GP shift or Standard?

[sreimann]

Perhaps I will invent a new way to shift and call it "flick" shitfting. I will be able to shift side to side with a twist of my foot- never having to move it up or down. Mwoo ho Ha!

[akuretz]

Check out some of the wacky shift mechanisms Bartman has had in the past...

[bluedevil]

Check out some of the wacky shift mechanisms Bartman has had in the past...

or currently for that matter. The Kawi is genius. He gets to push down to down and up shift. Genius Genius.... :idea:

[Dunner543]

Im also a standard shift guy, partly cause im too lazy to try to learn a new shift pattern and I dont think it would help me out much(see my signature). I try to stay in the same gear though the corner and grab a shift after I stand it up enough coming out. Also I dont want to have to think about it while riding my dirtbike or anyone elses street bike. My 2 cents.

[Coulomb]

I have tried both, and for me GP is the pattern that fits my style better. I have found that if the top of my boots is too tight, upshifting at speed becomes difficult. Also, I *have* touched the ground with my foot while upshifting during a very long corner.

[Jim 'smooth' Brewer]

In defence of my comment on the possibility of GP shift being a potential inconvienience I'll relate a mid corner shifting situation that I was unable to avoid. When I used to ride willow springs on my 89 GSXR 750 turn nine was a problem area. <<snip>>. You come out of turn 8 in sixth backshift to 5 for the chute (because you lacked the sack to hold it WFO with your knee on the ground) between 8 and 9 then bend it into nine. You scrub speed with the front as you tighten your line. The entry of nine is past the rev limiter in 4th but the exit requires 4th to get any drive at all so you end up downshifting at full lean. Even with plenty of room on the "UP" side of the bike this is a delicate procedure. If the turn was a left it would be at least as problematic as turn two at PPIR.

That seems kinda strange. First both 8 and 9 are right handers, so any shifting problems are not caused by clearance problems .. just body positioning. Second, if you're downshifting at full lean in 9, you somehow blew the entry and probably should have gone in deeper, IMHO. The 8-9 transition is not that difficult of a combination. Even 250GP bikes don't have that kind of a powerband/shift problem there.

Probably the busiest shifting area I've experienced was at Portland Intl. Raceway between turns 8 & 9. The 7-8 combination has to be taken very fast and it leaves you with 2 to 3 downshifts before the slow turn 9. You have to brake hard and downshift while leaned over all within 200 or so.

Anyway, I became convinced about GP shifting at Daytona (the old version), where you had to upshift about 3 times while coming out of the infield onto the west banking. It's also damn helpful when coming off the starting grid at PPIR onto turn 1-2 (not that we'll have to do that anymore). :cry:

[Duane]

a few ways to look at this, and forgive me for not reading all of the posts above, but I did read many...

anyhow, as for my 2cents:

IMO any racer can learn to be good with either shift pattern, GP or Std.

For a noob racer tho, and this is coming from someone who is planning on a full 2006 Novice season, go with what's natural. Some people are used to GP style from their 3/4 wheeler days or dirt bikes. Take my good friend Jason Smith for instance, in his youth, he raced dirt bikes and GP is what he knows, likes and is comfortable with. Does that mean he can't learn Standard? Well of course not, but why bother when GP is what you know & are used to? Go with what is natural & comfortable.

For me, Standard shift is more fluid, comfortable & simply natural and will give me one less thing to even think about when on the track. I need to be able to shift w/o thinking about which direction to push or pull, "Just Do It" in a matter of speaking.

Sorry to bump this month+ old thread, but I figure'd I'd toss my cookies, er, 2 cents worth in there while I was thinking about it.

My General Opinion = Go with what's natural

GL, hope to see you in the grid for 2006!