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evander said:
How tough mentally is it to switch between GP pattern and conventional?
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Personally, as long as I'm thinking about it, I can manage OK, but the moment I stop thinking about it--like when I'm just thinking about riding/going fast--I'm f*cked:
Early on in my reverse shift pattern days, I kept my bike in race trim between monthly races and instead rode my (at the time) GFs standard shift bike on the street. The following race, I worked to pass a guy for half a lap before getting underneath him at turn 2 when I promptly realized I'd upshifted to 4th instead of the desired downshift to 2nd, about broke my toe on the pavement trying to shift down to 2nd, and was cursing my stupidity as I watched him jump away off the corner :808993-banghead:.
I remember going out to the Harley/Buell tent and demo riding a Buell Lightning after race practice at Daytona one year. 1/2 hour earlier I was turning laps reverse-shift, then hopped on the standard shift Lightning and headed out on the demo tour. Came out of a left-hand sweeper on the throttle in 4th, went to hit an upshift to 5th and dropped it into 3rd instead; the bike--with that hotted-up Harley motor--went into immediate cardiac arrest, locked, slid, and slithered the rear for about 25 feet before I could pull the clutch back in. Kept it out of oncoming traffic, but that was enough of that.
I didn't want to cut the rad hose on my 600RR in order to flip the linkage, so I decided on rearsets instead. I wanted the Sato's, but I had to wait a couple months for the first production run. I managed with the standard shift pattern, but it wasn't fun; even after 2 months of shifting with the standard pattern, I'd still catch myself out, but I had no problems going back to reverse shifting when I got my rearsets.
When I take the (present) GF's 250 Ninja out, I can manage OK, but I still have to employ a few "tricks" to help myself along. Everytime I get ready to slow for a stop, I make a point of putting my foot on top of the shifter right away, as a reminder to shift down while slowing; once I'm stopped, I leave my boot there so I know to shift down into first, and once I start upshifting, I typically leave my toe under the shifter the whole time. Though, like I said, the second I stop thinking about shifting and focus on just riding, I screw up, but that's just me, and I'm stupid like that :smirk:.
PS--another nice thing I've found about reverse shifting that hasn't been mentioned is downshifting. When hard on the brakes all your body's momentum and weight are carried forward against the tank/bars, and hooking your toe under the shifter for the downshifts just seems to work easier/more naturally than having to push down against the force shoving you forward on the bike.
PPS--In addition to Matt Mladin (who apparently has a bad ankle from a crash years ago and finds standard shifting more amenable to his condition), Kevin Schwantz used/uses a standard shift pattern as well. :waytogo: