Blipping the throttle

[rach125]

Hi, Just recently I have seen a lot of posts mentioning blipping the throttle. Being a newby I have never heard of this before. What does it mean, and how do you do it and why? Thanks in advance!

[-Matt-]

Can mean different things to different people id say depending context.

1 is slightly tweaking the throttle when in neutral/clutch to most likely try look cool making a rev rev sound for no good reason

2 more likely use of term is when down shifting gears if the revs havent fallen to a suitable level for the lowered gear you can 'blip' the throttle to bring the revs up a bit so they drop in line and comfortably with the gear prior to releasing the clutch - avoiding any lurching etc

Hopefully made sense

[RhynoCZ]

Easy thing, imagine the engine and rear wheel spins the same speed while in gear + engaged clutch. Now, there's a corner and you've got to slow down and downshift, when you dis-engaged the clutch revs drop and if you've got proper machine they drop really fast, but your rear wheel still spins quite fast, eventhough you use your brakes, so when you downshift and release the clutch lever again, the wheel is much faster than the engine = the engine will stop the wheel, just for a couple of miliseconds = kicking to your rear wheel. That sort of ruins your tire, chain, gear box, clutch and more importantly it makes your bike unstable. This can by solved with so called anti-hopping clutch.

So if you blip it, you give the engine some speed/revs and if you get really good at this, you'd be able to get approximately the same speed/revs of the engine and your rear wheel before you engage the clutch again after downshift. Some call this matching the revs.

But and that is your case I suppose, there is no need for this if you ride, let's say, slow and you release your clutch lever fluently and slowly. This thing is useful only for flat out and track riders

One more thing, less cylinders the bike has, more noticeable the kicking is
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[rach125]

Thankyou I understand now. But likely I won't need to use it lol

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Right - you don't *need* to use it...but it can certainly often help to smooth out gear changes, plus its a useful skill to (eventually) acquire - especially as some bikes seem to respond to it better than others. By which I mean, some bikes require it more than others.
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[RhynoCZ]

Well, you should learn how to operate the front brake and throttle at the same time, anyway. The index and middle finger on the lever, the rest goes on the throttle grip
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[thepuma]

Well, I dont do it and im still alive.

Tried it a few times to see what all the fuss was about- seemed to me to be an unnecessary hassle. I understand the logic behind it, but if you change down gear at the correct speed/revs then its not needed.
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YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
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[dansp1]

Blipping the throttle when downshifting is a necessity on a big v twin and most bikes will benefit, i guess it's a little like learning to whistle, seems impossible until you learn how to do it , then it is just second nature

[darkhorizon]

I find a quick "blip" under bridges & in tunnels makes the gash come running in a frantic mass of wet horniness.... yeah baby
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[barrkel]

It's also only really relevant if you are trying to shift down quickly while still at fairly high revs. At lower revs, there's not much absolute difference in engine speed between gears; and if you're not trying to shift down quickly, you can afford to slip the clutch for longer.
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[yen_powell]

If one doesn't blip the throttle loudly when arriving at one's destination, how will people know when to turn and look admiringly at one?
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[doggone]

If you learnt to drive with older vehicles with no synchromesh you *had* to do it in most situations to match the gear speeds, or you got a horrible crunching grinding noise from the box especially shifting down.
It can still be used effectively by those with good mechanical sympathy even though you can manage without on modern gearboxes.

[rach125]

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

^^^Instant stiffy.....Every time.....Regardless of sex.
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[Slacker24seve...]

[totalllama82]

You'd really just blip on the down shift to match the engine speed to the road speed. It allows you to shift down quicker and smoother than shifting down and letting the clutch slowly. It also prevents the rear wheel wanting to go slower than the bike resulting in it skipping.

Example, say we're in 4th and we want/need to engage 2nd to overtake a couple of cars. Clutch in and at the same time as your left foot shifts down twice, you'd rev the engine up to where 2nd matches the road speed (you get used to the revs -> gear -> speed over time). This means you can let the clutch out quickly and pin it.

I'll be honest, I don't do it much myself but then, my rides mainly consist of motorway rolling on in 6th.
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[The Tot]

Blipping the throttle is ESSENTIAL when you ride with a pillion. Stops the inertial step change in deceleration with engine braking. More importantly, it stops my Nicky Hayden cartoon on the back of my Arai getting chipped by a loose pillion.

It allows you to progressively transfer the weight of the bike onto the front wheels whilst braking... effectively, it's an engine braking management technique that will help your back wheel from locking up by matching the engine revolutions to the current rotational speed of the rear tyre.

Or, in my case, I use it to get into the right gear for the corner entry. If you want to be a smooth, flowing rider (inevitably, will make you quicker), then this is a useful tool in your arsenal. Anybody who's followed me before will know that my rear brake light ONLY ever comes on at the last minute because I make use of my engine braking. Won't harm your engine if done right.
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[Tungtvann]

CAN SOMONE MAKE A VIDEO..?

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Here's a BLIPPING video.

https://youtu.be/KVWLIfChUwg?t=1h21m40s
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[rach125]

A video would certainly help me to be honest. Do they teach these sort of things in the advanced rider schemes? (Not that I can quite afford a bike yet!)

[The Tot]

See the link posted above. Howling Terror has even time stamped it to the right point! Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist book is brillaint, but the DVD is epic!
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[deadwolf]

I tend to blip out of habit nowadays, mostly unnecessarily as well. It's usefulness depends wholly on the situation.

For example, if you were coming to a stop at a junction after pinning it on an NSL road, you could either (1) pull the clutch in completely and brake all the way to the stop, and then change down to first gear or (2) change down through the gears, blipping with each change and use engine braking to slow you down almost to the end, engaging brakes only to full stop the bike.

In the latter case the blipping makes the deceleration process smooth, preventing that crazy jolt and sudden loss of speed when you downshift too early, which also helps to avoid getting rear-ended by the ass-sniffing cager behind you.

It also leaves you in gear to move off if you don't end up needing to stop. A lot easier than trying to find the right gear with the clutch pulled in.

[FirebladeRuss]

^^

I was going to write exactly that.

The gearbox on the Fazer isn't the nicest and blipping definitely helps.
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