Basic newbie question: no laughing please

I love watching m'cycle racing more than any other racing, but I was
embarrassed recently when a colleague asked "do those MotoGP bikes use
regular foot-lever sequential gears with a bar-mounted clutch lever?"
and I was not sure how to answer --- I can hear Rossi and co. changing
up and down like blazes, and I watch the handlebar-cam, but can anyone
say in simple language whether MotoGP gears are significantly
different in operation from a regular road bike?

 

They use Electric Quick Shifters, with a different gear pattern, but
sequential yes, and a handlebar mounted clutch.

 

Short answer, yes. Longer answer is that they most likely use a quick-
shift assist so they don't have to use the clutch on the upshift. I'm
guessing on the downshift, with slipper clutches, they grab a handfull
of clutch, downshift all at once and let the clutch back out.

-Chris-

 

Thank you guys --- as far as I can see, now googling. a quick-shift
kills the engine when you tap the gearchange for an upshift, so no
clutch is needed? It's not a mechanical "power assist" for actually
engaging the gearsets?

 

Old and a bit slow asks:

That's correct.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

To be sure, there's nothing particularly special about their stuff.
Quickshifters and reverse shift patterns are very common in racing in
general, including club racing. You can buy all the parts off the
shelf (the right kind of engine management like Power Commander, a
special shift rod and sometimes a special shifter linkage) and do all
the work yourself with some wrenches and a lap top in a few hours in
your garage. It's amazing what modern technology gives us. The fancy
stuff and frame not so easy to get your hands on in MotoGP (besides
the engine) includes things like quick-disconnect brake lines, carbon-
carbon brake rotors, exotic gases used to fill the tires, exotic
materials for everything including titanium fasteners, brake levers
adjustable with rider's left hand, etc. And yet, motorcycles aren't
all tech, even at that level. I believe when the 990's first
appeared, Rossi rode around for a while with a simple rubber band used
in place of a return spring on his rear brake pedal.

 

I think that's why I love to watch m'bike racing: pure, simple,
understandable. I am more impressed by a well-engineered SIMPLE
design than by a shed-load of space-age gadgetry (F1 cars --- clever,
but yawn). Two weeks ago I was looking at a lovely [dented!] 500 Manx
Norton in a display, and telling the exhibitor that, for my money,
that was the purest racing bike. The French author and aviator
Antoine de Saint-Exupery ("The Litle Prince") once said that a design
has reached perfection NOT when there's nothing more you can add but
when there's nothing more you can take away.