What revs do you sit at?

[GrantT]

So, coming from the world of big diesel engined cars which chug along at 1500rpm in near enough silence from the inside the noise of a revvy 600 is taking some getting used to!

I seem to be in the habit of going up through the gears and cruising along at about 3000rpm like I would in a car, but I guess this is too low really as its a bit slow to pick up.

To the actual question.... where do you sit rev wise when riding along normally, say commuting to work, rather than when you balls out screaming down country roads

[N cee thirty]

3/4 k on the fazer in town

6/7 on the motorway making progress
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Kickstart]

Hi

Most of the time don't care too much. Sit in a gear which gives me enough go for what I am doing / want to do. If that means 10k then so be it.

As long as the engine is warm isn't in the red too much then it should be fine.

1500rpm is pretty much just idle speed and I wouldn't expect any go there at all.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Ericck]

[Dan_Davies]

i'd go with sound i listen to the bike if it sounds like it's revving its tits off i change up, If its feeling a bit sluggish may change down. I'd say its more feeling than looking at what the speedo says
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current ride: 07 suzuki sv650s
ex rides : lifan mirage 125

[LordShaftesbu...]

Bimbling into work it's about 5k, but I drop down 2-3 gears to make any maneuvres like overtaking. Then I'm up at the rev limiter.

Have you been up at 10-12k rpm yet? It takes some getting used to but the engine's designed for it. I know it took me a good while to use all the power of my 675.

[Slacker24seve...]

I'll sit at xK in top on the motorway. Otherwise I try and keep it above 7k as thats where Hornets get interesting.

I generally take the attitude of if in doubt, go a gear lower. Should something go wrong you've either got more go should you need to give it the beans to get out of a situation or you've got more engine braking should you need to avoid one.
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Triumph Daytona 675 track bike + girlfriend's Honda Hornet 600
Selling a hack/winter bike for less than a grand? PM me.
Banger rallies are ace

[Stiffler]

How long is a piece of string? Highly dependant on the bike and type of commute surely...

My commute is nearly all motorway (6 of 7 miles) and on my ZX-6R the revs are usually around 8000-9000... On normal roads probably 6kish? Never really paid that much attention.

On my little 125 my commute moves to A roads and the bike sits around 5000 while "cruising" or as close to 9k the rest of the time...
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Current Bikes - Kawasaki ZX-6R (636) | BMW G650GS

[LordShaftesbu...]

[blurredman]

3 - 4K.

I don't go under that otherweise the bike labours.
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 51k.

[Louise]

Mine sits at 6k doing 70 if im just bimbling along.

[whitedevil]

The only time I care about rev watching is when i'm about out of fuel, then its usually lows revs and cruise at 60mph@5k till I get to a garage.
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GPZ500 sold ~ CBR600FS-2 sold ~ ZX6R sold ~ Street Triple R

[The Artist]

It depends. If I want to go faster, I usually sit at a higher rev than if I wanted to go slower.

[Louise]

[Slacker24seve...]

[trikeschick]

My Hornet loves 400 to 500 rpm but I think it sits lower when bumming about town whereas will be higher on the motorway. Now I have more experience on it, to be honest I tend not to look at the clocks, just a quick glance to set a pace for speed limits but even then am trying to 'get a feel' for it instead.
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"Light travels faster than the speed of sound, which is why some people appear bright until they speak"

[Paulington]

Depends where I am riding, the speed limit and such, it also varies massively by motorcycle.

On the GSX-R, 6000 RPM in 6th gear is 100mph, so on an empty motorway I can cruise at that, in 30mph zones I tend to sit in 3rd gear at around 2000 RPM and in most speed limits besides 70mph limits I just sit at 2000 RPM in whichever gear is 2000 RPM, the GSX-R has a nice gearing due to it's high top speed which helps a lot.

Also, if I am being uber-lazy, I put it in 3nd gear and never change gear, moped with a clutch. Third gear will pull away from a standstill no problem and go on to top speed of 140mph or so, in fact, I can sit at 100mph in first gear but it is a little bit buzzy, so third is best. !

Idle speed on the GSX-R is around 1500 RPM and it has enough torque to sit at 2000 RPM in any gear no problem, it even accelerates well from there but really begins to launch at around 4000 RPM and then just screams up.

It will take you a while to get used to being able to rev it and rev it and rev it, but bikes are happy to be buried into the redline (avoid the limiter, please!) again and again, it's what they are built for, so do it! !

You, as above, will gain the skill of not bothering to look at your speedo/tachometer, I can tell what gear/revs/speed I am at by how fast I 'feel' I am going and the noise of the engine and as has been mentioned above, what dicates what RPM I sit at is the road conditions, if I know I am in a situation where I may need some power to overtake soon/surrounded by cars on the motorway so want to get through a small gap etc then I will drop a couple cogs and hover at 6000 RPM or so because the GSX-R is a rocket then, goes like a scalded cat, but otherwise I just sit in top gear and chill.

With a 600cc, you will have to sit at a higher RPM as they lack torque in the lower RPM which means it won't 'pick up' when you turn the throttle, on the CBR600RR I rode I sat at around 4000 RPM in 3rd gear at 30mph but if I wanted to accelerate hard I had to drop a cog as it didn't have the torque to suddenly pick up.

TL;DR: It all depends on the road conditions, as long as you are being safe/doing around the speed limit (above or below) etc etc then just ride at what feels comfortable, but as you get to know your bike, you will get to know what is right for you and it. !
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"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[GrantT]

Thanks for your input everyone, wore ear plugs today and that helped a little with my rev aversion!

[GrantT]

[Kickstart]