• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

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Shifting without the clutch

Gord

Gord

Husqvarna
AA Class
I am building a 73 WR250 to play around with in vintage MX. A while ago I read (on a different vintage site) a question about clutches. A guy asked something about his clutch. I was surprised at the amount of replies he got from people saying they didn't even use the clutch while racing. Both upshifting and down. Sometimes only slipping it in a corner so they didn't have to shift and lose momentum. These were Pentons and KTM's. (Sachs)
Is it the same for old Husky's like mine? Have never raced MX and just wanted some opinions on not using the clutch to shift. I always use it.
Thanks
 
As long as you have lots of spare parts, forget the cutch. LOL
Actually, if you back off on the throttle a bit, you can make the shift pretty easily.
Its a bit harder on the trans on a downshift, but using the clutch, will make your trans last a whole lot longer.
Ron
 
I use the clutch sparingly when i race VMX, always at the start, & feather it out of some corners. But like Ron said
as long as you back off the throttle i've seen no advise affects, but i also change my oil after every race.

Husky John
 
I powershift mine on a MX track. Keep throttle on, breeze clutch and shift. It lets the clutch absorb the "shock" and really the most damage done is on disengaging the gear not going in. The angle ramps on the gear "dogs" keep it in gear and help it go into the next gear. My old drag race (car) trans. worked the same way.
 
Hi there I note you are asking regarding a WR (wide Ratio)
In competitive MX racing on CR (close ratio ) models I always changed without clutch But as John says above momentarily back off throttle and change oil as he suggests.
The WR will be a slightly larger step in ratio Just have a go and see how you feel about it.
I dont think power shifting is needed at this stage of vintage racing I remember Maicos & CZ`s had a reputation of robustness for such. But I didnt see Heikki or Hakan ever need to as works Husky riders.
 
My old drag car tranny would look like that too Huskydoggg until I went to a lighter clutch pressure plate. Tranny gears/rear gears. Let the clutch dampen the shock and ease gear disengagement. My E.T stayed the same and sometimes better, shocking the tires caused spin. I also quit breaking parts. I got my 82 CR250 from my uncle who from new never used the clutch. He said the tranny was the weak link in the bike! Dogs/forks looked horrible when I had it apart-ouch!
 
Retrofit an autoclutch and you will be forced to shift without a clutch.

Riding trail/enduro there are many situations I will upshift without clutch, but always during momentary slack. Almost always downshift with clutch.
 
Huskydoggg said:
I've developed a bad habit of ignoring the clutch completely, up or down shifting. If I'm trying to get a holeshot against the modern 450s I just keep 'er pinned and use brute force on the shifter. Tranny abuse? Absolutely! Necessary? Of course not.
Here's the result after a couple of seasons:

View attachment 7522
Click to expand...
Where do you live.........I wanna make sure I never buy a used bike from you
eek.gif
 
Huskydoggg said:
I've developed a bad habit of ignoring the clutch completely, up or down shifting. If I'm trying to get a holeshot against the modern 450s I just keep 'er pinned and use brute force on the shifter. Tranny abuse? Absolutely! Necessary? Of course not.
Here's the result after a couple of seasons:

View attachment 7522
Click to expand...

WOW, what bike was this? TC250?
 
Who needs a clutch ....? it's only there for starting on the line and stopping at the end of the race... ! I rarely use the clutch on the track....

T
 
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