Quickshifter

Quickshifter

As far as we're concerned, a quickshifter is one of the nicer accessories to add to your supermoto and apparently that's how the larger manufacturers think about it. You see that more and more brands are making a quickshifter optional, look at KTM and Husqvarna on their SMC 690 and 701 supermoto and now also on the SXF 450 factory bikes. 

What is a quick shifter?
The technology for a quickshifter is designed to use on the track, where you demand the utmost from your engine. On a 'normal' motorcycle you use your clutch to shift up and down, with a quickshifter it's something else.

With a quickshifter you hardly have to use your clutch lever. With a quickshifter you shift up without using your clutch. Do you really need it? Absolutely not, but man is it fun!

How a quickshifter works
To be able to change gears without using your clutch lever, of course, a few things have to be done to prevent damage to your engine. To be able to shift gears, the gears in your gearbox must change position. With a normal shifting action, you do this with your clutch and your throttle. By releasing your gas, there is no pressure on your crankshaft and with your clutch lever you disconnect the gearbox from your crankshaft. This allows you to switch safely. You can see a good example of how the transmission of your motorcycle works in the video below.

how the transmission of your motorcycle works

A quickshifter takes a slightly different approach. This is in fact equipped with a sensor that detects when you use your gearshift pedal. Once that happens, it sends a signal to your motorcycle's ECU to interrupt the ignition or the injection. This then relieves the gears in the gearbox, which ensures that they can move. All this happens in milliseconds, so you don't notice the temporary loss of power at all.

clutchless shifting
The so-called clutchless shifting is a term that is reminiscent of a quickshifter, yet the technology is separate from this. Clutchless shifting, or shifting without a clutch, is possible on almost any motorcycle. With clutchless shifting, you put pressure on your shift pedal before you shift up, after which you briefly step off the gas and then immediately accelerate again.

By briefly stepping off the gas, you ensure that you can quickly squeeze the gears in your gearbox, so that your motorcycle pops into the next gear. It is an advanced driving technique that can do no harm, if you master it well. Yet the risks are greater than those with a quickshifter.

Is a quickshifter bad for your engine?
It is sometimes suggested that quickshifters are bad for your engine, but those theories have already been debunked. Anyone who drives with a well-adjusted quickshifter will really enjoy it. The only drawback we can think of is that it may make you a bit lazy and get used to this technology. Once you start, you simply don't want to go back.

Fuel cut or spark cut?
Fuel cut: From a technical perspective, fuel cut does't always work and can cause a bog upon re-application. With fuel cut there is still some fuel in the intake tract that can be drawn in and still produce some power or worse a lean miss, then once the fuel is back on, it has re-wet the intake tract before normal flow is established, another lean miss. This awkward cycle will disturb the intake flow (miss) and also affect the gas flow in the exhaust by slowing it, cause there is no heat.

This really is only a concern for F1/GP engine tuners where disruption of flow through a cylinder can disturb flow through others. On an supermoto, the only thing that matters is that you get a clean shift.

Spark cut: Since fuel is still pumped through the intake it doesn't effect the next intake stroke. Additionally fuel that is pumped into the exhaust will normally after-combust (think flames out the exhaust) which help to keep the exhaust gas flow high.

Installation
The installation is done in less than 30 min. First of all you connect the harness plug to the injector on the bike. The harness plugs directly into the injector without any modifications to the bikes harness. The kit also comes with a quick connector for connecting the TPS (Throttle positioning sensor) without having to cut the cable. The last step of the installation is connecting the earting cable.
Once all of it´s hooked up the manual walks you through a calibration of the system.

Adjusting the cut-off time
To adjust the cut-off time, there are three dials on the main unit. It’s possible to adjust the cut-off time from 40 ms up to 99 ms in1 ms increments. There´s also an option to adjust a separate cut-off time for those gear shifts that happen when you are not on full throttle. The manual recommends 70 ms for full throttle shifts and an additional 5 ms for non-full throttle shifts.