lack of power and need for high rpm's

[prider]

Finally made the switch from a HD Road King to a 2012 RTs. After 325 miles on backroad and in town riding, I jumped onto I-75 for 43 miles running from 65 to 80 mph depending on traffic demands. When I got off I-75 the bike had a slight vibration that would not decrese unless I keep the rpm's at 4000 or above. I stayed off the Interstate on the ride home and the vibration got worst. It acts like the engine power is not reaching the transmission as the engine seems to be luggin in any gear below 3500 rpm. As I have not had good experinces with dealers in the past I am looking for info. when I call and or go in.

Side bar question. To reduce squirrely steering should the suspession be soft or hard?

Ride Safe......Ride Smart
Tom

 

[Bob Denman]

Hi Tom! Welcome to our little nightmare! :thumbup:
First let's talk steering; Stiffening up the front by setting the preload up a notch or two will help keep the bike more level in the turns. Try loosening your grip on the bars a bit. That often adds unwanted steering inputs; making the bike seem "squirrelly"... :shocked:
Power... You;re coming off a Harley, so the power delivery is World's apart from what you're used to...
The Rotax engines love to rev. Keeping them above at least 3500 rpm allows to clutch to fully lock up and not slip. that builds heat, and heat destroys clutches... :yikes:
Vibration? Maybe your drive belt needs a little bit of adjusting now that it's got some miles on it... I just had mine fine-tuned and it stopped all of the unwanted vibes for me...

 

[prider]

Hi Tom! Welcome to our little nightmare! :thumbup:
First let's talk steering; Stiffening up the front by setting the preload up a notch or two will help keep the bike more level in the turns. Try loosening your grip on the bars a bit. That often adds unwanted steering inputs; making the bike seem "squirrelly"... :shocked:
Power... You;re coming off a Harley, so the power delivery is World's apart from what you're used to...
The Rotax engines love to rev. Keeping them above at least 3500 rpm allows to clutch to fully lock up and not slip. that builds heat, and heat destroys clutches... :yikes:
Vibration? Maybe your drive belt needs a little bit of adjusting now that it's got some miles on it... I just had mine fine-tuned and it stopped all of the unwanted vibes for me...

HI Bob thanks for the info. My shocks are in the middle so I think I will go up 2 more. I am not looking for comfort just stability. i expected a big difference between the two bikes but as I was either being passed or passing other vehicles I was mentaly going over the details of my will.

As for the RPM's when the vibrations started my gpm when to 24 gpm's.

 

[Camdenlake]

Hi Tom! Welcome to our little nightmare! :thumbup:
First let's talk steering; Stiffening up the front by setting the preload up a notch or two will help keep the bike more level in the turns. Try loosening your grip on the bars a bit. That often adds unwanted steering inputs; making the bike seem "squirrelly"... :shocked:
Power... You;re coming off a Harley, so the power delivery is World's apart from what you're used to...
The Rotax engines love to rev. Keeping them above at least 3500 rpm allows to clutch to fully lock up and not slip. that builds heat, and heat destroys clutches... :yikes:
Vibration? Maybe your drive belt needs a little bit of adjusting now that it's got some miles on it... I just had mine fine-tuned and it stopped all of the unwanted vibes for me...

:agree: and welcome. Once you get some miles on and the slight learning curve you will be all over it. I came from a sport touring bike and found the need for high rpms aswell so it must be quite a change from a low rpm twin like the HD. I find i dont shift till atleast 6k (unless i am rolling in traffic) now and it loves it.

Josh

 

[boborgera]

Power... You;re coming off a Harley, so the power delivery is World's apart from what you're used to...
The Rotax engines love to rev. Keeping them above at least 3500 rpm allows to clutch to fully lock up and not slip. that builds heat, and heat destroys clutches... :yikes:
...

:agree: The Harley will pull stumps at 2500 RPM's, I ride mine like a Diesel no matter what gear I'm in i kept it at 2500 to 3000.
Now when i had a Spyder i would run it like it was a chainsaw.,hyea:

 

[prider]

:agree: The Harley will pull stumps at 2500 RPM's, I ride mine like a Diesel no matter what gear I'm in i kept it at 2500 to 3000.
Now when i had a Spyder i would run it like it was a chainsaw.,hyea:

I had a SEA DOO and I ran it wide open most of the time but the gas consumption was not bad. My concern is the rate of fuel usage with the Can AM and is the vibration something to expect? What gpm do you normaly get?
In any event the dealer is open now, I will give them a call.

Thanks tom

 

[Dib52]

Good advice above about the rpms, you'll get used to it rather quickly. As far as the squirrelly nature, play with the tire pressures too. My front is set to 4 on the shocks and tire pressure at 18 psi. Some have reported on here that their pressure coming from the dealer was in the 13 range, might want to check that out. A little air and a click or two on the shocks will have ya fixed up.

 

[Firefly]

Finally made the switch from a HD Road King to a 2012 RTs. After 325 miles on backroad and in town riding, I jumped onto I-75 for 43 miles running from 65 to 80 mph depending on traffic demands. When I got off I-75 the bike had a slight vibration that would not decrese unless I keep the rpm's at 4000 or above. I stayed off the Interstate on the ride home and the vibration got worst. It acts like the engine power is not reaching the transmission as the engine seems to be luggin in any gear below 3500 rpm. As I have not had good experinces with dealers in the past I am looking for info. when I call and or go in.

Side bar question. To reduce squirrely steering should the suspession be soft or hard?

Ride Safe......Ride Smart
Tom

Welcome...

You have indeed been lugging your engine..... not good for it at all....

The only time you should be under 3,500 RPMS is in 1st gear...... You should be running between 5,000 - 7,000 most other times. Yes--- really --- between 5,000-7,000. That is where these engines need to run. So run in each gear up to the 5k to 7K rpms and then shift. Cruise RPMS should be around 5,500 give or take.......

 

[prider]

Welcome...

You have indeed been lugging your engine..... not good for it at all....

The only time you should be under 3,500 RPMS is in 1st gear...... You should be running between 5,000 - 7,000 most other times. Yes--- really --- between 5,000-7,000. That is where these engines need to run. So run in each gear up to the 5k to 7K rpms and then shift. Cruise RPMS should be around 5,500 give or take.......

Thanks all..... Took my spyder to the dealer who updated the onboard computer. I also moved the front shocks up one notch. Both seemed to help.
Now I need to recheck gpm.

Looking to head out to Butte Montana next month, hope gremlins go away by then or it could be a long trip.

Ride Safe......Ride Smart
Tom

 

[daveinva]

Welcome...

You have indeed been lugging your engine..... not good for it at all....

The only time you should be under 3,500 RPMS is in 1st gear...... You should be running between 5,000 - 7,000 most other times. Yes--- really --- between 5,000-7,000. That is where these engines need to run. So run in each gear up to the 5k to 7K rpms and then shift. Cruise RPMS should be around 5,500 give or take.......

5000-7000 for the *RT*? That's where I run the RS, but I thought the RT was geared a *little* lower than the RS, i.e. the bottom of the band might be 4500. :dontknow:

 

[Tx web rider]

gpm

welcome to the web

25-32 most i saw on my rs was 38 highway running 65 on cruise going to spyderfest mileage came up for the trip and back down as i got closer to the coast
my local mileage stinks in so tx i think we have crappy gas myself

yes the rpms need to be higher i see that my bike loves to run fast but more than 70 and the economy goes down fast

 

[Sarge707]

5000-7000 for the *RT*? That's where I run the RS, but I thought the RT was geared a *little* lower than the RS, i.e. the bottom of the band might be 4500. :dontknow:

There are NO Magic RPM,s as long as you run above 3,500 (4,000 if up hill) and wait until at least 4,000 to shift!
I got no problem going 45 in 4th gear at 3,800 on a flat country road and I got no problem hitting 60 in 4.5 seconds in 2nd gear!
You need to keep the minimums in Mind and Use the RPM,s aggressively Now and then thru you ride and you will have a long lasting Rotax. I have a 98 Sea Doo 951cc (130 HP) with over 500 hours on the original engine and runs like the day I bought it.

 

[Firefly]

5000-7000 for the *RT*? That's where I run the RS, but I thought the RT was geared a *little* lower than the RS, i.e. the bottom of the band might be 4500. :dontknow:

I was being conservative... I actually run my shifts higher than 7,000 quite often... ;-)

 

[Bob Denman]

That might be because you're coming off of a GS... The RTs are tuned for peak power delivery 750 to 1000 rpm lower.
But they DO like to spin anyway! :thumbup: