No engine braking!

[Colin J Monteith]

Sat my last stage of the graduated license for a full "M" yesterday. Was called out by tester and lost a couple of points in the scoring system for using the brakes coming off the highway to slow down. He said I should have used engine braking and not brakes to come down from around 100kph to 60kph ramp speed. I explained that we don't have a clutch gears plus the nature of a CVT allows minimal engine braking. He didn't understand but as I had passed anyway I decided not to argue. Am I missing something?

 

[exavid]

Not at all, there is some engine braking with these CVT bikes but not nearly as much as on a manual shifting motorcycle. The lone exception I know of is the Burgman 650 which has too much engine braking. You have to be sure to keep some throttle on that bike when slowing down or it'll try to stick your head into the windshield. At least mine did. In its case the CVT is operated by an electric motor controlled by the bike's computer instead of flyweights. Interesting, but much more complex than a more common type of CVT. They have had some transmission failures on the B650 due to that. Very expensive repairing one.

 

[Scoots you sir]

Having sampled a 2016 C650 Sport with its revised transmission set up, I can confirm it has a fair bit more engine braking than my 2014 C600.

When I got my C600 I immediately noticed how little engine braking it had compared to my 2004 Silverwing 600, so I think the revisions bring the BMW pair more into line with the big scooter norm.

 

[Colin J Monteith]

Thanks for responses. The tester I had was as I indicated totally unfamiliar with CVT and its engine braking characteristics. His explanation on why he marked me down for using brakes was it's misleading and dangerous sometimes for following traffic to see unnecessary brake lights when your not stopping. I won't or perhaps can't stop doing it. The other one he marked me down for was not immediately putting my feet on the boards when taking off from a stop. I usually wait 2-3 seconds to do that and while my feet are a few inches off the ground he explained my feet could get caught on something and I lose control. He did say it was a fault of people who often get caught in city stop and go traffic which is me.

 

[Snowdog]

My Silverwing had ample engine braking, much more then the BMW's

 

[SteveADV]

I'm a left foot down right foot up on the brake guy....or floor board if that's what is there instead. Learning how to ride/stop one of these CVT bikes is different, for sure. But not a big deal and easy enough after a few stops to get used to (for those moving to a Beemer UMV from a standard shift motorcycle).