[900Steve]

how many people have tried this setup? would you ever go back to the stock shift pattern?

 

[ducman851]

Yes, everything I own and no I wont go back.

 

[900Steve]

whats are the advantages, and i take it you go to track days/race?

 

[Guest]

yep reverse........just cause I can't upshift as well w/o da clutch
the other way.......

 

[ScottRNelson]

The shift pattern is reversed on Tigre. When the bike had a little excursion into the dirt and the clutch lever broke off, I was trying to find neutral on it without realizing the shifter was reversed. I probably wasted five minutes trying to find a neutral that wasn't there before I noticed and shifted the right direction.

Personally, I would be too confused, so I leave it standard.

 

[ducman851]

Yep I race my Monster and a couple of other bikes. My 851 is also converted over as I find it easier toride. That and I dont have to remember that it shifts differant.

 

[Guest]

I ride with it reversed because it is a more posative shift to higher gears. I was having problems with the stock M1000, I was finding false neutrals. I think Strati or someone here told me to try it and I liked it. No confusion for me because my other ride has a big hurkin stick shift and foot clutch the way bikes were originally meant to be. I rode the '51 in to work 40 miles today, what a blast!

 

[chaf]

I thought about giving it a shot on the Monster, but my other bike can't be converted, so... not gonna try it.

I have different shift patterns on my two cars (one standard, the other Euro dogleg) and I have almost gotten into trouble so many times there; and that's not as big a difference as up vs. down.

M.

 

[Speeddog]

Depends on your depth of experience and how easy you can reprogram your mind.

I'm with Scott and Chaf on this one. I've been riding with a conventional "1 down - 4 or 5 up" pattern for 26 years, I can't reprogram my brain now. I could probably do it for normal riding, but in an emergency situation lots of riding tasks go into autopilot, and that'd make a bad situation worse.

Not slagging the concept of the "reverse" pattern, it's probably better for the street, and is certainly better for racing.

 

[Guest]

It took me hitting my toe one time up shifting in a corner while i was 2 up riding.

 

[Guest]

ok, i'll bite:

how do you reverse the shifter?

jb (dumb newbie) :-/

 

[900Steve]

check it out here: http://www.ducatipipemod.com/s4/mods/gp/

lots of useful info and how to's by a DML member.

 

[Mark1305]

I'm one of folks too old to reprogram my brain, so mine stays stock.

The biggest benefit of the reverse pattern seems be easier upshifting while tucked and accelerating, then when sitting up for braking and downshifts you can get your toe under the shifter and lift up a lot easier than you could while tucked in tight.

Mark J

 

[Guest]

Heck it's not that bad if you want to switch it and try it.
You might like it. I operate all kinds of machinery with various differant types of complicated controls. You can do it. Tell your self you can.

 

[CRASH!]

I've been pondering this mod for a long time. I probably would have done it already if the allen wrench I hacksawed for the job this winter had been the right size :-/

In spite of my age, I could probably reprogram myself witth 99% reliability (I just slammed the brakes on my wife's minivan last night when I tried to punch the nonexistant clutch while rolling to a stop! Haven't done that in a LONG time).

The one downside I could see for street riding is that it would take a little longer to grab a lower gear in an accident-aviodance situation. In the normal mode, you can stab the lever and rocket out of trouble. In reverse GP mode, you've got to get under the lever first and then shift up. No matter how much you get used to it, it's gonna take longer.

The MSF teaches downshifting all the way to first on panic stops and the standard pattern does make sense for that; you're pushing down with BOTH feet.

I'll probably try it some day. Just gotta hack the right wrench this time.

For those who don't know, you need a really short allen wrench to get to the pinch bolt in order to remove the actuator from the shift shaft. You'll need that wrench anyway if you ever want to pull the left case 'cause the shift clamp has to come off for that.

 

[900Steve]

thanks for all the info. maybe ill give it a shot sometime soon., and thats a good point about panic downshifting, never though about that.

and i hear you about kicking around for the non-existant clutch in an automatic car. you ever reach for the non-existant stick shift too?

 

[Guest]

The best advice that I got when converting to reverse shifting:

"get in the habit of resting your foot on top of the shifter rather than below / Short shift for the first week or so / ride slowly for the first two weeks"

I've been riding for 23 years--so it took me 3 weeks to make the conversion with out making mistakes. Some people have no problem jumping on a reverse shift bike and standard shift bike. I had to convert all my bikes.

If you convert your bike to reverse shifting -remember to let your mechanic know...