Is it okay to ride near the limiter on a 125cc bike?

[lifeisforlivi...]

On a stretch of dual carriageway on the way back from work I usually ride my bike flat out near the limiter for 5 miles, apart from wearing my engine components faster am I risking blowing it up? It's a 4 stroke engine and the bike doesn't have a a rev counter.

[_Iain_]

How do you know it's near the limiter if you have no rev counter?

YBR redlined at 10,000rpm, hit limiter around 10,500rpm. 10k in top gear, w/standard gearing is about 80mph indicated.

Honestly, if you're asking the question you already know the answer.
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Please be aware that the above post may be full of complete nonsense.
Riding: '07 KTM Duke II, Baotian BT49QT-20 Driving: '88 Volvo 340

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

With a warm and maintained engine you won't have problems. But have some sympathy and ease off now and again.
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[tom_m]

The day i passed my test me and the girlfriend went for a ride up to the lakes and back, went there on the 'A' roads and came back on the motorway. That was a 50 mile journey on the m6 sat at 9,000rpm on a ybr 125. Like Iain said as long as you let off now and again it'l be fine aslong as its regularly serviced.

If you do manage to blow it up though, please come back and let us know
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Current: 2005 Kawasaki Er-5 C5P
Past: 2012 Yamaha Ybr 125, 2004 Yamaha Neos 50, 1994 Suzuki Gn 125, 2005 Aprilia Sportcity 125, 1988 Yamaha Tzr 125
Theory: Passed... Mod 1: Passed 22/08/12 Mod 2: Passed 22/10/12

[lifeisforlivi...]

[lifeisforlivi...]

[P.addy]

My bike sits at its top speed for 25 miles, twice a day, every day.

[andym]

My intruder was limited to 65, and that was usually full throttle on the motorway from Chepstow to Bristol (even managed an indicated 80 downhill with my face on the tank and feet on the rear pegs).... I imagine I wasn't the only person to thrash the engine on that bike and it had done about 30,000 when I sold it.

If you want to give the engine a bit of a break... pull in behind a van or lorry for a bit, you'll go from full throttle to between 1/4-1/2 throttle with the slipstream

[_Iain_]

When i was running my YBR as a courier bike it was more or less okay. However after passing my test i'd take the odd london job once or twice a week. As soon as i started doing that, come service time 400ml of oil came out, and a litre went back in.

Pushing any engine to it's limits WILL break it & blow it up. GS500's seem to do this at an indicated 110-120ish, and that wasnt on the limiter. Sure take it for the odd blast up to max speed & then back off it. Wont do it much harm.

Start smashing it along on the limiter all day every day however & it will eventually break.

4T 125 commuters are happiest cruising at around 60mph from what i've seen. What bike are we talking about?? If it's one of china's famous clones then i'd not push it as far as the limiter at all!
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Please be aware that the above post may be full of complete nonsense.
Riding: '07 KTM Duke II, Baotian BT49QT-20 Driving: '88 Volvo 340

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

When I take the 250 on the motorway it can get quite boring sat at 70 for long periods so I started doing little sprints. I tried long blasts at max revs but that got boring too and in the back of my mind I knew I was being cruel to the engine, so a blast now and again to keep both of us happy, and possibly makes me more alert.
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[lifeisforlivi...]

[lifeisforlivi...]

[lifeisforlivi...]

[P.addy]

[G]

125s should be fine - bigger singles tend to suffer more because they've got much bigger bits of metal spinning around.

Red line on a 125 is going to be similar to upper-mid revs on an R6 say, so I wouldn't worry too much if it's a half decent bike.

If it's a cheap Chinese bike, I suspcet it'll depend on whether the person assembling it got some the night before etc.

[SQL]

[Teflon-Mike]

[lifeisforlivi...]

[_Iain_]

Keep up with the oil changes and it'll probbably be much the same as the yamaha, It was 1hr stretches on the motorway that made that start burning oil not the 5min thrash on the paddock wood bypass

But seriously, check it. Litre of oil will only cost about a tenner tops for genuine branded fancy pants stuff. (£9.98 for a litre of Yamalube ) and 5-10 mins to drain the old stuff out & refill it every 4,000 miles/whatever your interval is
____________________
Please be aware that the above post may be full of complete nonsense.
Riding: '07 KTM Duke II, Baotian BT49QT-20 Driving: '88 Volvo 340

[lifeisforlivi...]

[lifeisforlivi...]

[Wonko The Sane]

I often take my Honda Varadero 125cc to the limit, 125's are small engines that like to rev compared to a car engine.

my bike seems happy having the throttle rolled full on under acceleration (note I said rolled on not yanked on) and having now been on motorways on it I can feel, at full revvs once it's at speed that it feels like it's miss-firing or something at the top end of the rev counter, easing off slightly makes it happy.

[MarJay]

If in doubt, flat out.

(as long as you service it).
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[tactical_pancake]

All the talk of comparison with varaderos .. I'm not that mechanically minded but aren't they twin cylinders rather than singles?

Would that make them a little less likely to 'blow up' in such situations?

[garth]

My YBR125 goes on the motorway flat out all the time. It loves it.


Just warm it up and service it, as has been said.
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