Heel Toe Downshifting

[dividedbyzach]

Hey guys

I'm relatively new to the MG world...Just got my '70 Ambo on the road and I'm basically teaching myself the heel/toe shifting technique as I go.

Is downshifting the same as a "regular" bike? ie reverse order?

When accelerating, I hit my heel back for 1st, my toe down for 2nd, toe down again for 3rd...Here comes the light - Is it just toe up for 2nd, then heel back for 1st? Or am I missing something? Sometimes it feels like toe up to go back to 2nd is the same as heel back to 1st, but maybe I hit it too hard?

Sorry if this is confusing, but I have found very little info on the internet about this and have found a few threads with people who say downshifting is not good at all on an MG.

Haven't really had any probs yet. Just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

[Hahnda]

Toe up is the same as heel down. When I use a heel / toe type shifter I don't toe up.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

My buddy Joseph created a little mantra to remember which way to shift: "Toe to go, heel to slow". 

[oldbike54]

 Not being a smartass , but really can't follow your question  One up for first , three down from there to fourth . Use your toe to shift up , heel to shift down .

  Dusty

[dividedbyzach]

Ok gotcha - so when I thought I was toeing up to 2nd, I was actually heeling down to 1st?
So you go straight from 3rd to 1st?

[Cam3512]

On your bike starting in 1st - toe to up shift (2-3-4), heel to down shift from 4th (3-2-1).

Make sense?

[Hahnda]

Its all about rotation of a the shaft. If you are rotating shaft CCW you are shifting up into higher gears. If you are rotating shaft CW you are shifting down. The shaft I am referencing in the pivot shaft of the shift lever.

[dividedbyzach]

Yes, makes sense! I'm over complicating it. Thanks for not judging, guys.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Ride the machine, toe or heel to find the gear you want, then remember how you found it and try to do it again.
 Eventually you will figure out how to select the gear you want.  Then just remember how you did it.
 BTW, find an untrafficked area to practice in.

[LowRyter]

whut?  Dunno but for my EV:

1 down toe and 4 up (or 4 down on the heel). 

D/S with your toe down.

[JoeW]

Toe up is the same as heel down. When I use a heel / toe type shifter I don't toe up.

:1:

[oldbike54]

whut?  Dunno but for my EV:

1 down toe and 4 up (or 4 down on the heel). 

D/S with your toe down.

 His Ambo has a reverse pattern , like a Norton , or a race bike .

  Dusty

[dividedbyzach]

I guess my confusion was that I thought heel down was only for 1st gear, but I realize now it's also to downshift back through all gears.

[oldbike54]

I guess my confusion was that I thought heel down was only for 1st gear, but I realize now it's also to downshift back through all gears.

 Now you've got it 

  Dusty

[Mark_Z]

Now I'm confused!

Toe 1st
Heel 2nd
Heel 3rd
Heel 4th
Heel 5th

Down shift (starting in 5th)

Toe 4th
Toe 3rd
Toe 2nd
Toe 1st

[oldbike54]

Now I'm confused!

Toe 1st
Heel 2nd
Heel 3rd
Heel 4th
Heel 5th

Down shift (starting in 5th)

Toe 4th


Toe 3rd

Toe 2nd

Toe 1st

 Once again , reverse pattern 4 speed . 1st gear is at the top of the pattern , 4th at the bottom .

  Dusty

[dividedbyzach]

Mark, stop confusing me! lol

[Triple Jim]

This could have been an Abbot and Costello routine.

[oldbike54]

This could have been an Abbot and Costello routine.

 Who's on 5th ? 

  Dusty

[Sasquatch Jim]

 I sure liked the old hand shifters for lack of confusion, Harley, Indian, a host of others.

[donn]

When did US import Moto Guzzis go to modern shift pattern?

[Aaron D.]

Around '75

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

When did US import Moto Guzzis go to modern shift pattern?

It depends. Footboard equipped Ambassadors had a "normal" shift pattern, so that could be as early as '69-'70. Footpeg equipped Loops were "backwards".

[donn]

Ah ha!  When I got back on, after 25 years or so, plenty of time to forget, I wanted real bad to shift down with my heel and up with my toe, which doesn't work so well with my California II.  My old motorcycle:  '74 Moto Guzzi Eldorado - with footpegs.  So that would account for it.  The alternative explanation would be that it's just how we do - skid to a stop on heels, sprint on toes.

[dividedbyzach]

Happy to report that I took it for a nice long ride last night from Venice Beach over Beverly Glen, all the way to Burbank, then back to the beach via Sepulveda Pass with no issues. Runs like a tractor!

I feel like it's not charging unless the rpm's are really high though (It has a huge Harley gel battery), so I may update the regulator/rectifier per the advice of my vintage bike builder buddy, but that's a whole 'nother thread..