Bike wants to shift on her own

[Shivesy]

I was out for a ride last night and I came to a small town where the speed limit dropped to 30 mph. I downshifted to 4th, cruised through the town at 30 and approached the end of town where the limit became 45. I gave her some gas and started to increase my speed, and there was a clunk (for lack of a better word) and the bike had shifted to 5th. Is it possible that I had not downshifted with enough authority and it kicked back in to 5th? There was no gear noise leading up to the gear change while it was in 4th. I do have a tendency (nervous habit) to pull up on the shifter to verify that I am not in 5th, could I have pulled up just far enough that the gears eventually meshed and kicked it into 5th?  The bike was running fine both before and after, with no indication that anything was out of the ordinary. What do you think? Thanks Kevin

[tank_post142]

GHOST !!!

[Michvalk]

Riding at slower speeds with my Interstate, I find it easy to upshift with no clutch. Preload the shifter and ease off the throttle a bit, and she'll jump to 5th. Don't recommend it, as it's hard on the gears, but I suspect that's what happened.

[PhredValk]

It can happen. I'll toe up to see if I'm in 5th, but gently and just for a second. Changing gears is faster and more sure if you pre-load the shifter with your toe, and can happen on it's own if you let off the gas for a split second. I often change from 3rd to 4th or 4th to 5th this way; with no clutch activity. It happens with the engine not working hard, and (I hope) doesn't harm anything.
Fred.

[Ricky-D]

Hey Kevin,  that's exactly what happened.

You could have stayed in 5th gear with no problem.

The Valkyrie is a very tractable motorcycle.

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[old2soon]

Yuppers real easy to do. And Rickyd is correctamundo. 30 M P H in 5th gear not a problem fer these fat girls of ours. Not only do these gals of ours need a firm hand they need a firm foot also. RIDE SAFE.

[Shivesy]

Thank you for the quick responses to my post. I figured that I had really screwed something up and I knew my only defense was to ask the board for help. I would have driven myself crazy worrying if I didn't have you guys to turn to. I think I will try to keep my toe on the footpeg and my gear in 5th from here on out. Kevin

[Gryphon Rider]

While a Valkyrie won't be harmed riding in 5th at 30 MPH, from a safety point of view I wouldn't recommend it unless there is no chance whatsoever that you will need to accelerate out of trouble, or that you will need to slow down unexpectedly.  Think of a situation where you slow down, look in the mirror, and see that the person behind you isn't paying attention.  Now you have to downshift TWICE to accelerate moderately.

At 30 MPH I would recommend 3rd gear in most situations, and 4th gear in light traffic and no intersecting roads from which someone might appear in front of you.

[3W-lonerider]

if you have a rattle bars heel to toe shifter..yes it's quite possible it shifted on it's own..mine started doing that one day and i though it was me..tracked down the gremlin and it turned out that the heel to toe shifter was binding on the shift arm and when you shifted it,, it never returned to a nuetral position so it was constantly leaving pressure on the shifting arm..i shimmed out the heel to toe with a couple of stainless steel washers and it has'nt done it since.

[YoungPUP]

Welcome to the world of driving heavy commercial trucks, you just floated the gears. I do it a few hundred times a day. Shift just as you release the throttle without touching the clutch. Slides right into gear. NOT good for the bike, but with the square cut gears, I can't see it being horrible, just don't get in the habit of it.

[Hoser]

I keep track of what gear I am in by looking at the tach rpm.  Hoser

[Ricky-D]

Welcome to the world of driving heavy commercial trucks, you just floated the gears. I do it a few hundred times a day. Shift just as you release the throttle without touching the clutch. Slides right into gear. NOT good for the bike, but with the square cut gears, I can't see it being horrible, just don't get in the habit of it.

I feel I have to amplify YP's comment. He is correct that to shift sans clutch is a very rookie thing to do and is bad hard on the transmission.  The "dogs" are the part of the assembly that take the brunt of the activity and if you were able to see what they look like (how they work) and understand what actually is happening, you would stop this "clutchless shifting" immediately.

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