I need some help, thank u!

[YourGraveDigger83]

Ok to start out, I have owned a Harley Sportster 883 for the last 7 years. Well I sold it last week and got a Suzuki Bandit 600S. I am having a problem with shifting this new bike. I have never owned a sports bike, well I had a 600 Ninja as my first bike, but it was in horrible condition, barely ran, didn't shift properly and was a (POS) so i can not use that as a means of looking back to fig our this problem. My Hearly didn't have a RPM gauge so I had to go off engine sound. When I would hear the RPMs get high I would switch and you could tell the bikes RPM get significantly lower. Well my new bike has a RPM gauge and I have caught myself looking at the RPMS a lot.

When I am in first I switch between 5 to 7k RMP, from first to second I don't see a huge drop in RPM. It will drop to like 4k. Each gear after that doesn't seem to drop in RMP hardly at all. Am i shifting the bike wrong? At first I thought I was miss shifting, but found out I was not. I know I am dealing with a different monster and maybe I am just looking to much into it. The bike rides extremely smooth, shifts smooths, but it seems like the RPM is high. I can go to 9.5 basically before it red-lines. Can anyone help me with with what I'm doing wrong. Now I will say the gentleman I got the bike off of put after-marker pikes that are louder (it sounds amazing). This could be my problem but i don't know!

thx everyone!

 

[thunderous71]

Your find the Bandit is a forgiving beast, after a while your ignore the rpm gauge again and shift as required. Your also find it has a bit of a dead spot from 5-7k in some gears but that's normal its so you can ride in traffic at a comfortable speed commuting and cain it like a sports bike at the higher end.

 

[Wilks89]

That I-4 engine is completely different motor than the V-Twin you are used to. The I-4 really doesnt start making power until about 7K or above. Also, most 600cc I-4s transmissions are going to be a close ratio gearing, so you are not going to see that huge fall in RPMs over the course of the gear changes.

To me, it sounds like you are doing everything right, it is just something you are going to have to get used to. My Yamaha FZ6 used to love being up in the higher end of the rev range, and I am figuring, as with most sport bike motors, you should around 5K or so at 65-70mph.

 

[Trinith]

Wilks nailed it. Sportbikes have close-ratio transmissions. Both of the VFRs I've owned, and every sportbike I've ever ridden have had the same basic characteristics for the transmission. There's usually a 2k or so drop in RPM, more for bigger motors, less for smaller ones. The ratios revolve around how much torque the motor makes. A big V-twin like a harley motor makes a shitload of torque, and therefore gets a wider spread on the gears. They can handle that much of a drop. A smaller motor doesn't make much torque at all, so they have to use closer ratios to keep the gear shifts within the optimum power band (when the rider is hooning the hell out of the bike.)

As for where to shift, if you're looking to get better gas mileage you want to shift as soon as possible without causing the motor to lug too badly in the following gear. If you're trying to set a new land-speed record, wait till just before the redline, maybe 2-300rpm before you get there. Actually hitting the limiter isn't good, and there's generally a drop in the dyno charts before the rev limiter kicks in. Those two extremes aside, fewer RPM is better for the motor, but you can shift whenever you want. I personally try to keep mine under 6k more often than not. It gets buzzy, noisy, and the gas mileage goes to shit over that.

 

[YourGraveDigger83]

Thank you everyone, this is helping me a lot! This is something Im just going to have to put miles under my belt to get used to. Thank you all again!!!