Sorry in advance for asking such a trivial question but I'm curious. I'm ridign a 2007 GS (my first BMW) and am finding on the highway that I am comfortable riding about 70 mph with the tach at somewhere around 4K to 4.2K. I of course have ridden at higher speeds but the bike seems good there. At 5K, it runs fine but the revs seem a bit high. Is this me being too conservative, is the bike fine at higher RPMs for long distances? Your feedback, thoughts and comments are appreciated!
My wife drives a 2004 R1150R with an EZS sidecar. Her regular cruising RPM is about 5000. On occasion she has forgotten to shift into 6th gear and ridden for many miles at almost 6000 RPM's. Bike runs great, but burns a bit more fuel. ;-)
Just about every bike I've owned has had a sweet spot. You kind of know what I mean. When you consistently reach a speed where the combination of vibration, air flow, balance and harmonics so blend together that there's an overriding peacefulness to it all. My '06 Ultra was at 82mph. My '07 RT was 76 -78 mph. My GS is within 72 - 82.
Relaxed cruising: 3500rpm. (not on the highway) Fast cruising: 7000 rpm. (Germany) Everything in the middle is fine to. Mine starts to feel less nice if I take it above 8000 rpm (redline at 9k).
I have a 1100Gs and a 1200GSA and both are extremely happy at 5000rpm. This doesn´t obviously mean that they are not happier at higher rpms. The 1100 gets a bit rough after 6000rpm (I guess the 11500, with the 6th gear, doesn´t have this issue). The 1200 goes very fine at 6000rpm but it is a bit fast for me for cruising for a long time.
Appreciate all your feedback! I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not pushing the bike (or myself) very hard at all. For instance, I'd never think of going close to the redline (even 7K sounds too much). But knowing that I can cruise a bit faster all day without doing any long-term damage is good to hear (even with a bit higher MPG burn). Thank you for spending the time answering an odd request!
I've never done that on my '07 or '11 GSA.... I might be wrong... Just ask my X... If a man speaks, and no woman is present to hear him,.. Is he STILL wrong?
I've noticed several times that for whatever reason I've forgotten to shift into 6th. Did it with my '05, had done it with my '13, too. As for what rpm is comfortable... whatever RPM it takes to keep up with traffic plus or minus.
In simplest terms, this isn't a car. You can run it up to red line for every shift for the next 100K miles, and nothing bad will happen. Check the oil occasionally, keep the valves in spec, and let 'er rip.
I usually cruise at at least 5 MPH higher than the traffic. This speed keeps me safe and allows me to filter in traffic more effectively. I don't bother to watch RPMs. The boxer engine (either water or air cooled) is perfectly happy spinning along all day at 6000RPM.
Remember, red line may not be your best RPM inasmuch as engine torque has dipped before you reach this engine speed.
Yup, like others have said. As long as the engine is maintained, you can pretty much run it hard as you like. Engines are made to spin round and round, and they love it! Bad things you can do: leaving it stopped for weeks/months on end bouncing off the rev limiter continuously revving it much over 3,500-4,000rpm before it reaches normal operating temperature revving it up in an unloaded state (ie stopped in neutral) like the newbies do thinking they’re cool
More than anything it just feels wrong running so many rpms at that speed. But the bikes are made to do it. My sv650 ran 6500 to 7000 rpm doing about 70, after driveing my car it always bugged me bad. But after 20000 miles of highway many as fast as 90 plus mph the bike still ran as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line. The gs engienes las a very long time running those rpms, 100s of thousands of miles. You should try rideing a 250 cc sports bike down the highway at near red line. Ive seen people do coast to coast runs on them.
What do you guys think? If you break the bike in properly and take it up to the higher rpms it will feel at home up there. I test rode a used 1150 once and I think the PO never had it above 3000 rpm. It acted like there was a barrier keeping it at or below 3000 rpm. Years ago on a similar thread a poster was adamant that if your ride it like wussie your bike will last a long time. Maybe, I thought it was engineered to be run hard and will still last a long time, as long as the FD is replaced often.
I don't know the answer to your question. I do know that in the past no matter how I broke a bike in I tended to get bored with it about 8 years down the road and put it up for sale. The bikes were running just fine when sold. Because of that I've decided that if one break in method is better than another with respect to bike longevity it only makes a difference for some future owner.
During the running in I had to teach my bike to drive at low rpms. And every now and then I use the full rev-range. Pull it all the way to the red-line in first through third gear. But apart from that there is really no reason to take it above 7k rpm and you can feel the power going down above 8000 rpm.
The enemy of the piston engine is heat not RPM. If the engine is run at the correct operating temperature, it will suffer no damage from high RPM. Low RPM, on the other hand, can be detrimental. Most engine designers will limit piston speeds to improve engine reliability and longevity. This is done by limiting the stroke length the piston must travel. Increase the stroke and piston speed increases for a given RPM. Our boxers are relatively short stroke engines and so, piston speeds are well within safe limits. Remember also, there are built in RPM limiters in the ECU so, you're going to have to be pretty clever to run the engine outside its piston speed design limits. When traveling at 80 MPH in high gear, calculate your piston speed. You'll find it to be relatively low, well under 5000 FPM, a moderate speed for modern engines.