Following Brummie Jackie's excellent and thought provoking thread about side stands, I thought I'd throw this thought around to see if anyone knew the answer.   Why do the gears on bikes go 1st, then Neutral, followed by 2nd, 3rd etc?   Why on Earth is neutral where it is and why don't the gears go Netural, then 1st, 2nd etc etc?   Secondly, why does my Trumpet always decide to go into netural all by itself when it's supposed to be in 2nd                                                                                                                                                                              

arent some bikes different?  or are the all the same?

                                                                                                                                                                             

  You had to start her off again Blue   But its a good point ... why is the bottom gear 1st ?                                                                                                                                                                             

my fissie was 1 up 4 down i think. 1 down - 4 or 5 up makes sense 1st is most important to get right so u can keep stamping till u get it. am i right in thinking gears are down on racing bikes ?

                                                                                                                                                                             

I can easily understand why neutral's between 1st and 2nd. 1st is really a gear for moving off rather than slowing down and it makes sense to have to option to go to neutral from 2nd.
As for up or down, or left foot vs right foot, I suppose it's just a matter of it always having been one way or the other.

dunans you're right about the fizzy and most other peds from that era but as far as modern/racing bikes go i've no idea why the gear pattern is the way it is                                                                                                                                                                               

Some racers do indeed change their linkages around so down is up. This is so they can change gear while cranked over.....they don't have to hook their feet under the lever.                                                                                                                                                                             

yeah thats what i thought ghost. ive seen threads on peeps doin it for track days so assume the gp bikes etc will be that way                                                                                                                                                                              

Thanks Ghosty I didnt know that little gem of information..I must admit I did wonder why neutral was in between 1st and 2nd...thanks Wills for explaining that one too.

My Mini V hated 1st gear...so she was a typical Honda and always clunked from 1st to 2nd no matter how gentle you was with the gear lever..typical Honda thing...

My Ruby...has 6 gears and sometimes I wish she had a 7th as she sounds like she is screaming at top end...I know you are going to say it is cool....lol

 Dunno about the order of gears BB, but if yours is jumping out of 2nd, especially if it does it under load,.. get into the box and put  new 1st and 2nd cogs in,.. they'll be rounding on their edges. Old Pan Euros are a sod for it, and they wear the selector fork too.

I reversed my track bike gears so I could change whilst cranked over - its a proper arse clencher when you forget and go down the gears instead of up - I cant remember laughing at that mistake :-)                                                                                                                                                                             

I hate to disagree but I had a fizzy when I was a yoblet and I am more than certain it only had four gears and they were all down. The suzy AP50 had five and that was a one down four up arrangement. I then had a Yammy DT175 which was one UP then five down but all the other bikes I've had seem to have been the one down then up variety

Not sure who you're dissagreeing with pond but the fizzy deffo had press down for up gears as dunans stated but you're right about only 4 gears and all down. Just didn't want to be too critical!

I had a TS50ER and that was 1 up and 4 down, not that it ever had enuff power to get into top unless it was going over a cliff with the wind behind it!

Hope this helps, Neutral is centered. Push lever down to slide selector one way, then up to slide seletor the other way.

http://www.dansmc.com/powerpath1.jpg
                                                                                                                                                                             

Until relatively recently British bikes (remember those) had right side changes, most were one down and three up but a number had one up and three down. I made some crunchy noises in India coping with Indian traffic while remembering the Enfield gear change was on the wrong side and worked upside down. I have to admit panic braking involved loud up changes a couple of times.

Prof you loud never !!!                                                                                                                                                                              

SS50 1 down 3 or 4 up depending on flat bar 4 or rased bar 5   Totally dissagree with you Rose my 750 1st to 2nd is smooth (must remember to throttle off when chaning up) 500cx was and and the FT500 so was my xl250 and both 250 superdreams, so I think it's down to the peeps riding the bike!                                                                                                                                                                             

You don't know the meaning of a clonky gearchange until you've ridden an old BMW when it's in a bad mood!                                                                                                                                                                             

or a vmax's 1st to 2nd , but after that , lovely lol