BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

Pro shift is a bit like everything else on the RT or any other bike.  Nobody needs it or cruise control or more than one cylinder or heated everything, tyre pressure sensors , centrally locking luggage etc, etc.  And if you can live quite happily without all these creature comforts don't buy s bike with them.

RTman10 wrote: Pro shift is a bit like everything else on the RT or any other bike.  Nobody needs it or cruise control or more than one cylinder or heated everything, tyre pressure sensors , centrally locking luggage etc, etc.  And if you can live quite happily without all these creature comforts don't buy s bike with them.

+ 1 ! 

Like others have said, there bike came with it
Mine did likewise along with hill hold and keyless, my salesman said try it for a week, I did and am sold on assist and hill hold, jury still out on keyless. Assist takes some getting used to but once you find the sweet spot, up and down from second are quick and smooth

Hello everyone, newbie in town. Came from K1200GT to R1200RTLC was a big change for me, got my 2016 last November the Shift Assist was a pain to understand and learn, but after reading on the forum I did the relearn and took it out for a spin . All I can say is WOW, mine finally got the first service done yesterday but I can tell you S.A. started smooth out around 400 miles.
The best is clutch on first as usual, roll your throttle and dont let it get above 3000 RPM shift in to second, do the same for third after that just hold your throttle and upshift the rest of the gear, I found it smooth and shift like a car's automatic transmission/
For downshift just slow down and downshift with throttle close, it works like a champ. If you have hard time to up or down shift like mine, do the relearn on the S.A.. I used in the canyon, on the highway and regular street, all I can say is it is sweet.


Tony

I have a '14 RT with shift assist, and found that going up that you clutch shift from 1st to 3rd, then use the shift assist to 6th. But when going down, back off the throttle and you can down shift with the shift assist all the way to first.

Interestingly, took my 17MY GS out for the first time today.  The shift-assist is considerably smoother than it was on my 2014 RT.  I thought it was good on the RT; on the GS it's fabulous.


Missed the RT though.  Got home filthy, where the RT would have kept me clean and dry!

Casbar wrote: I'll go first. I use it a lot, but generally use the clutch from 1st to 2nd up and down. Its a bit rough if you use it from 1st. Its just a clutch less shift...
...Going up the box, just keep accelerating and away you go...
...Going down close the throttle and the engine will blip after each change.
Its something that you think you wouldn't use but you do. enjoy

I have 220 miles on my new '16 RT. Shift assist was part of the package even though it wasn't something I would have purposefully chosen just out of the concern that it would be one more gadget that could potentially fail. Still, I have it so I'm eager to try it out, but decided to wait until after the engine break-in period. I'm a simple man - one thing at a time :alas:
Can you describe the upshift technique a bit more? I've heard/read that you're supposed to hold the throttle steady when performing the upshift.
Do you make a deliberate effort to hold the throttle wherever it is when shifting up?
In other words, deliberately pausing in your acceleration when you pull the lever up?
Is there a constraint on your RPMs? How high is too high?
I'm a conservative rider, but it would be good know what the limits are.

Thanks for any feedback.

Interesting learning curve on this bike - so far so good.

I'm using mine more and more on the upshifts, without thinking about it. 1-2 is more situational for me, as I don't entirely trust it through neutral, yet.  That being said, it has always performed smoothly on all the upshifts on my 16, which is only a couple weeks old.


On the other hand, I have experimented with it on downshifts and don't like it at all.  Maybe, I'm not riding hard enough when I use it, but so far it seems abrupt as hell to the point that I would much rather use the clutch to control the bike better on downshifts.

That's just my experience so far.

Read the handbook.  But, on th upshift you need to be pulling.  It doesn't matter how hard or at what revs.  If you momentarily eased back on the throttle when changing it probably wouldn't work, the lever wouldn't move.  On the downshift the throttle must be closed or again the lever won't move.  I wouldn't bother with using it 1 to 2 either way.

RTman10 wrote: Read the handbook.  But, on th upshift you need to be pulling.  It doesn't matter how hard or at what revs.  If you momentarily eased back on the throttle when changing it probably wouldn't work, the lever wouldn't move.  On the downshift the throttle must be closed or again the lever won't move.  I wouldn't bother with using it 1 to 2 either way.

What he said +1

Cool.

I tried it for the first time today and it works great. I think I have the technique down. Pretty slick - nice smooth shifts. I'm a fan and will definitely be making use of it.

RTman10 wrote: Read the handbook.  But, on th upshift you need to be pulling.  It doesn't matter how hard or at what revs.  If you momentarily eased back on the throttle when changing it probably wouldn't work, the lever wouldn't move.  On the downshift the throttle must be closed or again the lever won't move.  I wouldn't bother with using it 1 to 2 either way.

RTFM?  Who does that?

I'm just retraining myself to not let up on the throttle during the upshifts from years of letting up just enough to slip into a higher gear.  Muscle memory is a hard thing to unlearn!  I will try it on the downshift with a fully closed throttle and see if it gets smoother. 

I'm surprised you can get it to change down at all with the throttle open.

I keep forgetting I have shift assist

RTman10 wrote: I'm surprised you can get it to change down at all with the throttle open.

Me too, since I was doing it entirely wrong.  It works fine now that I am actually doing it correctly!