So I went out for a ride tonight...

[bosslady]

I usually shift up at about 4000 and down at 3000 with my GN, but all bets are off if i have to accelerate or decelerate quickly. But I don't think I go beyond 5000 unless I'm in 5th gear. Love it that the GN shows you which gear you're in. That is really helpful for a beginner. The guy I bought the bike from mentioned that it's rear cog is smaller than the usual GNs have. Not sure why they would have changed that and what difference it could make in terms of the revs.

Have you tried going up to 100 km/h yet, bosslady? Mine gets there, eventually, but I've also heard people saying that their GN250s only did up to 90.

Hmm sort of sounds like what I used to do re: your revs. I'm always at 5-6k rpm, never below unless I'm slowing down for something and/or to change gears, sometimes up to 7k-ish rpm. My bike sounded (even more) like a piece of shit when I had the revs as low as you are. Take what I say with a grain of salt though, I've only been riding a few days short of 3 weeks. On the flat 3rd gear at 6000rpm is about 60kmph, but I don't like to rev it anymore than that in which case I'll go to 4th gear at 6000rpm gets me to about 80kmph, about 7000rpm gets me to 90kmph. 5th gear 6000rpm, 100-105kmph.

Honestly I have absolutely no problem getting up to speed quickly, feels like a f*cking dream compared to my cage. I've been 100kmph loads of times in the past week now. Fastest I've been is 120kmph but the bike wasn't too impressed really... I usually fluctuate between 100-110 on the motorway.

Oh and as for what revs you're doing when you change up, personally I'm not sure what mine are, I've just been listening to/feeling my bike and let it tell me when to change... maybe that's not the right way I'm not sure but its what I do...

[bosslady]

Have a squizz here, it's more up to date with what's happening...

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...e-off-the-bike

[Subike]

Oh and as for what revs your doing when you change up, personally I'm not sure what mine are, I've just been listening to/feeling my bike and let it tell me when to change... maybe that's not the right way I'm not sure but its what I do...

that is very much the right way to do it girl. remeber I said last week, to"feel" the bike and it will tell you when it wants to change gear.
See you have found that, and your bike is responding to it happily. Good skill learnt , and now an instinct .

[bosslady]

that is very much the right way to do it girl. remeber I said last week, to"feel" the bike and it will tell you when it wants to change gear.
See you have found that, and your bike is responding to it happily. Good skill learnt , and now an instinct .

I just have so much shit to concentrate on I.e. throttle, clutch, change up, look where I'm going, keep my speed consistent etc. last thing I have time for is to look at the revs lol. Maybe what you said filtered into my subconscious somehow

[FJRider]

The guy I bought the bike from mentioned that it's rear cog is smaller than the usual GNs have. Not sure why they would have changed that and what difference it could make in terms of the revs.

A smaller rear cog fitted gears the bike up. In theory this means the bike goes faster in each of the gears at the same RPM than it would have with a larger rear cog.

What usually happens (with smaller bikes especially) that by being geared up ... it runs out of power sooner (lower revs at the same speed means less power being developed by the engine) and just cant get up to the theoretical new top speed. In perfect conditions ..ie: flat road and tail wind .. it's fine .... but perfect conditions seldom occur. (not in NZ anyway)

A small geared up bike is often suspected of being poked. Stamped on the rear cog is a number of teeth that cog has. (give it a clean and you should see it) Find out what is standard and compare it to what is fitted.
Higher geared means better fuel use figures ... but makes hard work of it on the rider.

Lower geared gives a snappier take off ... and a better spread of power over the useable rev range.

[FJRider]

I just have so much shit to concentrate on I.e. throttle, clutch, change up, look where I'm going, keep my speed consistent etc. last thing I have time for is to look at the revs lol. Maybe what you said filtered into my subconscious somehow

Keep a regular check on the revs at various top gear speeds. The rev counter is just as accurate as your speedo. And you should be able to tell your speed by what gear/revs you are doing.
And what revs/speed ... can tell you what gear you are in. (You may have forgotten you still have a gear left to change up to)

Keep revs consistent ... speed will be too. Your ears will tell you a lot though.

[Grashopper]

Thanks for that explanation FJRider. That sounds like my bike. Will have a look at that cog tomorrow. Yep, it is pretty hart work to get it up to 100, but part of that is probably also my subconsciousness being scared of going that fast

@bosslady: Wow I'm really surprised to hear your GN is so fast.
I'm lucky to have some nice empty roads around. Plenty of time to check revs, if the indicator is still running or any cars are getting too close behind me. Now I'm getting better to shift gears by listening to the sound of the bike as I do with my car, but I found that quite difficult at the beginning as my bike is much noisier than my car

Hey, and is that just the roads here or are your rear mirrors also getting pretty useless when you go faster than ~90? Mine just get blurry and I can hardly see anything in them anymore.

[The End]

Hey, and is that just the roads here or are your rear mirrors also getting pretty useless when you go faster than ~90? Mine just get blurry and I can hardly see anything in them anymore.

That's vibration for ya. Give them a look and see if they are lose. I am assuming like most bikes like the GN they are screw on mirrors. Make sure they are done up tightly. If that doesn't fix it then it could just be that is the resonant frequency of the mirror and there isn't much you can do. Perhaps look at getting some sort of rubber seal between the mirror and bars, should help reduce the vibration.

[bosslady]

Keep a regular check on the revs at various top gear speeds. The rev counter is just as accurate as your speedo. And you should be able to tell your speed by what gear/revs you are doing.
And what revs/speed ... can tell you what gear you are in. (You may have forgotten you still have a gear left to change up to)

Keep revs consistent ... speed will be too. Your ears will tell you a lot though.

Yup you are right and yes at high speed I do check my revs and yea I can tell what gear I'm in by my speed/revs but somehow still paranoid have to look at the Speedo too lol.

Thanks for that explanation FJRider. That sounds like my bike. Will have a look at that cog tomorrow. Yep, it is pretty hart work to get it up to 100, but part of that is probably also my subconsciousness being scared of going that fast

@bosslady: Wow I'm really surprised to hear your GN is so fast.
I'm lucky to have some nice empty roads around. Plenty of time to check revs, if the indicator is still running or any cars are getting too close behind me. Now I'm getting better to shift gears by listening to the sound of the bike as I do with my car, but I found that quite difficult at the beginning as my bike is much noisier than my car

Hey, and is that just the roads here or are your rear mirrors also getting pretty useless when you go faster than ~90? Mine just get blurry and I can hardly see anything in them anymore.

GN? so fast? lol... fast enough, for now. I don't drive a manual so changing to the sound of my bike was a bit of getting used to and I still am. No problem with my mirrors either, I mean sure there's a minute amount of vibration but I can see with them just fine Don't be so scared of going 100. Me, personally, I just said to myself if I wouldn't be afraid of doing that in m car, why am I on the bike? same thing with going over the harbour bridge, I was really nervous about that then had a revelation... when was the last time I heard in the news someone coming off their bike on the bridge? answer is never (not to say it's not happened, but you know) so decided that fear was kind of irrational and I needed to balls up. Besides going faster gets me a nice breeze and it's hot as hell under all that gear!

[unstuck]

when was the last time I heard in the news someone coming off their bike on the bridge?

1984, cb50, pissing down, windy as fuck, too much brake,slid for fuckin ages. And I thought the bridge was still 80kmh.

[nzspokes]

A smaller rear cog fitted gears the bike up. In theory this means the bike goes faster in each of the gears at the same RPM than it would have with a larger rear cog.

You've got that backwards, smaller rear sprocket will give lower revs for the same speed and slower acceleration.

[Katman]

You've got that backwards, smaller rear sprocket will give lower revs for the same speed and slower acceleration.

That's what he said.

[SNF]

After a while you'll get used to not looking at the gear indicator and know what gear your in by the revs. I know if I'm going 80 k's at 8000 rpm I'm in 6th, at 100 it'll be at 10,000 in 5th maybe 12,000. This will be different on GN's (5 or 6000 rpm). But I agree when you start off its good to have a gear indicator.

[pritch]

You've got that backwards,

I'm accustomed to seeing wildly divergent opinions on KB but...

Let's not confuse the ladies.

[FJRider]

That's what he said.

Thank you.