To Blip or not to Blip

[geof.sharp]

G'day all,

I am 43 and decided to take up this motorcycling caper a couple of years ago, I ride a 09 ninja 250r.
I am looking for an opinion on blipping the throttle on the down shift. I my self have never been able to get the hang of it.
I ride my bike the same as I do my car I down shift at an appropriate rev range.

Cheers

Off the topic, does anyone know if there is a ninja 250(r) riders club here in Adelaide ?

[seiko1]

Welcome Geoff.
I don't think theres a specific 250 club, but there is KSRC in Adelaide, a few of us actually
Riding SA (mostly south) seems to have quiet a few 250's and theres also Northern Riders, depending on where you are.
There are 7 of us between Kilburn and Elizabeth

[tim]

Blipping is a good skill to master.

How do you mean an appropriate rev range? Whenever you change down the engine is always gonna need to increase revs to match the roadspeed, either by using the throttle, or the clutch. Your Ninja250 doesn't have a slipper clutch so if you're doing any sort of aggressive riding/changing the rear will loose traction trying to match engine revs with road speed.

The way I used to practice when I was learning to ride was to ride along at a constant speed say 50-70km/hr and change up and down through the box matching revs with road speed so that the bike didn't speed up or slow down on gear changes. The trick is to match size of blip with release of clutch at the right instant. DOn't be afraid of keeping your bike high up in the rev range for a while it''ll be fine, concentrate of smoothness, and practice practice practice. I believe "Sport Riding Technique" by Nick Inesach (spell?) deals with this skill quite well. HTH, and welcome. Tim.

[theanimal]

blipping is definately a great skill to master, without a doubt... it wasnt long before i started trying it..... however it was quite a while before i got it somewhat right..... it will take quite a long time to get used to your bike, engine, gearbox, and most importantly... the FEEL of your bike.... especially during heavy braking, or just generally when your rear tyre is under load.... best example is if for some reason u were to downshift during a turn.... you can either ease out the clutch ridiculously slowly without blipping, or release your clutch in relatively decent time with blipping.... the best way i found to practice, and indeed the most practical application i found was blipping when braking through back streets..... get up to speed, get on the brakes, and down shift as you go in order to keep your RPM up as such that you will always enough RPM to power out at any time..... it takes a long time to master.... but once you've got it...... its very useful..... and a great sense of accomplishment when u can get on the brakes HARD... blip down from 6th, all the way down to 1st and still have power the whole way... and with a decatalysed exhaust.... sounds great too... =D

after a while you will be able to almost dump the clutch and have the RPM perfect.... but it will take a lot of practice...

[Strika]

It evens internal rotating speeds of box and clutch and as such will reduce wear on all those components. It also assists in reducing rear wheel lock ups on downshift. It's not so important on a 250, but go to a large capacity bike where there is more rotating mass internally and that's when you will appreciate having learnt the skill. Plus you look like a fucktard just downshifting without it!

[MAXUMIS]

+1 to Strika's statement + the end of it the bigger bike"s (well most) also have very high comp witch mean's if you down shift without bliping the throttle can turn very dangous in a scary situation

[StuMiller]

....and if you have a good zorst, it sounds good!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk

[JetPilot]

This is how ya start. When pulling the clutch in to downshift a gear, rev the bike whilst the clutch is in and your downshifting at the same time. Its not a huge handfull of throttle but a slight rev on the throttle. This brings up your engine speed to match gear box. So clutch in to downshift and rev when this is happening. Its all one simple motion. Good luck. Pratice makes perfect.

[fireyrob]

I now wish Id practiced when I had my 250. Been relying on slipper clutches and now have to learn but Im sure itll be fine after practice. Just like most things you just gotta give it a go

[dilligaf]

way to practice is to ride along at a steady speed and change up and down a few gears without affecting your speed.
blipping and braking is the real hard one.

[woteva]

Riding SA (mostly south) seems to have quiet a few 250's ...There are 7 of us between Kilburn and Elizabeth

There are a quite few baby Ninja riders at http://ridingsa.com/ and I always steer very clear of those 2 suburbs mentioned above

Your Ninja250 doesn't have a slipper clutch so if you're doing any sort of aggressive riding/changing the rear will loose traction trying to match engine revs with road speed.

Ninja 250 loose traction LOL!!!

[Gosling1]

.... you look like a fucktard just downshifting without it! .......

this is the most important reason to blip on the downshift

[z900/zx9]

Never really thought about it,just cant remember not doing it,even from a kid on mini bikes

[lindasninja]

I too am new to bikes too, and similar age, on a 2012, 250R. And started from completely scratch, never ridden, and I was so crap to start with, really was very bad, found out hd no natural skill at all. So I can say through experience, a rear wheel lock up, on downshift, are by no means something to find out the hard way! They can be violent and nasty, and mess up the control side of things very fast. Also the reason that now after a year I’m am starting to master this! And thanks to the others advice above, sounds like if I ever upgrade I will need this skill unless I get a slipper clutch! I personally never had any interest in a bigger bike, but feel as I start to ride it, instead of being taken for a ride, I have to say the 2013, ZX-6R’s is the most hot looking bike! Not the bit bigger one, but the straight 600, wow!

[adz2332]

hey all, thought id say hi. Just got my Ls, im also 29 turning 30 shortly. In the market for a 250 or 300 depending whats around. But im also from Adelaide!