![]() ![]() Learning how to properly shift your dirt bike is important, but that’s only the beginning when it comes to riding with confidence. How to become a better and safer rider on the trails Once the rpm starts getting low enough that it would bog the engine down if you tried to accelerate that’s when you need to downshift. If you want to stay in the right gear or want to use engine braking to help slow you down, then learning when to downshift is an important technique so that you don’t over rev the engine. If you don’t care about speed and just want to casually come to a stop, simply pull in the clutch and shift down until you reach first gear. Timing your downshift is all about listening to and feeling how your dirt bike is running. Using the clutch to shift just makes it a little bit easier to be smooth because you aren’t getting all of the “backlash” of the gears accelerating and decelerating. Sometimes I’ll use the clutch to shift gears more smoothly, such as when I’m on the road or have a passenger. It’s a combination of smoothly rolling off the throttle while simultaneously shifting and then immediately rolling back on the throttle. If you’re not using the clutch, then it just takes some practice to get it down smoothly. How do you shift gears smoothly on a dirt bike? This will unload the engine (gears) and make it easy to shift without doing any damage to the transmission. When you go to shift gears, especially going up a gear, simply let off of the throttle a little bit just before you shift. I typically shift (up or down) without using the clutch. You always need the clutch for just starting out, but is it really necessary to use it while shifting? Nope. Some dirt bikes have a clutch safety switch so that it won’t start while in gear unless you pull in the clutch. Yes, although you will want to pull the clutch lever in to disengage it or else the bike will want to start moving. Shift down into 1st gear while rolling the bike back and forth just a few inches to make it easy.If you can let out the clutch (slowly) and the bike doesn’t move forward, then you know it’s in neutral.Then shift half a click up to get it into neutral.Simply pull in the clutch and keep shifting down until it won’t shift anymore, then you know that it’s in 1st.Neutral is in between 1st and 2nd gear, so it’s easiest if you should down into 1st gear. To shift up, simply place the toes of your boot (foot) under the shift lever, briefly let off the gas, and then push up on the shifter. ![]() Starting in neutral, simply press down with your foot onto the shift leverĭon’t push too hard you can only shift one gear at a time, and if the shift lever breaks off then you’ll be stuck in the same gear. So a simple shiting diagram would be this: ![]()
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