What are your shifting habits? Please help

[jmsandy77]

Hi All,
Been riding for the last 10 years however all of my bikes have been cruisers or power cruisers. The big heavy bikes got old and my riding style changed towards sports touring. It's been a couple of thousand miles since I've bought my 8 and I'm still just used to the low RPM riding of cruisers and when to shift on them. I don't want to "hurt" the 8 by running too high RPM nor do I want to lug it and potentially hurt the bottom end. I was curious to know how and when you shift on your bike. i.e. what RPM you usually keep the bike at, is it ok to be keeping it between 5-8k all the time, what's the general target on a sports bike? On cruisers its always low RPM as there's so much torque. Can you please give me a break down and basically tell me what's kosher on our bikes. I'm looking for longevity on this bike as I plan to have it for quite a while. Your help would be appreciated.

 

[Umyaya]

It's a sport bike. .. built to be rung out and ridden hard. Let er buck! The engines can take a lot. 5 to 8 k is fine. I usually shift in that range when cruising but why get an 8 if your never gonna use the top of the power band !? When entering twisties and turns I keep it in the power band so I like to keep it around 7k when entering the turn so I can power out of it.

 

[jmsandy77]

Don't get me wrong, she sees 8-11 grand from time to time but seldom. Hoping to hear some general riding practices.

 

[Umyaya]

How many people on here do clutch less shifts? Preload the shifter and chop throttle and click it up?

 

[jmsandy77]

How many people on here do clutch less shifts? Preload the shifter and chop throttle and click it up?

I appreciate your input on the above in your initial post but please don't hijack my thread. I'm genuinely interested in what I had originally posted.

 

[er1c_b]

I usually keep it at least 5k rpms, the fun doesn't start til 8k.

 

[Umyaya]

I appreciate your input on the above in your initial post but please don't hijack my thread. I'm genuinely interested in what I had originally posted.

I'm sorry when you asked "I was curious to know what how and when you shift on your bike." I must have though clutch less shifts or pre loading the shifter was a method of shifting or maybe related to shifting the bike into a gear...... seeing that you asked for longevity and kosher maybe shifting without a clutch could affect the longevity of the transmission or bike.. But guess not..... I'll stick to the topic of how to properly drive a FZ8 and shift!

 

[jmsandy77]

I'm sorry when you asked "I was curious to know what how and when you shift on your bike." I must have though clutch less shifts or pre loading the shifter was a method of shifting or maybe related to shifting the bike into a gear...... seeing that you asked for longevity and kosher maybe shifting without a clutch could affect the longevity of the transmission or bike.. But guess not..... I'll stick to the topic of how to properly drive a FZ8 and shift!

Hey, no worries. I wasn't trying to be a dick. Relax. Now, anyone else with some insight?

 

[dart1963]

I'm not on an 8, been on an FZ6R for over five years... and I've always shifted around 6-9krpms (redline is around 11) and kept my rpms up in the 5-7k while riding, now with over 60K miles on the bike and she runs just like new... I did do a demo ride on the 8 and about the same... it's a sport bike with an I4, tuned for higher revs... she runs better in those rev ranges..... you won't hurt it shifting out at higher rpms every singe time

 

[HeresMyMind]

So on average 65mph-70mph on our bikes in 6th it ends up being around 4800-5200rpms. that is right where our "dip" is for power/trq. This is also where you get your BEST MPG. I tend to shift around 5500 and cruise around 5. if I do this for a whole tank I will get ~48mpg, if I drop below or above that I tend to be around 42-43mpg. So I shift JUST above that so the bike drops into that happy range when I shift.

-B

 

[Umyaya]

48 mpg is crazy. I guess I wasn't thinking about mpg when I got the bike....

 

[HeresMyMind]

I average 43mpg, also take into consideration our stock speedo's are 10% off, so we actually get better MPG that what we calculate. say our odometer reads 100miles, we actually traveled 90. So use 90 to divide for true mpg. (90 = 90% of 100). This is assuming you don't have a speedo corrector.

-B

 

[Umyaya]

Yeah I went with a speedohealer also changed sprockets. Probably didn't help mpg lol. I was dumb and lazy and waited to install the speedohealer for awhile... didn't realize how easy the plug and play was.. bike prolly has 2k less miles than read.

 

[jmsandy77]

Awesome info. This is what I needed to hear. Thank you guys.

 

[eru000]

Depending on the type of riding I am doing, I'll:

- keep around 3-5k for most low-speed, "putt-putt" city driving with higher-rev bursts for speed as needed.
- ride it out fully to 10.5k for those "race launches" when the red lights are in my favor
- cruise around 5k or so on the highway, bringing revs up to pass or whatever

Overall, however, I don't really pay attention to the specific engine speed I'm riding at, I just listen and feel the engine and make a decision to shift up or down depending on how happy it seems. Sometimes it's fine to cruise along at 3-4k for low-speed stuff, but if I'm hauling ass, revs that low will lug a little, so I'l bang down a gear or two.

And regarding the clutch, I use it (not including starting out in first) about 30-40% of the time while shifting. So I'm mostly using clutchless shifts.

 

[cmurder]

with ecu tune and mods im in the 6-7k normal riding my redline is also almost 12k,
ride it like ya stole it and all will be well ....
. and i get about 33-38mpg on a good day

 

[Davor_]

When I'm riding hard I do clutchless shifts but usually I shift around 5-6k aaand on a note of a fuel efficiency I get 80mi per tank


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[Umyaya]

80 mi per tank is not good. It is a 4.5 gallon tank meaning you are getting like 17 mpg. You would literally have to be WOT everywhere .

 

[eru000]

He's probably filling up well before empty. I get about 80mi to the tank in city driving if I fill up right before it hits empty. The bike has a good 15-20 miles left once it starts flashing empty.

 

[Umyaya]

Really. That's weird. When mine flashes empty I have 1.5 gallons left about.... never drove it to empty but I feel comfortable going up to 40 miles on flashing bar. That is with a speedohealer.