Keep Your Revs Up!!!

[barryh]

There is a time and place to use the revs but In my opinion the whole lugging thing tends to be a little overdone. In any case generalisations about lugging cannot be made across all models of airhead which have different flywheels and different torque outputs.

I find anything from 2000rpm upwards is fine as long as the throttle is used with some sensitivity. The engine will tell you when it's being lugged for the simple reason that lugging is what we feel when there are cyclic variations in the crankshaft rotational speed. Every revolution the crankshaft speeds up and slows down in between each cylinder firing with only the flywheel inertia to even out the power strokes. This perception of lugging at any particular engine revolutions is therefore directly related to the engine load (the crankshaft will slow down more between power strokes under heavy load) and the mass of the flywheel. So an engine with a heavy flywheel may not feel it's being lugged at the same revs as one with a lighter flywheel.

[Primate]

A little update since learning about high RPMs:

My commute is about 20 miles, mostly freeway with some lane splitting. Before, when I'd keep the RPMs down, I found the bike would need a couple cranks to start up for the trip back home. Now that I keep the RPMs up, in fact never using 5th gear, it starts up much easier at the end of the day.

So there, you all have given me some great advice here, thanks!

[Deleted User 62]

Yep, higher revs means; better charging, higher oil pressure and more horsepower. What's not to like?!

[chasbmw]

Too high RPMs for road conditions and traffic is wasteful.

[Duane Ausherman]

For this issue, one only needs to know one voltage, the charge voltage. If a cell is bad, it will still show up. The only way that we found for 14 volts to be enough is if the owner only does long rides. For most of our customers we would adjust it to 14.2 VDC.

The mechanical regulators can be adjusted, but it is a pain and so we made a special set up to do it. Then it was easy. While I don't have experience with the newer sold state regulators, I would want one of the adjustable types and set it for 14.2 at first. Keep an eye on the fluid level, as you could boil the acid out too quickly if the voltage is higher than needed.

For our commuter we would set them as high as 14.3 and then suggest higher rpm too for those 3-4 mile commutes.

When checking the charge voltage, make sure that you have the probes on the battery terminal, not on the lug connected to the terminal.

[boxer54]

Hello all,
I have been away from computers and on the bike as much as possible but as the weather really begins to kick in here on the South Coast of UK I thought I'd update my post.

I'm new to internet forums and as a result my initial post slipped my mind.

The problem I was having with the difficulty starting issue was solved with a new key ignition loom. After taking the tank off the bike to start at the basic 'probable' electrical gremlins I was able to see the black casing around the ignition key wires was melted (by who knows what?) along with the wire casings themselves, thus exposing the wires to the elements and I guess causing it to short. I bought a new wire loom, fitted and no more starting issues.

I was a bit gutted I'd bought a new battery, that being said, on the very cold days she cranks and cranks til she sparks into life now.

Thanks for all the encouraging words and what a fine forum this is....I'm off to start another post about bad idling at low speeds/ low revs and misfiring on the up despite a recent re-tune and carb balance....Happy New Year folks

[Duane Ausherman]

Hurry up and get those issues posted. We need food.

You said, "Thanks for all the encouraging words and what a fine forum this is.."

We try to be nice to new people. As soon as we become comfortable with you, things will change. We, each of us, has our own specialty. Some degrade the thread, some add in related, but useless facts/opinions, some seem to be on drugs and go off on totally unrelated topics and I just tell people to align the forks and remove the crashbars.

[Ken in Oklahoma]

. . . We try to be nice to new people. As soon as we become comfortable with you, things will change. We, each of us, has our own specialty. Some degrade the thread, some add in related, but useless facts/opinions, some seem to be on drugs and go off on totally unrelated topics and I just tell people to align the forks and remove the crashbars.

Well, you do do a few other things Duane. You tell us our money is no good, our government is no good, and to check on the internet for answers to our Beemer problems. And yet, despite those things, we still love you.

It's that trollop Diane that we want nothing to do with. Patooey! Bleck! Yuk! Barf!

Ken

[SteveD]

... We, each of us, has our own specialty. Some degrade the thread, some add in related, but useless facts/opinions, some seem to be on drugs and go off on totally unrelated topics and I just tell people to align the forks and remove the crashbars.

That's funny and made me laugh. Does that really happen here
I was wondering how the wires might have melted, maybe some weird poltergeist that was trying to get out of the wiring? The op is in England...maybe his mono was parked adjacent to a Triumph with Lucas wiring and they canoodled?

[Duane Ausherman]

"maybe his mono was parked adjacent to a Triumph with Lucas wiring and they canoodled?"

LOL, thanks for putting a smile on my face.