I was watching the Isle of Mann street bike race. I notice the riders were pushing the shifter down to upshift and pulling up to downshift. Do the europeans shift backwards as well as drive on the wrong side of the road? LOL

 

They don't drive on the wrong side of the road you guys do.

“Reverse" or "GP" shifting means that you shift in a one-up-and-five-down pattern (the opposite of most street machines). You'll put your toe under the shifter and raise it to shift "down" and you'll push down on the lever with your toe to shift "up." Sound confusing? It's much easier to get used to in real life. The theory behind it is that when your bike is leaned over to the max and you're accelerating out of a corner, you probably don't have room to get your boot between the shifter and the asphalt to catch another gear.

 

that makes sense=======and HOLY COW those riders have HUGE you know whats.

 

Yeah I remember when I was younger I went round a left corner and could not get my toes under the shift, the ground was in the way

 

Back in the 1940s and 50s one up and three down was the standard shift pattern for BSAs. Triumph was one down and three up. I thought the BSA pattern was a little nicer when you were drag racing. Punching down on the shifter when accelerating seemed less finicky than pulling the lever up with your toe.

Norm

 

... and don't forget British bikes had the gear shift on the right, brake on the left.

 

My uncle put a GP shifter on his GSXR 750... I rode it to the gas station and back, it definately felt weird, but not impossible to drive. I'm sure if you owned a bike with that style shifter it would be second nature just like a "normal" shifter.

 

On most sportbikes it only takes a few minutes to switch the shift pattern. There is a linkage that connects the shift lever to the input shaft; you just have to flip the link over and your done.

 

and it works on the sport rides.

 

That would be nice, I am always hitting my boot on the road as I am making a left and trying to shift. With the Motard style wheels and tires, I take it to the edge of the rear tire all the time. I even caused a little rear tire slide-out when my boot hit the road chasing a friend on his FZ-1 the other day, that was a little scary.