My new to me 899 track bike is fitted with race shift,not ridden a bike with this shift pattern before, is it a easy transition ?,its not that easy to change to road shift as a new quickshifter is required,i cannot try it out on the roads so my first try will be on track,saying i am a little apprehensive is a understatement.
A doddle, my 1098R has a race shift, every other bike has a road shift pattern. I don't even think about it whichever bike I ride and I prefer the race shift pattern.
Race shift definitely easier on track mate. On road it doesn't make much difference. My track bike In race shift and road ones normal. Doesn't take long to ride both.
Guess i will have to put it on the rear stand a play moto gp,thing is i am hoping to get it back together for the Donington Ducati day and if i am going to make a arse of myself i don't want to do it in front of the forum massive and make the front page . I see the advantages of race shift it just makes me wonder why road bikes are not all race shift from the factory it would make the transition simpler.
Yes. Transition is easy. Til you take a corner too hot- panic - then go the wrong way shift wise. But you’ll soon get the hang of it....
Guess i have no choice but to give it a go as i am not buying another shifter and i have a feeling i can go round Donington in third only with a bit of clutch slip and maybe wear a polite vest for the first session and i have just found out its also called gp shift and that sounds cool and must be worth a second a lap
You'll be fine. A couple of sessions and the brain will be re calibrated... Just concentrate a bit and don't go hell for leather. Til the afternoon....
But not the first session after lunch ,Td law,take it easy the first couple of sessions and be careful first session after lunch and don't do the last session because you will be tiered and loose concentration, that leaves 2 sessions where everybody will be going for it and they will be dangerous because every one has left there brains in the garage, best stop at home.
Just done my first track day on my 899 in race shift and I was panicking before hand too. It was a piece of piss really and I only made a couple of mistakes in the first day. It’s so much better than road shift and you’ll love it once you get the hang of it which won’t take long
Yep. Been there. Crashed. Many years ago at Almeria. I only ride track & it’s road shift since. Its true that there has been the rare occasion that I’ve thought race would have helped but in my case, road shift is so ingrained that, as happened at Almeria, when the shit hit the fan I defaulted to what I knew - 20 years of road shift! That said, that won’t be the case with everyone so give it a try. All I’d caution is to think hard about how I ingrained road shift is in your riding psyche!
Was just searching about the forum to see if I could easily switch the box on my stock 899 to gp shift this weekend for some practice before a wet first time at Oulton in inters with a new track bike with Gp shift. Looks like I'm either going to either wrap it spectacularly or get to grips with it no dramas lol
Ok, so I gave in a went to race shift this year. I did a lot of practice in my head before actually getting on the bike and ended up talking through my gearchanges in the car!.....down in to 2nd, down into 3rd, down into 4th, back up into 2nd etc. Tbh it was pretty easy to actually ride the track after that lot, with only a couple of minor mistakes. And so much better for track when leant over and shifting 2 to 3rd say.
Think you may need the race shift kit from Ducati - shift rod plus a bit of wiring loom. You do on 1199, assume 899 same
