I quess I am below 4,000 rpm to much when were crusing around town and Clearwater beach. So What am I doing wrong? I do shift above 4,000 in all gears, but it will go below 4,000 when crusing down the beach at 35mph. Should I just stay in Second gear till I reach 45 mph. I'am just not used to a 2 cyclinder screeming at 5 to 6 grand at 40 mph.
Scarecrow,
I noticed you got a lot of answers concerning when to upshift, but, with a couple exceptions, not a lot of advice about the second half of your question above. So, with the disclaimer that I'm still somewhat of a newbie myself on the spider, I will share my thoughts with you. I've done a lot of "experimenting" over the past few weeks after reading the "
Do's and Don'ts Thread" that "swmp321" pointed you to above. I couldn't agree more with swmp321 - there is excellent advice in that thread.
What I've done is not only changed my upshifting habits along the lines of the other suggestions in this thread, but also I've dramatically changed the way I handle down-shifts. I've tried to adopt the concept of
never (when I can help it) allowing the bike to get below 4000 rpms and I try to keep it around 5000-5500
regardless of the mph. In order to accomplish that, I simply keep an eye on the rpms and aggressively downshift to keep the bike within that range when I get slower. I no longer allow the bike to down-shift on it's own, unless coming to a stop (like at a red light). If I see the bike falling toward the 4000 rpm range, I will downshift, which will get it back up above 5000 - back into it's peak power range. So yes, to specifically answer your question, I would stay in 2nd gear in the scenario you described above. I live in a a small town, and I now rarely get out of 2nd gear anymore when just riding around town, unless I can maintain speeds above 40 mph for at least a small stretch of time (which is rare while in town).
These changes in shifting habits seems to have accomplished at least two, maybe three, positve things for me. First, I noticed right away that the bike now shifts much more smoothly at these higher rpms. I don't feel that little forward "toss" anymore when the bike shifts, and it also shifts more quietly. Secondly, now that I am no longer lugging the clutch at all, the bike runs with
considerably less vibration than what I was feeling before in my feet against the floorboards. And thirdly, even though I am constantly running at higher rpms, I believe I am getting better fuel economy. (Jury's still out on that one, as I've only filled the tank about half a dozen times since I've begun running it this way.)
Now a few disclaimers.... I'm certainly not an "expert" yet. I'm only passing on here what I've personally experienced so far (as well as what I've read).
I'd welcome opposing points of view here. Also, the aggressive down-shifting is only possible because there is virtually no slowing due to engine compression on the 900 series engines (other than while in 1st gear). I understand that is not so on the 1330 engine, so I'm guessing that it would not be proper to down-shift as aggressively on the 2014 model. Lastly, my aggressive down-shifting to maintain rpms does not apply to going from 2nd to 1st gear, unless I'm going less than about 18 mph. (Even though the clutch is not fully locked until 3800 rpm's, I've noticed that it does not seem to lug much below that level in 2nd until you get fairly slow.)
Bottom line... Do
NOT be afraid of operating at high rpms at almost any speed. Hope these thoughts help you some.
:agree:
