Topic: Tach and Shifting? what do you shift at??? CB550

[L.A. Nomad........]

Even though my tach stop working a while ago, I'm curious at what RPM do you guys shift at?? I'm always gunning it, but I seem to always over shift at 4th or 5th gear. It's that old 2-stroke habit.... And what did Honda recommended ?

Nomad......

[bryanj]

The  original Honda handbook I think said "dont rev out of the top of the red" or something like that

[Sam Green Racing]

The bike makes 50bhp at 8,500 rpm, so dont rev it past that figure.

[Uncle Ernie]

If I'm just putsing around, I shift anywhere from 5 to 6K. If I need to keep the revs up in the twisties. I'll shift around 6 to 7K so I'll have a little room to accelerate.

[smithrelo]

I asked the same question on a couple of different forums and I have a 550.  It was recommended in heavy traffic, or when going through intersections:   keep the rpms up above 4k as you need some umph to keep from being road kill - due to duffus's (duffie??) who change lanes without looking or (god forbid) blow through a red light withouth noticing you!!!

So, I tend to keep it in 3rd gear, under 40 mph, which is about 3800 rpm, while tooling through 30-40 mph typical traffic I get.  Hope that helps.

Linda in Colorado

[Mikeshonda750F]

Heh all depends.. If a punk on a HD comes rollin up next to me at a traffic light, cracking the throttle on his overly noisy machine.. i'll burn him off the light and shift around 9KRPM... By time i grab 2nd hes allready in 4th and im 1/2mile ahead.

Seriously though.. if im just putsing around i'll keep the R's below 5K... but if im out havin fun or flyin through the twisties... 7-8kRPM.