Trials and Tribulations of an HM Quick Shifter Install on a Honda CB1000R (2020)
Oooh Boy! There is no better addition to a “sport” motorcycle than a quick shifter. By “Sport” I mean a bike you can ride with a little more passion through corners, can accelerate fast and stop well…all the while being safe too, of course.😉
With this little article, I hope to help others avoid the mistakes I ran into.
TLDR; If you are only interested in the installation instructions, go to the “Installation Instructions” section below.
Also before we begin, if you aren’t sure what a quick shifter is, this video does a great job explaining what a quick shifter is and does and its advantages.
Prologue
Prior to deciding to retrofit my 2020 Honda CB1000R with a quick shifter, I had been hearing and seeing a number of comments and videos saying what a difference it makes and more importantly, how buttery smooth the Honda transmission in the CB1000R works with a quick shifter. Here is one of the most shared videos of the retrofit and the experience of riding with it.
This video shows the install of the stock OEM Quick Shifter and also the impression it makes once using it. Important note: For the 2020 model, the steps shown to turn on the quick shifter in the dash are not correct! More on that below.
After doing some research, I ended up not wanting the Honda quick shifter and instead, I decided to get an HM quick shifter. It was a good bit less expensive that the OEM quick shifter, and yet from reviews and experiences shared online, it seemed to offer a better value.
The Decision is Made
My first step was to ask the local German dealer selling HM quick shifters (I live in Germany) some questions about the quick shifter. Did it come with the dongle or shorting plug to reach the maintenance mode on the dash/ ECU to turn on the quick shifter mode? Did they sell the 115mm rod needed to replace the original rod? The answers I got were “no” and “we sell a 220mm rod, that will work”. So, I ordered the quick shifter and their rod.
But I said to myself, great now I also need to get the dongle extra.
So, I bought the dongle too.
A couple of weeks later, I received my quick shifter. And low and behold, the dongle did come with it. So, now I have two dongles and basically paid 30 Euros for nothing.
Also, the 220mm rod the dealer said would also work was way too long. I was figuring it would have threading that goes deeper into the rod, so it could be cut to fit. But, that was wishful thinking. I had to cut the 6mm threads for the one side myself. Needless to say, the important thing to note was there are left handed threads at the top of the rod and right handed threads at the bottom. I luckily cut the right handed threaded side and only had to recut those threads. It was aluminum, so no big deal.
Another fun time I had was finding the right connector to connect the dongle to (the correct nomenclature is “SCS short connector”) to get the dash into maintenance mode. There are two connectors where the dongle can fit. A white one and a red one. You want the red one. The red connector took me a good bit of time to find, because it was strategically placed so it looks like it is connected to something. Whereas, it isn’t. It’s just sitting there with its rubber protective sleeve facing down. The wrong white connector lies openly unconnected and why I found it first. At any rate, I found the correct red plug finally. Its position is just left of the fuse box (from the perspective of behind the bike).
The next hurdle was the instructions I was following for turning on the quick shifter. They were missing the step to press the “mode” button once more to get to the final step of starting the engine. Yes, you need to start the engine! This is also a step missing in the video above. I’ll explain these steps below in more detail.
Also, there were instructions on the inside of the quick shifter box lid on how to get the display of the quick shifter into setup mode. There was also a QR code to “the full documentation”. I didn’t read the short instructions thoroughly and just went to the main documentation, thinking naturally everything in it would be correct. Sadly, the main documentation doesn’t correctly give proper instructions to reach the setup mode. The instructions in the box lid did. So, I was getting frustrated trying what I thought were correct instructions. Thankfully, I did remember the box lid had instructions and once I used them, I could get into the setup mode. But, what the heck HM? Why are your main docs incorrect or rather not updated for the newer model? How hard can it be to change them and note to try both ways, if one doesn’t work? Or if you have the red display, do this? Black do that? Anyhoooo…..
Lastly, when I went to test ride the new quick shifter, I was majorly disappointed. It offered everything other than “buttery smooth” shifting. It was like it was hardly even there. So, what the heck! Right? I was thinking this simply can’t be. Something is broken. Something is wrong.
And, as it turns out, it was a simple but quite illogical solution! The HM shifter can be switched between a compression “C” motion to upshift or an extension “E” motion to upshift (upshift is what the HM docs said to set it for). And of course, the CB1000R has a compression shift for upshift for standard shifting. So, I set the setting to “C”. However, it was this setting that caused my issues. I switched the setting from “C” to “E” and everything worked like it should and boy, it IS buttery smooth. Yay! Success! (Ehem… the HM team really do need to work on their docs.)
This is the quick shifter installed and how or rather where I placed the display.
Installation Instructions
Ok. So, if you are interested in installing an aftermarket OEM Replacement HM quick shifter on your CB1000R, and you have a 2020 model, this is for you! Other models or model years of the CB1000R or other quick shifters will vary. So, you’ll also need to do your homework to get the right instructions. These probably won’t work completely.
That said, let’s go!
Parts and Tools Needed
1. You’ll need the quick shifter…. of course. HM sells several, but the best value IMHO is the OEM replacement model. If you get the HM quick shifter, it comes with the shorting plug/ dongle…ehem SCS connector! And even if it doesn’t, I have instructions below on how to bridge the connector without it.
2. A new shift rod 112–115mm long. The Honda original rod for adding the OEM quick shifter is 112mm and will work too. If you live in Europe, you can order it here. MSP Parts Europe has a pretty decent service for OEM parts.
3. 10mm and 8mm open end wrenches/ spanners (for any Brits reading this haha!).
4. Ratchet and extension with a 10 mm socket.
5. A small flat tip screwdriver and a phillips/ crosshead screwdriver (or something relatively pointy to press in the Honda plastic fasteners).
6. Some tie wraps.
7. A set of Allen Keys.
Time to Accomplish the Modification
If you are a fairly good mechanic, you shouldn’t need more than an hour. If you are inexperienced, you’ll more than likely need two hours or so.
1. Installing the Quick Shifter — Mechanical installation
These instructions from Honda are correct for the mechanical installation.
Here are some notes of experience though:
— You don’t need to disconnect the battery. In various other posts on the Internet, some people suggest you should. You don’t have to. The Honda docs don’t specify it either.
— You don’t need to completely remove the tank. However, it is best if you can have a fairly empty tank, when you do the modification. You’ll need to prop the tank up with something about 6-8 inches/ 15–20cm or so long and blunt and it is much easier to lift the tank, when the tank is fairly empty.
— Loosen the bolts to loosen the handle bar and push the handle bar forward and tighten one of the bolts so the handle bar stays forward. This will allow the tank to be lifted up without scratching the front of the tank on the equipment on the handlebar.
2. Installing the Quick Shifter — Turning on QS Mode in the Bike’s MCU
- The docs linked above also have instructions to turn on the quick shifter in the bike’s MCU. However, it is missing an important step.
Steps 4, 5 and 6 should be:
4. Select the “QS ON” to turn on the quick shifter.
5. Hit the “Mode” button and you’ll see:
6. Hit the Mode button again and you’ll see “ENG ST”:
7. Now shift the gear to neutral, if it isn’t already, and start the engine.
After that, steps 7 and 8 in the docs are correct to finish up the setup.
I’m not sure if I’ve just found the wrong instructions, but I couldn’t find any others with a different set of instructions that say the above.
If you don’t have the SCS shorting plug
You can simply stick a wire in between the pins of the dark and light green wires. Again, if you don’t see dark and light green wires in the “red” connector, you probably pulled out the white connector. It’s the wrong one! 😁 You want to short the “red” maintenance plug. Its position is just left of the fuse box (from the perspective of behind the bike).
3. Installing the Quick Shifter — HM Quick Shifter Setup
So, now the quick shifter is installed and ready on your bike. Next thing to do is set up the quick shifter itself. If you are lucky, you don’t have to do anything. The settings are already working for you. To find out, however, you’ll need to go for a short ride.
What to expect? Clean, buttery smooth shifts both up and down. You might need to be a bit more conscious of how you shift at first, but after a while, it just works so well, you’ll not want to miss a quick shifter ever again.
What not to expect? 1st to 2nd gear really hard to switch. Upshifts rough. Shifting from 6th to 5th practically impossible. Down shifts really need forceful shifting.
If you aren’t getting buttery smooth shifts, then you’ll need to change the “C” and “E” setting in the quick shifter. Take a look at your display and see what it is set to and remember it.
Getting into Setup Mode
To get into the setup mode of the HM quick shifter,
1. switch into 1st gear and press down on the gear shift pedal with a good bit of steady pressure and turn on the ignition. The display should show a countdown from 5 to 0. When the countdown hits 0, release the pedal. You should now see the display show a count up from 1 to 5. When the count up hits 5, press the pedal once more. You should now be in the setup screen and you’ll only see either “C” or “E” showing.
2. From the “C” or “E” setting you remembered earlier, press on the gear lever again to change the setting to the opposite setting. On my bike, I went from “C” to “E”.
3. Press and hold the shift pedal to switch into the sensitivity settings. Once you see the display change, release the pedal. Don’t change the setting from 50% for now, as you haven’t worked with the quick shifter enough to know what to change it too.
4. Press and hold the gear shift pedal once more. The display should change to “CA” or calibration mode. Release the pedal. The display should go back to its normal screen after calibration, which can take up to a few seconds. The sensor calibrates itself automatically every time you start the ignition.
That’s it! Go and ride your bike. You should notice a world of difference.
Setting the Sensitivity
As you use the quick shifter more and more, you’ll notice you’ll need to have a certain pressure and timing applied to accomplish shifts well. It’s not much different than with the clutch, yet it is a bit different and sometimes you might be a bit too gentle or too slow and you’ll notice the quick shifter affecting the electronics before the gear change happens. You can sort of help avoid this with a less sensitive pedal. However, that means you might need that bit more pressure too. We are speaking of very small variances too. Hardly noticeable. I’ve kept mine at 50% and just had to remember not to dilly dally while shifting. After about an hour of riding, it became second nature and I even found myself surprised at how my subconscious had taken over and just shifted and it was so butter smooth. That’s when the quick shifter became real fun for me.
Done!
That’s it! You should be a very happy camper now. I know I was, once the quick shifter started working as it should. I went for a 100km tour with it not working right and in fact, took a test ride on a BMW F900R and F900XR with quickshifters to see how they should work. Thankfully, the transmission on my bike held out. And, I’d even go so far as to say the HM quick shifter on my Honda is better than BMW’s. The Honda CB1000R is such a great bike, isn’t it?
I hope you found this little story and instructions helpful. Happy riding! 😀
Update: One thing you’ll learn to do for sure with a quick shifter is be much more “on point” with shifting or rather not be lazy with your shifting foot. I noted above about not “dilly dallying”. By that I meant, not doing anything with your shifting foot it shouldn’t be doing, like staying over or under the shift lever too long or not being very definitive with your shifting movements.
I’ve lowered the sensitivity to 45, thinking it might help with my own dilly dallying, but it really doesn’t. It won’t stop an inadvertent touch of the gear shift lever in a downshift direction from the bike electronics blipping the throttle. Be very careful with this!!!! In other words, keep your feet off and away from the gear shift lever, when it shouldn’t be there, especially when in a curve and leaning a lot. If you hit the lever for a downshift even lightly for whatever reason, but you don’t actually press it enough to downshift, the throttle will blip aggressively and will surprise you badly. At best, nothing happens to you other than a quick scare. At worst, you’ll lose grip and drop the bike/ highside it. Please keep that in mind.
