A Lesson on Clutchless Upshifts

Clutchless upshifting is a technique that is absent from the repertoire of many budding track riders.

It could just be a habit from road riding, or that riders feel they’re increasing the potential for transmission damage (more on that later), or maybe they just deem it unnecessary. Whatever it is, as riding skills go this relatively simple and easy to learn tool has got to be one of the most overlooked skills in riders new to the track.

It’s a technique that has been around for many years, and one that was utilised by riders in 500 Grand Prix when the likes of Eddie Lawson and Wayne Gardner were knocking elbows. The riders back then simply didn’t have the fancy electronics that make gear changes almost non-existent today.

Apart from being superbly satisfying when you get it right – and fooling onlookers into thinking you have a quickshifter – there are some real benefits to using clutchless upshifting.

And no, it’s not the 0.2 seconds you save on time. It’s much more real than that.

Benefits of Clutchless Upshifts

Simpler Life – I would guess the first and most obvious benefit to shifting without the use of the clutch would be the fact that it is simply one less thing to think about, and one less thing to cock up.

While not really that difficult, the usual procedure of roll off, pull clutch in, click up a gear, feed clutch out and roll back on requires a lot more action on your part than the much simpler clutchless upshift (see farther down). With more actions to take care of, there’s more chance of you getting things wrong.

Easier Mid Turn Shifts – When you’re hanging off of either side of the bike through a turn, your left hand and forearm aren’t always going to be in the best position to allow you to easily operate the clutch. If you’re not using the clutch however this is obviously not going to be an issue, and once again, getting your hand into position is one less thing to think about which in turn frees up some of your precious attention.

Less Potential to Upset the Bike – When you perform a perfect clutchless upshift (it doesn’t take long to master), it is so seamless that everything is kept smooth and tidy, even in mid turn upshifts.

When using the clutch to run up the gears, it’s simply not possible to perform the change as quickly and efficiently as you’re able to when not using the clutch. The rev changes that result from you pulling in the clutch and the way you feed it back out and get back on the throttle are all going to have an effect on the bike’s stability if not done smoothly.

Doing this in a straight line isn’t really an issue, but banked over in a corner is where we don’t really want to be experiencing these stability problems.

So just how do we go about performing these upshifts? Great question! Let me tell you my good friend.

How to Perform Clutchless Upshifts

To demonstrate, let’s imagine we’re going down a long straight with the throttle pinned, all the while you’re keeping an eye on the rev needle working its way up the counter.

Step 1 – As the needle gets close to your desired shift RPM, apply a small but firm amount of upward pressure (assuming of course you’re using a normal road shift pattern) to the shift lever.

Step 2 – When the needle gets to your shift RPM, roll off the throttle slightly then straight back on again. You don’t need to roll right off to the opposite stop, it just needs to be enough to reverse the load on the transmission.

That’s it!

With enough pressure on the lever, the moment that you roll off the throttle will be enough for the new gear to click into place before you roll the throttle back on.

Once completed successfully, remember to take the pressure off the shift lever so that the next gear can be indexed.

It’ll take you a few goes to get right, but with the sheer simplicity of the technique I can’t imagine it’ll take too long. And when you get it right, oh how sweet it is!

You should also take into account that different bikes will need varying degrees of shift lever and throttle movement, but you’ll know when you get it right because the bike will jump up the next gear with virtually zero fuss or deceleration.

But what about transmission damage?

When the subject of this technique arises, there will often be a few voices that jump in and proclaim that it’s harmful to a bike’s transmission, and that you are potentially damaging things like shifting forks and engaging dogs.

To be perfectly truthful, I can’t tell you exactly why it isn’t damaging; only that it has been used by an untold amount of riders, across a multitude of bikes, over many many years and countless laps.

I myself have used this technique, I don’t know how many thousands of times, and my gearbox feels just as good as it did when I first hopped on it 5000 miles ago.

There is no doubt in my mind that if done correctly (not excessively applying pressure to the shift lever for long periods of time) you will have absolutely no issues what so ever using this technique.

Uncharacteristically non-technical for me, I know, but I truly don’t feel the need to find a definitive answer (if there is one) based on my own, and many other riders experience.

Clutchless upshifting really is a skill well worth learning. It makes the task itself simpler and less dramatic, while taking away an action so you no longer have to worry about it. For a tool that is so easy to learn, it should be something every rider should have a go at.

And when you get good at it, you’ll essentially become a human quickshifter, and that feels gooood!