Changing Gears?

[veeeffarr]

Something that's been on the back of my mind for a while now...

My bike has no tacho...

Usually I shift when the throttles nearly wide open and the engine speed is constant (IE: Not "Building up")

Is this right?

I've tried short shifting before, but on a CG125 it means I'm changing gears literally every 2/3 seconds.

I have no idea whether I'm labouring or thrashing the engine.

:S

If the engine speed stays constant, then does the throttle position dictate my revs? For example if I held the throttle 1/2 open and waited for the engine noise to become constant, does that mean I'm doing 11,000 / 2 = 5500RPM?

Cheers,

T

[Marah]

Listen to the engine, thats the best way you will hear it going from low pitch to high pitch, if the high pitch levels out on full throttle too much revs or as you have put it the engine speed stops building up. You don't want to have the over rev too much or you are likely to blow the engine.

[veeeffarr]

[phk6]

i dont know how new your cg is but on the one i was riding on my a2 it had a gear indicator were the speedo is, so above 20 mph was 1 meaning u need to change up to 2nd and so on....
____________________
Current .. 2008 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure ..
Before .. 2003 Yamaha Fazer 1000 .. 2004 Kawazaki Z1000 .. 2003 Suzuki Sv1000s .. 1999 zx6r Track Bike .. 1999 CB 500 Cup ..
/Phil

[Itchy]

don't listen feel for vibes , as you ought to have ear plugs ,
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Rit]

Dood, you seriously need to do your test

In the meantime all you can do with ya CG is when the bike feels that it cant pull no more, change gear.

Its a CG....abuse it, you know it wants ya to
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[Itchy]

isn't a test £48 these days?, he should have enough to do restricted for 2 years test.
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[veeeffarr]

Yes, I could afford a test a month until I passed, but I want all the training that goes with it.

I'd rather learn to ride a bike properly and pass a test than pass a test at all.

[Rookie]

That's the problem, they don't teach you how to ride. They teach you how to pass your test. The first thing my instructor said to me when he found out I'd passed was 'Great, now come back for advanced training and we'll get you out of some of these habits.'

[Rit]

We have no doubts that you can't ride a bike properly bro.

There aint nobody that can ride a vehicle perfect all the time (as the test expects you to) and you must be fine on the roads. After all, you've been around

Anyways, when you pass your test, surely you can ride properly


We digress.....CG's are still a great 125 and run foreverrrrr.
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[stevo as b4]

There is a gear indicator on the speedo on all CG's. This is the max speed in each gear attainable! You don't need to use it tho, as you quickly develop a feel for when to change up/down. The CG i used to have from memory, was somthing like the following for a beat the cars at the lights start:
1st, changing into 2nd at 15-20mph. 2nd would run to 30mph, and third would take you to 45-50mph. By the time you have hooked 4th most decent family cars have caught up and started to pass you, if it was a more powerful car like the BMW 330ci, then it would be about 1/2way through 3rd gear before you were beaten! I never got in a line up with anything that had a higher power/weight ratio, than that, so i would not like to say how you would compare then?

[veeeffarr]

[APNess]

I have a cg125 - with me on it (18 stone) you'd be lucky to beat a milk float, but for 'relaxed' riding I'd change every 10-15mph through the gears to make reasonable progress. Wringing it's neck doesn't give that much more 'performance' out of one of these - i.e. hanging on for 15-20mph out of first few gears. Not so sure about being able to beat cars away from the traffic lights on it... maybe if you weigh something like 6-7 stone...

As has been mentioned though, these things are pretty unburstable. Easy to service, run forever, economical, but no racer, so treat it as it is - a stepping stone learner bike and don't worry too much about being perfect on it.

Best I ever managed was 50mph on the flat and 60mph with my head on the tank (I'm like a big windbreak sat on top of it). Last time I rode it was last week, night before my test, and it hadn't been started for a few weeks - cracked up after a couple of kicks, no problem! Did it's job, practised, went out for a long ride, next day passed, so I'll be selling it when I can be arsed to stick it on ebay.

[jok]

[St0rmer66]

My bike has the same engine as the CG125. I find it's roughly..

1st to 10mph
2nd to 25mph
3rd to 40mph
4th to 55mph
5th to 70mph

All indicated speeds of course (70 probably more like 65). Above is only when I want to get it as fast as possible, I'd change up to 4th at about 35 and 5th at 50 if I wasn't too bothered how fast I was going.
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:: Honda XR 125 L ('53) => Kawasaki GPZ 500S ('02) => Suzuki SV650S ('00) => Aprilia RSV-R ('51) ::

[mattish]

I go in first to around 25-30mph on my 4t 125, am I caining it

My bike has a tacho but Ive never really used it, you really do just have to feel when it wants you to change. When the bike doesnt want to pull anymore its gearchange time, same as in a car.

[Steve - RS125]

Mine is redlined in every gears - So please dont listen to any gear change advice I offer.

Two strokes were designed for nailing.
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Suzuki VL Intruder 125cc - September 2004 to July 2005
Aprilia RS 125cc - July 2005 to Present
Suzuki RF600RR - May 2006 to October 2006 (RIP RF600)

[Sephiroth]

[stevo as b4]

If you slam a performance two stroke engine into the redline all the time, you don't know how to ride one properly. The power band on a high performance stroker, ends as abruptly as it begins, so if you over rev them past the point of peak power the power falls very quickly. This is why 2strokes are harder to ride, having a fairy narrow usable rev range. In contrast a forur stroke engine, especially a high performance superbike engine, will keep pulling hard for up to 2500rpm past peak power, which is usually a fair way before the redline anyway.

As for the CG i didn't know the new ones don't have the max speed in gears indicator markings. But your not aiming to hit those speeds before every up change, it's just a guide to the maximum revs in each gear, so it doesnt matter really. if you ride your bike for a while you really will soon get to know when to change up and down.

And yes i did manage to beat a fair few cars from the lights on my old CG, not racing anyone obviously, but only up to about 30-40mph depending on the conditions and the situation.

[Piya]

Dude, get a tacho.