Downshift Blipping

[tommyardin]

I am not a fast rider and use the mantra slow in fast out but it has never bothered me not blipping, however every day is a school day.

  Sometimes I take it easy, other times I’m blasting along.  I’d guess if I’m hard on the brakes then trailing the front brake into a corner whilst popping down a couple of gears at the same time, well if I didn’t, err, ‘blip’ the throttle, I’d possibly end up on my arse.  I’ve always done it, it’s how you down change unless you are piddling along and then you don’t even need the clutch for down changes.

Now this gets me wondering.  Like most folks here I also have and drive a car.  I’ve always driven manual cars, and yeah I do the same in the car, although yeah sometimes I’ll just let that clutch slip a lot cos heel toes is tricky and to be honest I suspect in race and proper supercars the pedals will be placed nice and close to facilitate heel toe.  But is it the prevalence of automatics today, these fancy DSG boxes, is that why maybe folks are struggling to fully master manual gearing changing?  Just a thought.

Counter steering as a rule isn't something that needs teaching. If you can ride a bike around a corner then you can counter steer?

Well yeah Dudeofrude, there is only one way to make a bike turn, and that is to counter steer.  I just cannot believe that people are trained how to ride a bike on the road without being taught how to steer the bloody thing.  One of the first things I’ll often ask a new biker “is do you know how to steer?”  or “do you understand countersteering”  Hey I’ve had the odd youngster that’s told me it’s bull shite, but most have listened, tried it and thanked me for the tip.  Knowing how to steer and change direction at will and rapidly is an essential life saving skill.

With the exception of a Honda Accord I had always had manual gearboxes in car, but, have recently taken possession of a Merc SLK 2.3 Kompressor, now I never realised what a Kompressor actually was, I made the assumption that it was a turbo but in fact it is a crankshaft driven supercharger, hence better performance than the turbo and no lag what-so-ever that coupled with a 5 speed automatic tiptronic box, it makes for a rapid car, with incredibly rapid gear changes both up and down the box. it has a better top speed than my FZS 600 by about 10 mph but the good old Fazer beats it hands down 0-60 mph by almost 3 seconds, SLK 6.7 secs, FZS 600 3.8 seconds, if you can put the rubber down hard enough.


I love my FZS 600, in my opinion it is one of the best all rounder bikes available, 147 ish MPH and stunningly quick off the mark. Plus I love the retro look, a bit Star wars-ish but i love it.