Before I say this let me just say I'm a self-taught shifter and was never taught the fundamentals, so this may already be common knowledge or I may find out this is bad, either way someone is gonna learn something. I've experienced the same thing but if when shifting from 1st to 2nd don't push in the clutch until you've got the stick in neutral. It's tricky to get the timing down but obviously you've got to get the clutch in before shifting from neutral to second. Still gotta be gentle letting the clutch out to. Lurch gone.
While we are on the subject I have a question. I was told by someone more kwowledgeable than me that actually if you shift at the right points you don't need to depress the clutch at all. Needless to say I haven't experimented with this but is it true that there are sweet spots where no clutch is required to shift? Perhaps he was referring to specific types of gearboxes.
