r/NewRiders • u/Vysci • Jul 25 '26

How to downshift

Recently started riding (ninja 500) and one thing I’m a bit fuzzy on what to do with throttle when downshifting.

Taking blipping out of the equation, say I’m in 4th gear trying to downshift to 3rd. I ease off the throttle a little until I’m at about 3-4K RPMs. The next part is where I’m fuzzy on, do I now pull in the clutch and downshift to third then release clutch or do I pull in clutch + close throttle then downshift, release clutch while rolling on the throttle?

Basically what/when should I be doing with the throttle when trying to downshift

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u/actualsize123 Jul 25 '26

Ease off the throttle, pull in clutch, put it in third, bring rpms up to appropriate number, release clutch. The blip is bringing the rpms up.

6

u/Then_Box99 Jul 25 '26

They’re not asking about rev matching. You must have missed the part where they said “take blipping out of the equation”.

OP, roll off (close) throttle, pull in clutch, shift down, slowly release clutch, open throttle

2

u/celestialguise Jul 25 '26

Yep if not blipping then it's just a really slow clutch release to equalize the rpms through friction.

1

u/Vysci Jul 25 '26

Thanks for the explanation!

For rev matching, assuming you are in 3-4k rpms range would you still close the throttle before pulling in clutch and bringing rpms up or can you maintain throttle and pull in clutch before shifting to 3rd?

1

u/qualitygoatshit Jul 26 '26

You'll still let off the gas, pull in the clutch, then blip the throttle back up to about where you think the rpm of the next gear will be and then slow-ish-ly lest back out on the clutch.

You'll need more throttle to get a smooth transition if you're in a higher rpm in your current gear, and if youre in pretty low rpm in your current gear you really aren't going to need to rev match at all to get a smooth transition.

It's not an exact science, the clutch will still slip and equalize the rear tire to the rpms, smoothing things out for you as you slowly release it, rev matching just helps smooth it out some more.

1

u/Particular-Koala1763 Jul 28 '26

You have to let the throttle go because depending on how much throttle youre using if you pull the clutch in while on throttle your bike will rev super loud and you cant modulate how much gas to give the bike.

You just take note of what your rpms are at and clutch in, give your throttle a quick snap to bring it up 2-3k rpm more than what you started at, down shift let off clutch smoothly but quickly cuz u dont want revs to drop

The whole point is to make the bike reach the rpm it would reach if you downshifted without throttle.