Are you a low or high rpm driver?

[p6x]

I am definitively a low rpm V11 rider....

 

[docc]

So, mySport has seen 7,000 rpm. As recently as yesterday.

But, I don't ride it around cruising at 7,000. My target is 4000-4500, but I know it cannot be hurt at 5000. Sub-4000 is a bad idea for a V11, on several levels, if I am to believe expert advice generously offered here from experienced members.

Again, I note that riding at 4,000 rpm with a 300-500 rpm tachometer error is problematic. Ever more so at idle.

Yesterday, in spite of my best backroad navigation, I got caught at in intersection with heavy cross traffic from a school let-out. The heat index was over 100ºF/38ºC. Using the high idle control, I brought the idle up to about 1500 rpm+ to keep the oil flow up for those 6-8 minutes. Not sure how much longer the V11 would have sustained that torture. She was decidedly overheated as I shot across the intersection in a wee gap . . .

 

[guzzler]

Ha ha Thanks I enjoyed that!

My very first bike was one of these.... a Suzuki RV75 Van Van with all of it's screaming arm stretching 6.5 horsepower!!

So that was a trip down memory lane!

As for the Guzzi I do use all the tacho, matter of fact we did see 8k on Friday....But 7.5 more normal when the mist descends!

But on the highway I try and stay about 4k ish too.

Sadly we have a very draconian attitude to speed in this part of the world which does tend to urinate on ones fireworks....

Cheers

[Lucky Phil]

9 hours ago, docc said:

So, mySport has seen 7,000 rpm. As recently as yesterday.

But, I don't ride it around cruising at 7,000. My target is 4000-4500, but I know it cannot be hurt at 5000. Sub-4000 is a bad idea for a V11, on several levels, if I am to believe expert advice generously offered here from experienced members.

Again, I note that riding at 4,000 rpm with a 300-500 rpm tachometer error is problematic. Ever more so at idle.

Yesterday, in spite of my best backroad navigation, I got caught at in intersection with heavy cross traffic from a school let-out. The heat index was over 100ºF/38ºC. Using the high idle control, I brought the idle up to about 1500 rpm+ to keep the oil flow up for those 6-8 minutes. Not sure how much longer the V11 would have sustained that torture. She was decidedly overheated as I shot across the intersection in a wee gap . . .

 

Wrong approach docc. That will accelerate overheating. The greater air/fuel burn and friction outstrips the increased oil flow which is of zero utility anyway because there is no way for the oil to shed the heat without airflow even at slightly elevated flow. So when you are not moving there is no airflow to extract the heat from the cooling fins, or over the crankcases OR via the oil cooler either. Elevating the rpm just exacerbates the issue. All you are doing is heating oil that has no way to shed the extra heat anyway. If you want a V11 to overheat another way ride it around at 3-5000rpm in first gear for a few miles in warm weather. That will do it as well. At those rpm in first gear there isn't enough airflow to keep it properly cool. If you ever watch Police escorts on old Harleys and Guzzis escorting a slow moving cavalcade it's always at the lowest rpm possible.

If you want to keep a V11 engine cooler in those conditions you need fans on the oil cooler. I suggest a pair of 12V computer cooling fans. Compact light cheap and can be IPX rated as well.

 

Phil

[Scud]

hahaha... video quote "you paid for the whole tachometer, so use the whole tachometer."

[Lucky Phil]

1 hour ago, Scud said:

hahaha... video quote "you paid for the whole tachometer, so use the whole tachometer."

As with most things the answer is somewhere in the middle.

 

Phil

[LowRyter]

Don't lug your engine.  That doesn't mean you can't loaf your engine when coasting through town either.  But if you want to gun it or encounter a hill, downshift it.  I'm with Docc, that's the sweet spot but 3k with no load is no problem (not going there with high idle though).

Yeah, I try to redline a warm engine at least once or twice per ride.

Any rider should just "feel it".  I thought he might make a point about using gears to control the bike in a turn.  I like to keep the RPMs up and use mechanical braking and acceleration torque when I ride too.

[cowtownchemist]

Now that I have a working tach I have confirmed that I am a high RPM rider on the V11.  I typically cruise around 5000 rpm, shift around 6000 when accelerating.  I seem to ride my V7 similarly.  I find both bikes respond best in the 5000 - 6000 RPM range.

[Pressureangle]

I have to say I'm generally low-rpm. I adjust RPM and throttle in a matrix of load and speed- if I'm drifting through 35mph traffic, I'm around 2500-3000rpm but at a very light throttle. As MPH goes up, RPM goes up. I loaf but I don't lug. On the other end, I don't think I've ever seen 8k on this engine, I have a psychological limit at 7k. I don't think that last thousand gives me anything extra anyway but stress. 

[LowRyter]

I do both of those things ^^^

[LaGrasta]

I'm such a fan of F9, never missing any of their post.

I've never feared from high RPMs on any bike. On most V11 trips, I cruise about 4000-4500, but have no problem when getting up to speed hitting 7000. 

[audiomick]

The motor tells one whether it is happy or not. I listen to it. It's not hard.

 

Most of the vehicles I have known for any length of time were happy above about halfway up the rev range, changing gears so they can spin up easily, getting revved out periodically, and never, ever being  lugged. The control under the right hand (right foot in a car...) is where the music starts. Give it heaps....

[guzzler]

8 hours ago, cowtownchemist said:

Now that I have a working tach I have confirmed that I am a high RPM rider on the V11.  I typically cruise around 5000 rpm, shift around 6000 when accelerating.  I seem to ride my V7 similarly.  I find both bikes respond best in the 5000 - 6000 RPM range.

Yep, she loves to cruise at 5k....

BUT down here you'll need plenty of cash a Teflon licence and a get outa jail free card for that sort of behavior!

Cheers    

[LowRyter]

1 hour ago, audiomick said:

The motor tells one whether it is happy or not. I listen too it. It's not hard.

 

Most of the vehicles I have known for any length of time were happy above about halfway up the rev range, changing gears so they can spin up easily, getting revved out periodically, and never, ever being  lugged. The control under the right hand (right foot in a car...) is where the music starts. Give it heaps....

Good point, another reason to shift gears is change the soundtrack you're listening to.   Downshift, revt it, back off,,,blap blap blap

[LowRyter]

Here's a good one.  I went over the local Guzzi shop to check out his new store.  I was yakking about a little off idle hick up with the Greenie.  He told me, if you think that's bad he had a LeMans like mine there.

The bike would stumble at 3200 rpms.  No way he could solve it, so he contacted Guzzi tech support.  They said they were aware of the problem and would send him the data.  It read "don't ride the motorcycle as 3200 rpms".

He wasn't joking.