine speed is still dropping, and then it should just slide into 3rd gear, then you get back on the gas. All this in about an 8th of a second. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Shifting DOWN is exactly the opposite, just give it a little gas as you shift from 3rd to 2nd. I don't recommend doing this without using the clutch at least a little bit though, as more damage could be done. Shifting up is done without power, shifting DOWN is done under power, and if you mess up, you could blow your tranny. If you slip the clutch even a little, it takes that instantaneous hit out of the tranny, and spreads it out over a longer period of time in the clutch.

The local motorcycle shop sells a kit for street bikes that senses when you are shifting, and retards the ignition for a fraction of a second. This is apparently enough to allow "power shifting" without letting off the gas as mentioned above.

Hopefully this helped a little...?