Every Time I down shift (say im in 5th gear) when I start releasing out the clutch I can feel the bike jerking, am I suppose to give it some throttle when I downshift or start giving it some brakes? Can some one please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I have a ninja 250, 2005I just finished my msf course and they didn't teach us engine braking
when you downshift, you are probably feeling the jerk because you are at one RPM and the engine runs at a higher RPM in a lower gear at the same speed. What you need to do is just before you start letting out the clutch, blip the throttle a bit to give it gas and boost the RPM's, then release the clutch. You have to be quick so the RPM's don't fall again. If you do this right, the engine speed and the gear speed will be roughly the same and it'll neutralize the jerkiness, then just left off the throttle and let the engine slow down the bike. make sure if you have someone following you to tap the brakes so show you are slowing down, otherwise they might hit you. i use the rear brake a little if i have enough room to slow down, and the front brake while blipping to slow down quicker.
engine brake is the resistance of the engine when you release the clutch without throttle. the clutch tries to match the speend of the engine (rpm) to the speed of the wheel (actualy speed) releasing the throttle, and releasing the clutch, while in gear is engine braking. some do it, some don't.
