[DucGasm]

I believe the S4 rev limiter kicks in at 9.5K rpm. I have only been there twice and the bike seems to die for a half a sec and then kick back up again. I assume this is normal.

After riding with some jap bikes and a few of the riders saying they keep thier bikes reved up to stay in the powerband, I began wondering how hard other monster riders push thier bikes.

I cruise at about 5k rpm, but when I am in the twisties it is not uncommon to run at 6-7k, but rarely top off more than 8k. If the peak hp is highest at 8.5, then it would seem to get the max outta the bike I would need to flirt with the red line more often.

Please correct me if my logic is flawed, or my info is off.

Questions:

What is your cruising RPMs?
What is your average "riding hard" RPM?
Will running high RPMs significantly shorten engine life?

sorry for the lengthy post.
Thanks in advance.
Chris

 

[zeus]

For normal street cruising... I'm between 3-4K
Freeway riding 5K
Twisties 5-7K

I could be wrong, but I don't see a problem hitting the rev limiter - after all, that's why it's there, right?

 

[mik13]

if im traveling on the hwy i try to keep revs around 5k. around town im shifting at a casual rate around 5-6k. when blasting the twisties im watching where im going and shift when engine sounds right and power is still pulling. i have looked a couple of times, and saw 8k-ish going to 9k. the rev limiter is there to protect the engine. i was talking to a guy at the bikeshop a couple of years ago when i owned an st4. he was really complaining about the valves and other issues he had been having. after he left i talked to the service tech and he told me this guy rides this bike like racebike all the time. i then asked what kind of problem was the bike in for now. i was told the transmission was trashed at 7k miles! so bouncing off the limiter is ok once in a while, but if you spin up there all the time there are consequences.

 

[bartmanS4]

I think four bangers bikes don't have the low end torque that big twins have. So the power band is much higher in the rev range. I used to ride my wifes old EX500. It was slow and felt like a lawnmower until about 9k then it took off.

 

[humungus]

Unless I'm cruising, I'm always above 5k .... higher in the twisties to keep in the sweet spot !

 

[Bloodshot]

I generally cruise around the city at 4.5k-6.5k. On the freeway I try to cruise at around 5.5k-6.5k. In the twisties it's usually 6000-redline.

 

[terrible_viking]

Depending on the gearing of the bike your HP and Torque peaks will be well short of the redline. On the R6 for example the ideal shift points are somewhere around 13.500 depending on which gear you're shifting into (15.500 redline). I think My S4 actually has a 10.500 redline, I haven't done the math on gearing etc. for that one so I don't know where exactly I'd have to shift but I think I do it at around 9.5 or 10k. Just scooting around town I tend to stay very low in the power band or even beneath, cruising at around 3.5 to 4k.

-R.