Is it ok to skip through gears when downshifting?

[Don'tPanic]

Sorry for a newbie question, but this has been bothering me:
I got F3S SM6, and when I need to stop I pull in the clutch and step through the gears until 1st or neutral while pushing the brake pedal. Am I supposed to engage the clutch between gears? Mechanically it shouldn't matter since the box is disconnected when the clutch is disengaged, but the reason for me worrying that I'm doing something wrong is that I saw "E" on the gear indicator twice when downshifting through several gears, which I assume stands for "Error". It doesn't happen every time, and I only saw it twice when the byke was brand new (under 200 miles). I now only have about 300 miles on it and didn't want to break the gearbox by doing something I'm not supposed to.

Any thoughts?

[Bob Denman]

It's perfectly fine...

[Easy Rider]

It's perfectly fine...

Well kind of.

It is fine EXCEPT it is not a good idea to downshift to a gear lower than you could comfortably engage at the speed you are going.
That is, don't go all the way down to 1st while you are still moving at 40 MPH.

Then.......most riders think it is not good to be in Neutral any time you are in traffic.......and I tend to agree.

Best thing is to downshift one gear at a time to match your reducing speed.
But no real need to engage the clutch along with each new gear selection.

[Aesculapius]

The error message will appear if the gearbox has not fully engaged with the gear. Mine did that to me a few times when it was new trying to shift into reverse. Just tap the shifter again and let the clutch out slightly to engage. The error should disappear then. Now that it has been broken in (6000 miles) it hasn't done that in quite a while.

[Bob Denman]

Well kind of.

It is fine EXCEPT it is not a good idea to downshift to a gear lower than you could comfortably engage at the speed you are going.
That is, don't go all the way down to 1st while you are still moving at 40 MPH.

Then.......most riders think it is not good to be in Neutral any time you are in traffic.......and I tend to agree.

Best thing is to downshift one gear at a time to match your reducing speed.
But no real need to engage the clutch along with each new gear selection.

Floating Your Goat.jpg

You can't do this with the "ESSIES"... but I'd skip gears anytime that I could; when coasting to a stop.

[Don'tPanic]

Well kind of.

It is fine EXCEPT it is not a good idea to downshift to a gear lower than you could comfortably engage at the speed you are going.
That is, don't go all the way down to 1st while you are still moving at 40 MPH.

Then.......most riders think it is not good to be in Neutral any time you are in traffic.......and I tend to agree.

Best thing is to downshift one gear at a time to match your reducing speed.
But no real need to engage the clutch along with each new gear selection.

Yes, I absolutely downshift to match the speed, I just don't release clutch between shifts if I know I'll be 100% stopping (like a red light ahead)

[ofdave]

what Easy Rider said

can be dangerous to be in a gear too low for your speed and then let out the clutch, better to just avoid doing that

[Chupaca]

It is not a wise move, in my opinion, as the gears are turning just not under a load. If you need to re-engage and are to low you may make a uncomfortable nose dive. I just use the down shift to slow me down and save the barakes for the emergency stuff.

[Don'tPanic]

what Easy Rider said

can be dangerous to be in a gear too low for your speed and then let out the clutch, better to just avoid doing that

Yes, I understand that I've driven manual cars all my life, just not sequential gearboxes. I was talking about situations where you cruise in 4th, and then you see a red light and a bunch of cars stopped beyond the curve in the road, or a stop sign, and you need to stop fairly quickly.

Thank you, everybody, for easing my concerns.

[Easy Rider]

Floating Your Goat.jpg

You can't do this with the "ESSIES"... but I'd skip gears anytime that I could; when coasting to a stop.

Explain please.
I'm not good with coded messages.

Which part of what I said can't you do ???

[Bob Denman]

I'd love to see you step onto a scale... You're so dense, that it would be EPIC!

By any chance: is English a tertiary language for you?

[INFAMOUS]

I believe you should always be down shifting to first gear when coming to a stop just like on a regular motorcycle. Being in neutral im not sure about that. If you come to a stop and the car behind you isnt stopping you want to be in first gear and not in neutral or a higher gear so you can take off if necessary. Seems to me your doing it correctly.

[UtahPete]

I'd love to see you step onto a scale... You're so dense, that it would be EPIC!

By any chance: is English a tertiary language for you?

Bob your sarcasm is showing...

[Bob Denman]

Sarcasm as a Font.jpg

[kep-up]

Knaw on this for a bit...........

Engines are made for "going". Brakes are made for "stopping". (unless you have a "jake brake" on your spyder)

[Easy Rider]

I'd love to see you step onto a scale... You're so dense, that it would be EPIC!

By any chance: is English a tertiary language for you?

Screw you Bob.

[Bob Denman]

That was so original, that I'm in absolute AWE of you!

I'll bet that if you had ever passed a Grade-School English Class: your Teachers would have been proud...

Does this count as Sexting? I don't normally go this far on a first date!

[ruralgirl]

I'm going to stick my nose where it doesn't belong because I hate to see this misunderstanding come between two good guys. Bob, I think Easy Rider doesn't know that you were referring to the semi automatic transmission, or the SE6 (your "essies"). So when he asked what he couldn't do, I think he meant what was he doing on his Spyder that you thought he couldn't do.

[Easy Rider]

I'm going to stick my nose where it doesn't belong because I hate to see this misunderstanding come between two good guys. Bob, I think Easy Rider doesn't know that you were referring to the semi automatic transmission, or the SE6 (your "essies"). So when he asked what he couldn't do, I think he meant what was he doing on his Spyder that you thought he couldn't do.

I thought that my question was polite enough.....and it was a SERIOUS question as I still have NO idea what he was trying to say.

Explain please.
I'm not good with coded messages.

Which part of what I said can't you do ???

But he elected to throw insults back instead.
I don't understand THAT either.

[JFD]

Sorry for a newbie question, but this has been bothering me:
I got F3S SM6, and when I need to stop I pull in the clutch and step through the gears until 1st or neutral while pushing the brake pedal. Am I supposed to engage the clutch between gears? Mechanically it shouldn't matter since the box is disconnected when the clutch is disengaged, but the reason for me worrying that I'm doing something wrong is that I saw "E" on the gear indicator twice when downshifting through several gears, which I assume stands for "Error". It doesn't happen every time, and I only saw it twice when the byke was brand new (under 200 miles). I now only have about 300 miles on it and didn't want to break the gearbox by doing something I'm not supposed to.

Any thoughts?

You want to ALWAYS downshift down to 1st as you approach a stop. This is because if traffic moves, you want to be ready to go in 1st right away.

[Bam Bam and Pebbles]

I also have an SM6 and I do what I call a double downshift. For example, if I am in 6th gear, and traffic is slowing down, I release the throttle and when I get to around 40mph, I pull in the clutch and downshift to 4th and release the clutch. I never run through all the gears downshifting at once. Works for me.

[jcoats1]

Sorry for a newbie question, but this has been bothering me:
I got F3S SM6, and when I need to stop I pull in the clutch and step through the gears until 1st or neutral while pushing the brake pedal. Am I supposed to engage the clutch between gears? Mechanically it shouldn't matter since the box is disconnected when the clutch is disengaged, but the reason for me worrying that I'm doing something wrong is that I saw "E" on the gear indicator twice when downshifting through several gears, which I assume stands for "Error". It doesn't happen every time, and I only saw it twice when the byke was brand new (under 200 miles). I now only have about 300 miles on it and didn't want to break the gearbox by doing something I'm not supposed to.

Any thoughts?

When down shifting, the part of clutch driving the trans rotates at HIGHER rpm as you downshift. if you go to 1st or even 2nd when travelling at high speed, part of your clutch may spin at a VERRRY high speed. I did this on a car many years ago an all the clutch friction material was removed from the disc... Be careful!

[Bob Denman]

When down shifting, the part of clutch driving the trans rotates at HIGHER rpm as you downshift. if you go to 1st or even 2nd when travelling at high speed, part of your clutch may spin at a VERRRY high speed. I did this on a car many years ago an all the clutch friction material was removed from the disc... Be careful!

You always have to match up the speeds of the various pieces.
It's a "No-Brainer"...

[Easy Rider]

You can't do this with the "ESSIES"...

It's a "No-Brainer"...

Speaking of no brains: Are you going to explain the above quote....please.

[INFAMOUS]

There seems to be a lot of ball busting on this forum. Hope this isn't the way it always is.