are you a "lugger"?

[Oblinox]

i keep em around 4k-5.5k in the city.. and its not to crowded around here anyways so i dont feel the need to super rev it alot

 

[FZ1inNH]

Depends on traffic. If I'm in a steady line, low RPMs, in open streets, higher RPMs.

 

[dean2287]

I'm usually somewhere between 1,500 and 12,000 rpm...

I probablly shift at 6-7,000 most of the time. Cruise at about 4,500. I try to keep it in a lower gear, but go by feel. Funny, I was just thinking about this today...

 

[FZ6biker]

I am a lugger sometimes and sometimes I am a high revver just depends on what I am up to. I do like speed but do like to cruise too

 

[FZ1inNH]

Maybe I should have said, I'm not but SHE is! She lugs MY arse all over town!

It's good for MPG too to keep it out of the revs once in a while... averages the tank a bit better.

 

[Erci]

Keeping it at 4k rpm most of the time, but gotta have fun every now and then.. it's a totally different animal at 8k rpm and above

 

[Speedygonzales]

These engine's are made to turn @ 8000 rpm all day long ...
Rev it, the bike wil like it :thumbup:

 

[Lightndattic]

I lug in the residential areas I ride through just to be nice to the residents, but once I'm out on main roads, I keep it stirring between 4 and 8. I touched 11 in 2nd last weekend pulling away from a stop onto an interstate onramp. Nice to know the extra revs are there if needed, but I try not to put myself in a position where I will need it.

 

[sm00thpapa]

First gear is good for about 60mph isn't it? Why shift?

No I'm pretty lazy with the revs around town. I usually shift at 5,500 to 6,500. She'll putt fine at 4,000 in the lower gears, 2 through 4.

60 MPH in 1st gear, WOW your engine must be screaming at you I bet.

 

[chemicalsmile]

I always ride at least above 5k. More because I'm paranoid that the battery will discharge with my brights on during the day rather than not wanting to lug the engine.

 

[RJ2112]

I'm not concerned with the mileage. I keep the motor around 5K, shift up when it gets nearer to 7 in town. Don't need to make excessive noise, or annoy anyone. Just runs and shifts better with 5-7K on the tach.

 

[bluez]

I'm not concerned with the mileage. I keep the motor around 5K, shift up when it gets nearer to 7 in town. Don't need to make excessive noise, or annoy anyone. Just runs and shifts better with 5-7K on the tach.

I'm with you- my bike seems to feel smoother shifting around 5k. I'm still breaking it in so I've kept it under 7k so far per the manual..... Ok, well except for a few brief 7k+ peaks!

Once break-in is over I'll shift more based on the sound of the motor than the RPM reading, unless I'm really wringing it out and need to pay attention to redline (which will be almost never). Based on sound, I'll probably also be in the 5-7k range.

A few have mentioned fuel economy a reason for lugging. As far as fuel economy goes- not trying to sound like a wise ass but who cares?? I own my bike for one thing- FUN. If I wanted fuel economy I'd ride something else.

 

[chunkygoat]

I shift at 6 - 12k, unless there's a cop. Then i short shift and keep her quiet.

 

[wolfe1down]

I shift when the bike feels like it needs to shift... she knows when she needs to... That way I have time and space in the RPM band to hammer the breaks and then emergency accelerate, or, snap the throttle for a 'get up and go' manuever... Make sense???

:Sport:

Lol.

 

[psnbye]

I have Two Bros. pipes so I try to keep the noise down while driving through my neighborhood by slightly lugging, but in traffic I will keep it in a little higher rev range for defensive manuvers like wheelies.:thumbup:

 

[Wolfman]

I have Two Bros. pipes so I try to keep the noise down while driving through my neighborhood by slightly lugging, but in traffic I will keep it in a little higher rev range for defensive manuvers like wheelies.:thumbup:

I think the 2 Brothers pipes encourage you to rev the bike harder...cause they sound so flippin crazy!

:rockon:

 

[macem29]

Lugging your engine wears it more than riding with the rpm's higher.

Let's see if I can describe this and make any sense.

The way I see it is when your engine (gasoline w/throttle bodies) is running, it is constantly seeking an equilibrium between the available air and fuel, and the speed of the crank. The available air and fuel dictates the size of the explosion in the combustion chamber, which in turn is directly related to the speed of the piston, which in turn spins the crank. Also, the available air pressure behind the throttle bodies dictates the cylinder pressure as the pistons suck air in and compress it prior to ignition.

This equilibrium is what your engine equals out to at whatever throttle position, at whatever load you have on the engine. You open the throttle the tach goes up until it reaches equilibrium. You are going steady, and start to go up a hill, there's more load on the engine, so it will slow down because the equilibrium is off, or you open the throttle more to maintain speed, which equals out the input to the load.

The higher the cylinder pressure, the faster the wear on the piston, rings, bearings, cylinder walls, connecting rods, crank journals...etc.

When your bike is idleing, it is at an equilibrium between the air that seeps past the closed throttle bodies, it's pulling full vacuum, as much as it can, and cant pump the air any faster since there is no more to pump. There's almost no load on the engine, so it's running pretty much freely, just to sustain itself at the equilibrium available to it, made possible by the amount of air seeping past the throttle blades and the fuel sprayed in. Each time the cylinder is pulling in air with the intake valves open, it is pulling against a vacuum, so the cylinder pressure is very low.

When you open the throttle blades to revv the engine, you're decreasing the vacuum, which is adding air flow andpressure to the system behind the throttle blades. This means that each time the piston sucks in air, it's getting more air, the same fixed volume but at a higher pressure. Also, the computer injects more fuel to keep the AFR within tolerances which creates more power, etc.

Now, keep in mind like I said about you open the throttle blades, pressure increases, and your bike starts to rev up. The cylinders are a fixed volume, each revolution they can only pump x amount of air for every pressure. You increased the amount of air available to the cylinder, so now the cylinder has to speed up to reach equilibrium in the system with the available air, to pull a vacuum as best as it can behind the throttle blades. (the fuel provides the energy to increase the speed of the pistons)

When you cracked open that throttle, you held it there. So, we've discussed what happens when you open it, and why is starts speeding up (more airflow, pressure and fuel). As it starts to reach equilibrium with your throttle position, the cylinder pressure starts to drop relative to what it was as soon as you cracked the throttle, since the pistons are moving faster now, instead of cramming a higher pressure of air into the cylinder since the throttle was opened, it will just increase it's speed to pump the same amount of air through the cylinder, more times to acheive the equilibrium flow that's available.

So once the engine is spun up and held there, the forces are once decreased again to those which are similar to when the engine was at equilibrium, at idle. Now, yes more revolutions will mean more wear, but with more revolutions at low pressures and low strains, the increased wear is negligible for the purposes of engine life. (Yes the increased rmp's will make a very slight difference eventually, but it can be argued that it most likely wont happen during the service life of our engines).

So, when the rmp's are higher, there is more power being made or more power readily available. The engine is also running more efficiently.

When you ride with the rpm's really low, the engine doesn't have the capacity to make as much power as if it was running at a higher speed, since it's only able to pump so much air through etc. This means, it takes more throttle to go, creating higher cylinder pressure than what would be required if the engine were spinning faster, for a longer duration of time. This means that you engine is wearing more. Like I said you're creating higher cylinder pressures, which is what causes detonation, and strain on all of the parts dicussed before.

When you ride at higher rpm's, you engine is capable of creating more power, which means it will reach equilibrium faster, reducing the time that the high cylinder pressures exist. It is also running more efficiently, since it reaches equilibrium faster. The engine is more efficient at it's equilibrium speed at whichever throttle opening than it is below that speed.

So yea, lugging = BAD.

Hope this made sense to at least one person. Or, I'm just full of CRAP.

\equilibrium

And I'm not saying you have to ride at high rpm's, but lugging from 2k-3k rpms on these motors in high gears is not good. Cruising at these rmp's is fine, but before you goose it you should downshift a couple of times.

wow, that's either a great paper on internal combustion engine function,
or one of the larger piles of excrement I've seen, regardless it was a good
read, thanks

 

[vrsbrazil]

I don´t lug, if I wanna behave I´d better just take my car off the garage...