http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_band

 

if i'm cruising at highway speeds, i keep it in 6th. i see no reason to leave it at 10K - just more work for the engine. pretty much the only time i'll put in a lower gear is if i'm in some sketchy traffic and i think i may need to make a quick escape, or if i'm having fun accelerating. but just cruising at a constant speed, highest gear that's reasonable for the speed.

 

if i'm cruising at highway speeds, i keep it in 6th. i see no reason to leave it at 10K - just more work for the engine. pretty much the only time i'll put in a lower gear is if i'm in some sketchy traffic and i think i may need to make a quick escape, or if i'm having fun accelerating. but just cruising at a constant speed, highest gear that's reasonable for the speed.

:stpd: Otherwise when I'm riding in a group,2nd or 3rd for me just in case I would need to catch up.

 

Isn't it optimal at 10k? Several pro racers have mentioned to me that I should never have to go beyond 3rd within the freeways and city.

At 6th, wouldn't that bog the engine down?

 

 

at hwy speeds, you probably are doing 70-80mph. This puts your rpms at at least 6K. Dont see how this would bogg down the engine.
I cruise the hwy in 6th too.
Around streets it is 3-5.
I try to ride my bike at around 5500RPM most of the time (that is when I just relax).
Mountain riding or spirited riding is a different story though.

 

I shift at 12.5k on every gear.... Service interval for Motoroil for this style of riding every 1,000km

 

if you do that to my bike, you will always wheelie all day long....especially at the three first gear....

i always cruise at 5-7k rpm....no matter what gear im in....:thumbup

its a different story, if im in "RACING MODE"....hahaha....shift light always bling to me at 13000 rpm.....:rock

 

:banghead:

Please ignore your pro racer buddies, apparently they never ride on the street and only ride around in pro-racer mode.

Please see arrigo's link to the powerband article and keep in mind that a bike's "powerband" is much higher in the rpm range due to the engines small size, lightweight internals and performance orientation. You didn't mention what year your bike is but the "powerband" on a '02-3 is between around 7500 - 10,750rpm and on '04-6's is around 8000 - 11,300rpm depending on mods.

Below you'll find the shift point chart directly out of the '06 R1 owners manual. Rpm below the recommended shift points would be considered bogging the engine. Rpm's above the recommended shift points would not be bogging the engine but may not provide sufficient acceleration for all occasions.

Riding in gears lower than necessary justs increases wear and tear on your engine. If you rode 100 miles at 50mph in first gear it would be the equivelent of riding 201 miles at 50mph in 6th. Double the wear on your motor/tranny and cuts your gas mileage in half.

 

:banghead:

Please ignore your pro racer buddies, apparently they never ride on the street and only ride around in pro-racer mode.

I ride and race on NORMAL road bro..........illegally that is LOL

 

Definitely interesting.... I think I'll have to kick some my pro racer buddies butts for leading me the wrong way...

I always felt guilty for keeping the engine at 4k and by the looks of the chart the average rpm would be between 4-6k.

It was only recently that I began riding in the power band, feeling more confident in keeping it in the low gears at high speeds. It is difficult to do as sudden throttle changes can pitch you.

However now with that info, I can go back to what I thought was short shifting

Thanks for clearing that up....

Ralphael

 

No prob. Technically, if you were racing it would be short-shifting. But on the streets it's perfectly acceptable to keep the rpm's lower. Just remember if you do need to increase your acceleration rate you'll need to downshift. Get some miles on the bike, eventually you'll get a feel for what gear to be in.

 

Actually I like 2nd or 3rd when with a group. The R1 has great acceleration in those gears

Now that I don't feel guilty about keeping the rpms high, I can start playing around with the rest of the gears. I haven't even shifted up to 4th yet

 

L O L

edit: i shift at 2000 rpm

 

whats a powerband............

 

why do i read this stuff?:dundun:

 

Cruise around town in 1st????????? :lol

 

Sell your bike.

 

:lol:lol:lol:lol:lolbuahhaha

 

What.. we have more than 1 gear!?

 

wtf? WHY?!?

 

And your used to the R1 now? Yeah right! Your either trolling here or drunk:drunk: !

 

I was wondering, on ebay a guy is selling a 6" power band for my R1 he seys its better than the 3" powerband thats in there now. Is it worth the 2500 he's asking?

 

If this is how you ride, you didn't get professional riding instruction like you claimed in another thread.

:beer

 

If this is how you ride, you didn't get professional riding instruction like you claimed in another thread.

:beer

The professional riding school was runned by the pro riders. Also the buddy that sold me the bike has decided to do track only; hence his selling off his street bike. Before he sold off his bike, he told me that the bike screaming at 12000 is normal while cruising down the city streets at 80-90mph.

All of them, raised their eyebrows when I told them I shifted occasionally into 3rd around town. One specifically told me that probably 2nd is the max for town. 1st as mentioned by the owner of the school, can take you up to 120mph.

1st is really twitchy and it does take a lot of throttle control to maintain a high speed and I'm proud of that fact that I am able to cruise around in 1st.

The other fact mentioned by the school is that the engine is meant for higher revs and more harm is done when you bog it.

So those are the facts. Do you listen to a school of professionals? or do you listen to common sense and the forums?

Ralphael

 

All the posts I made aside, I gonna' guess that RALPHS has changed screen names to RALPHael.

 

Please Don't feed the Trolls!

 

Pro racer mode.......... :fact

 

RalphS was from Ontario Canada according to his profile.

 

yep, but this guy is in Calgary, Alberta Canada...little farther west

 

It was an honest question and this wasn't meant to be a trolling thread as you guys made it out to be.

Yes, I am a new R1 owner and I've never pushed the bike past 10k rpm. My highest speeds on this bike was about 190kph which translate to about 118mph in 3rd gear.

My average is between 4000-8000 rpms, but recently seeing that I am able to throttle control much more effectively, I thought it was better for the R1 to kept in the higher rpms.

The school that I attended is runned by racers and my guess is that you need to maintain the higher rpms to ensure that the power is there when you need it (for racing and not for city riding).

So the question has been answered.... please move on.... nothing to see here.

Ralphael

 

Runned by racers?

 

Pacific Riding School here in BC.

http://www.pacificridingschool.com/

Read their bios on the instructors section.
Mark/Kramer is a 6-time Supersport Champion.

Now it may be possible that I misunderstood their intentions as Dat made an off-cuff remark that "it is possible for the R1 to ride anywhere in 1st gear" which I took literally on my first day of riding on my R1.

His other statement was "you don't need to go past 2nd but maybe an occasional 3rd within the city/freeway" and if applied to my riding style it makes sense which is basically I rarely go faster then 130kph which means that 2nd or 3rd covers most of riding. However if I looked at it from their point of view, it could mean that they take it up to 10-12k before shifting.

To me, I thought I had to treat the R1 differently from other bikes to get the optimal performance out of it. I felt guilty for short shifting at 5-6k rpm.

Another forum stated that I should occasionally run it up to 10k rpm to clear the carbon build up.

So after all this confusion.... I think I'll just ride my own ride, shift when the engine screams shift and when I feel that the engine is bogging I'll shift down.

Thanks for the initial input.... it has been helpful.

Ralphael

 

This was a weird question, but I won't bash you. When you cruise, just ride it like you would a car. You don't see cars running around town in 2nd gear. Even on my R6 I used 4th or 5th gear around town. Always 6th gear on other roads.

 

You keep it pegged in the higher RPM's on the track because it's all about speed and performance. You're putting the bike in it's highest power output range. Riding on the street is different. Obviously, if you're accelerating you may let it rev higher, but you don't just go cruising at steady speed at that high an RPM. It's just retarded.

5-6k rpm is normal for me while just cruising around. When I'm hitting the twisties, the revs raise accordingly.

Personally, I'd be drove crazy if I had to listen to the bike maintaining 10k rpm at a constant speed. It sounds great as you move through it (accelerating) but not when held steady.

 

:stpd: I like the sound of the bike when it's screaming, but it's ridiculous to keep it screaming all the time. If you have the bike on the track, then yes, you should listen to the pro racers. If you're driving on the streets, listen to everyone else. It's two seperate worlds, they are different in every way. Going onto a racetrack requires a different mindset and way of driving, as compared to driving on the streets. To bring the racetrack to the street ALL the time, a.k.a. always driving in the revs, is dangerous and noteworthy of a squid title. But hey, that's just my opinion.

 

It all makes sense now.

Was playing around with 4th yesterday and found that I miss the quick acceleration of 2nd; however it makes sense why the racers are up in the high revs and keeping it in the power band.

With the group ride today, I had it mostly in 2nd in order to play catch up and an occasional 3rd while cruising (all under 8k rpm).

Thanks everyone for clearing up the issue of rpms/power band.

Ralphael