Why are motorcycle transmissions designed with first gear down and the rest up so that you pass neutral going from first to second and when downshifting from second to first?

Question

Is there something inherently beneficial in this design or is it more of a holdover from old designs?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Some race/track bikes reverse the shift pattern so first is up, rest are down. Not all riders prefer this though, it’s easy enough to install a different linkage.

Some race transmissions have neutral all the way at the end of the shift pattern, below first, as it’s more critical to avoid a false neutral in this situation.

At this point for standard road bikes, left foot shifter 1 down 5 up is just convention like an H pattern gearbox.