Today in market, we can able to get different types of motorbikes in all segments. Starting from 80cc, we have super sports bike. All motorbikes have one thing in common. Except scooters and mopeds, all other motorbikes have manual gear shifting mechanism where scooters and mopeds use centrifugal clutch and CVT for their transmission system. In 100CC to 150CC segment, one type of pattern is used and from 150CC and above, separate pattern is used. Why manufacturers are going for different shifting patterns? Let's see them.
Sequential Gear Shifting Pattern
We can see these type of pattern in every commuter motorbikes and in bikes with lesser capacity engines. We call it them as sequential gear shifting pattern because, in that we will be using one direction for either upshifting or down shifting. This sequential gear shifting pattern further splits into two types.
• Upshifting using front end of lever
• Upshifting using rear end of lever
We can able to see the first type that is upshifting the gears using front end of the lever in some Bajaj motorbikes. But in this type, there's some problem. Imagine that you are cruising with the moderate speed in a highway. Suddenly a vehicle change its lane without using proper indications. What you'll do is, trying to slow down the motorbike by braking. While braking, automatically our left leg also tries to downshift because we have practiced in that way. In this situation, when you press down the front end of the lever, you'll upshift and your vehicle jerks and stalls to move after braking. You'll not get that additional engine braking to stop the vehicle incase of emergency. That's why manufacturers have moved to the second type. We can able to see this second type that is upshifting using rear end of the lever almost in every motorbikes lesser than 150CC segment. The problem in previous type have been rectified in this second type. All you have to do is, upshifting using rear lever and down shifting using front lever. But, here also some problems has raised. Imagine you're filtering through the traffic slowly. Only some motorbikes have gear position indicator. In other bikes, you have to remember in which gear you're in. Everytime when you downshift, there are chances for going to very low gear which increases engine's RPM unnecessarily and sometimes, there are chances for going to the neutral gear. This irritates much in traffic conditions. That's why next method have been implemented and used widely.
Universal Racing Gear Pattern
Here in this universal racing gear pattern, first gear will be down and rest of the gears will be up. We can see this type of gear pattern in most of the modern bikes. For example, motorbikes like Apache, Pulsar, FZ, Hornet have this type of gear pattern. This type neglected all problems present in other two types. Here, different mechanism is used for shifting the gears. You don't have to bother about which gear you are in while downshifting. How much gear you downshift, finally you'll come to the first gear. There's a also a problem in this pattern. While shifting from first to second gear, some times neutral gear will fall. While you are in first, when you try to put it in neutral, sometimes second gear will fall. These are the drawbacks in this system. But, once if you get practiced to that, you can able to manage those problems.
You can think if this pattern is good enough, then why manufacturers are not implementing it in all motorbikes? The only thing that matters here is cost. The design used in this pattern is more complicated compared to the normal mechanism and consists more parts inside it. So it increases the overall cost of the vehicle. That's why, normal mechanism is used in small capacity commuter motorbikes and this universal racing gear pattern is used in mid level performance oriented motorbikes. But in some motorbikes, the pattern of first gear up and all other gears down is also used.
Sequential Gear Shifting Pattern
We can see these type of pattern in every commuter motorbikes and in bikes with lesser capacity engines. We call it them as sequential gear shifting pattern because, in that we will be using one direction for either upshifting or down shifting. This sequential gear shifting pattern further splits into two types.
• Upshifting using front end of lever
• Upshifting using rear end of lever
We can able to see the first type that is upshifting the gears using front end of the lever in some Bajaj motorbikes. But in this type, there's some problem. Imagine that you are cruising with the moderate speed in a highway. Suddenly a vehicle change its lane without using proper indications. What you'll do is, trying to slow down the motorbike by braking. While braking, automatically our left leg also tries to downshift because we have practiced in that way. In this situation, when you press down the front end of the lever, you'll upshift and your vehicle jerks and stalls to move after braking. You'll not get that additional engine braking to stop the vehicle incase of emergency. That's why manufacturers have moved to the second type. We can able to see this second type that is upshifting using rear end of the lever almost in every motorbikes lesser than 150CC segment. The problem in previous type have been rectified in this second type. All you have to do is, upshifting using rear lever and down shifting using front lever. But, here also some problems has raised. Imagine you're filtering through the traffic slowly. Only some motorbikes have gear position indicator. In other bikes, you have to remember in which gear you're in. Everytime when you downshift, there are chances for going to very low gear which increases engine's RPM unnecessarily and sometimes, there are chances for going to the neutral gear. This irritates much in traffic conditions. That's why next method have been implemented and used widely.
Universal Racing Gear Pattern
Here in this universal racing gear pattern, first gear will be down and rest of the gears will be up. We can see this type of gear pattern in most of the modern bikes. For example, motorbikes like Apache, Pulsar, FZ, Hornet have this type of gear pattern. This type neglected all problems present in other two types. Here, different mechanism is used for shifting the gears. You don't have to bother about which gear you are in while downshifting. How much gear you downshift, finally you'll come to the first gear. There's a also a problem in this pattern. While shifting from first to second gear, some times neutral gear will fall. While you are in first, when you try to put it in neutral, sometimes second gear will fall. These are the drawbacks in this system. But, once if you get practiced to that, you can able to manage those problems.
You can think if this pattern is good enough, then why manufacturers are not implementing it in all motorbikes? The only thing that matters here is cost. The design used in this pattern is more complicated compared to the normal mechanism and consists more parts inside it. So it increases the overall cost of the vehicle. That's why, normal mechanism is used in small capacity commuter motorbikes and this universal racing gear pattern is used in mid level performance oriented motorbikes. But in some motorbikes, the pattern of first gear up and all other gears down is also used.
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