Driving a stick shift (if you already know how to ride motorcycles)?

I have 10+ years of motorcycling experience but have never driven a stick shift car, and I'm going to need to in the future.

So I'm already familiar with the "friction point" and stalling out and such, but what isn't clear to me is how much you can slip the clutch on a car without causing damage. If you ride motorcycles (especially Japanese ones) you'll know that MC clutches are wet in oil so you can slip them quite a bit with no concerns.

I assume it'll be easy to figure out once things are rolling but just want to make sure I don't break anything.

(I'm also aware that I shouldn't leave my foot on the clutch while driving, and to shift into neutral while stopped at a light.)

 

I would bet it’s easier to go bike >> car than car >> bike as I did since you already know how to drive a car. Most people learning how to shift a bike are also trying to learn how to ride at the same time.

The answer to how much slip is not nearly as much as on a bike, but there’s still quite a bit of forgiveness there. A couple longer-than-should’ve-been shift in a car aren’t going to hurt it. We’ve all done it starting out and I would bet most of us with 6MT 3rd gens have done it at least once or twice uphill in reverse.

If you can shift a bike smoothly, you’ll pick up shifting a car pretty quick.

 

Bottom line: Shift the car like you are driving the bike around town (versus a hotrod) and you will be fine.

Starting out is a bit different due to the power-to-weight, but the clutch is also much bigger and stronger which is why it is dry. My guess is you will forget about the clutch in a few days of driving.

 

Appreciate it fellas. Sounds like I'm worrying about nothing.