| Author | Message | ||
     Punkrider99 |
I recently moved to So Cal and my '03 XB9S is now my daily rider/freeway flyer. I have about a 100 mile round trip and I prefer to cruise in the car pool lane. Only thing is is that I've got to go 75-85 mph to keep up. I feel like I'm revving the crap out of the motor trying to make it go so fast for so long. Is a cruising rpm of 4000-4500 acceptable? Do the Harley motors mind being "buzzed" like that? I also noticed that at higher sustained speeds my fuel economy has gone out the window. In Colorado I was getting about 53 mpg cruising at about 60 mph. Now that I'm constantly hauling ass on the freeway my fuel economy has dropped down to 42-44 mpg. Ouch. I definitely enjoy having more power now that I'm down near sea level but I was hoping to still make at least 45 mpg. Any thoughts on either subject? Thanks. | ||
| Damnut |
Sounds normal to me. I have ~26K on my bike and am constantly over 4K rpm. No problems so far except for the 43 mpg I get. | ||
| Ez_rider |
I live at sea level (Monterey Bay, CA), and I also commute about 100 miles roundtrip each day at 75-80 mph, and I consistently get around 48-52 mpg. I have the race can, ECM and K&N air filter, otherwise stock '07 STT. | ||
| Darthane |
XB9s seem to be happiest in the 4-4.5K range (mine certainly is) - ride away. | ||
| J2blue |
You may want to try a different pulley. I've seen where one of the Buell after market parts place carries either a "torque" or a "horsepower" pulley kit. The engine doesn't mind the rpms but obviously your wallet does. | ||
| Indy_bueller |
J2 is right....you could even use a stock XB12 primary chain and gears, that would gear it down a tad. | ||
| Whitethunder |
I do 100+ on my xb9r all the time ride around 75-85 and have 25,000 on the bike it likes to rev run to red baby  | ||
| Punkrider99 |
Ha okay so it sounds like I'm not hurting anything. I'll continue to ride it like I have been. My fuel economy increased this last time filling up. Now I'm back up to 47 mpg. | ||
| Nillaice |
try to reset you air/fuel ratio. the drop in elevation might have an effect on your mpg's  enjoy cali! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Erik says the engines are happiest at 4-4500 RPMs. I keep mine spooled up at that range regardless of gear. | ||
| Ferrisbuellersdayoff |
Ok you have a 9, try swapping to a 12 primary gear set. Higher gear ratio, better top end but bottom end might suffer a tad. And your higher speeds will drop to lower RPMs. | ||
| Iamarchangel |
I asked on another post about the thing that happens when you gradually come to speed. Several people said there is a smoothing out that happens at 4200. That seems to be where my engine likes it so we stay there. | ||
| Mr2shim |
you all get crap mpg. I get 50+ My bike seems happy between 4500-5800k you're not riding it hard enough. race ecm, k&n, gutted muffler |
