| Author | Message | ||
     Marko138 |
Fellas... As I am new to the Buell family, I have a question. Where are your RPM's when your just cruising? I'm running between 3 and 4 grand in 2nd or 3rd gear, generally. I'm finding that I really only use those 2 gears for most of my riding. I pop it in to 4th or 5th if I hit the hiway. Such a different beast than my I4. | ||
| Spatten1 |
I also generally run between 3k and 4k when cruising. I ride a 9. When riding fast, I ride between 4k and redline. | ||
| Xl1200r |
You're probably running higher than you need to. I'll grab 5th at anything over 50mph. Generally, just bumpin' around town I'm around 2500 rpm. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
I'm riding like Spat. | ||
| Darthane |
Right around 4 grand, the peak of the torque curve. Best gas mileage, best get-up-and-go.  I've got a race-kitted 9 with a Drummer. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
I'm with the other 9'rs. I run the race kit with the Buell pipe and Cold Air Induction. The sound at 3500-4000 is very nice. | ||
| Glitch |
I was talking with this fella named Erik, he said for optimum performance, keep it above 4000. He seemed to know what he was talking about, that guy sure can ride too! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I am usually bombing around between 70 and 80. I keep it spooled up to between 4,000 and 5,000. The girl likes it there! | ||
| Jeffroj |
"Right around 4 grand, the peak of the torque curve. Best gas mileage" Is this true? I've been pushing my bike harder while getting used to it, and the gas mileage seems to be getting slightly better. I do stick to the lower RPMs, around 2500 while cruising, should I be higher? | ||
| Mr2shim |
Well, when I ride around regardless of where I am I end up cruising in 5th at about 3.5-4k I live no where near a populated city and it takes at least 20 minutes to get to the closest city. Nothing but long back roads.  I'm not understanding how some of you can "cruise" @ 2500-3k. Cruising to me is doing 50+ in 4th or 5th for long periods of time. | ||
| Jeffroj |
In a populated city, always being stuck behind a soccer mom in her suburban or excursion, with her phone glued to her ear, you can either pass her or just cruise behind. To some of us thats about all the cruising we get to do, until the weekend comes around. | ||
| Marko138 |
It seems that my new Buell likes to be above 3k. It'll run under 3 grand...but does so under protest. It's much smoother above 3,000rpm. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Anywhere between 3-4000 RPMs for "Sunday driving"... For more spirited riding, 4000 and above. Glitch, I believe I know of this guy Erik that you speak of!! | ||
| Glitch |
You bet!  | ||
| Cityxslicker |
38-5500 gives me the best sound out of my pipe, so thats wherez I run | ||
| Cringblast |
4th gear 3700RPM's sounds good runs fine. | ||
| Growl |
I used to ride my Uly at around 3000-4000 a lot when cruising - got around 42-45 mpg. Then I switched to cruising around 2500-3300 - and my mpg went to over 50 most of the time and around 47 the rest of the time. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I'm not understanding how some of you can "cruise" @ 2500-3k. Cruising to me is doing 50+ in 4th or 5th for long periods of time. 55mph in 5th is about 2500rpm for me. 4000rpm in 5th is 80 - the only place that works is the interstate around here - too many turns for that. Like I said, when I'm just cruising, I keep the revs as low as possible. Around town, with some hammering here and there, I'll get around 50mpg. On a longer trip with less "play", I regularly get 60-65mpg. | ||
| Darthane |
"Is this true?" ~~~>Jeff Re: the torzue curve, yes - but that's dependant on your bike and mods. Re: the gas mileage, that's been my experience. My car does pretty much the same thing - it gets better gas mileage at 3K than at 2K under virtually all circumstances. The only exception is when the engine's under virtually no load. Your instinct is generally to keep the revs as low as possible (if you're trying for economy). Fewer revs = less gas going into the engine, right? Problem is, you may be unconsciously feeding more gas into it at the lower revs in order to keep the vehicle moving at the same speed. In this case, YMMV...literally. The newer XBs and especially the 12s with the active valve in the exhaust seem to get better overall mileage than my original 9 and may react differently. (Message edited by darthane on May 08, 2008) | ||
| Jerseybuell |
Was jut thinking about this the other day...seems my race-kitted 04 12S is happiest at 3300RPM. | ||
| Beachbuell |
3-4 K RPM's | ||
| Retrittion |
3-4.5K most of the time -- you can tell the bike likes it when your mirrors are "clear". Bike mods and engine size 9, 12, etc. will change your optimum RPM range, so YMMV. I would say 5K is passing/powerband area, so riding in that for long periods may not be ideal, but I could be wrong. | ||
| Luxor |
3-4K on both the 9 and 12 for me. | ||
| Azxb9r |
It depends on the situation. Downhill with a tailwind... 5th gear @ 65 mph. Uphill with a headwind... 4th gear at 65 mph. I go by sound and feel. If the motor is laboring, and you are giving it more throttle to maintain speed, your gas mileage is going to drop.If it is spinning effortlessly, and requiring little throttle to maintain speed, your mileage will be good. Around town in traffic I usually piddle along @ 2500-3000 rpm. On the open road it seems happy around 4000 rpm, in 5th gear that is 70-75 mph. | ||
| Billybob |
below what rpm is considerd 'lugging' on a 9 my 9 cruses at 50mph 2500rpm if i speed up i down shift | ||
| Swordsman |
Ditto on the 3-3.5k, 4k only if I'm hauling ass. I'm always in 4th or 5th. Certainly no less than 2500... engine is practically lugging in every gear at that rpm. ~SM | ||
| Darthane |
Billy, my bike's generally not too happy once you get below 3K. It's not really lugging, but it certainly isn't going anywhere in a hurry. |
