Hoe many revs?????

[Leevis]

I have an 03 R1150RT which is having a few problemos at the moment.

 

One question i have and would be very interested in peoples opinions of.

 

It all revolves around idle speed. My normal day involves travelling on a motorway (i am in the UK) and also filtering through the complete nightmare which is central london.

 

Is there a definitive list of how many revs i should be using per gear?? for example i have heard that the RTs work better way above the 3000 range, is this true?

 

When should i be changing gear to get the smoothest possible ride.

 

Just interested in peoples opinions. Obviously i start in 1st gear but generally get it to 3000 revs and then change down to 2nd, 3000 then to 3rd etc etc. Should this be 4000??

 

Lee

[Jeepster]

I usually find that my bike likes to cruise at 3500 to 4000 range.

And run up to 5000 or 6000 to shift. Coming off of a Harley this was very hard for me to adjust to.

But the boxer seems to like to stretch it's legs.

[Leevis]

Would this be ok in 1st gear? The reason i ask is that in traffic i can bearly go over 20mph. Should i be revving it loads and using the clutch to slow? Just that i get a bumpy ride in 1st

[Boffin]

Hi and welcome to the board

 

I find 2nd best for filtering, 1st is just too jerky. Once in open traffic I change up at 4-5K revs unless I am 'making progress' when the rev-limiter has been known to come into its own.

 

Sedate cruising whilst touring, I normaly sit at about 3K. I was taught that in traffic the bike should be kept at mid-RPM so you can both accelerate or decelerate with the throttle.

 

Andy

[Leevis]

My daily travelling is predominandtly filtering so i will try to do the 2nd gear thing in use more rev action. Thanks for the tips. I have previously been riding it like a car ie trying to keep the revs as low as poss and getting it into a higher gear as quick as possible to make it smoother. Sounds to me like the RT dont like that too much

[IRPUK]

I would agree with Boffin , 2nd is best for UK city filtering (also works well on the M1 at busy times). Smoother and easier and in addition you don't have to up and down so much through the box.

[Jeron]

What does "filtering" mean in this context? heavy traffic?

[jasonTDI]

lane splitting, pretty sure.

[Boffin]

lane splitting, pretty sure.

 

Yes, especially moving to the front of traffic queues at lights. Or passing stalled traffic on two-lane roads between your lane and the oncoming traffic lane.

 

Most cars pull over in the lane to let you through, sometimes I find my self passing traffic because the cars are running so close to the edge of the lane/road that it would seem ungrateful not to pass.

 

Andy

[Haynes]

What does "filtering" mean .... ?

 

My understanding:

Filtering is riding between lanes of traffic that is stopped at lights etc.

Lane splitting is riding between lanes of moving traffic.

 

I have an 03 R1150RT..... When should i be changing gear to get the smoothest possible ride. ... Lee

 

I never run the bike under 3000rpm unless momentarily in either first or second gear. Mostly I cruise on around 3000-3500rpm. The bike sings beautifully at 4000+rpm.

[Leevis]

Theres definatley something not quite right with my bike. Apparently there are these outstanding recalls which i hope to get done at some point in the near future (just waiting for the dealer to give me a date).

Here is a quick list of my issues:

1) Runs terrible, no smoothness at all, I feel like i am constantly getting it up to 5th REALLY quick to get a smooth ride and even then it seems to be calling for 6th.

2) Bike feels as if it is towing something

3) Most of my riding is in traffic, i cant seem to find a good medium in gears/revs

4) Idle speed varies between 1100 and 1500 depending on how hot the engine is getting/distance travelled

5) I reckon its vibrating a lot more that it did

 

To be honest, i dont know whether i have given up on the bike. I would like to persevere with it as there are not that many alternatives (other that a scooter)

When it goes in to get the recalls i am going to request a test ride and to have it plugged in to see what it wrong with it.

Anyone ever had any of the above issues and resolved them??

Lee

[ElevenFifty]

Details about the bike ... year, miles, model? How long have you owned it? Has it ever run okay for you?

[Leevis]

OOps soz

Its an R1150RT

02 REG but it is an 03 Twin Spark

I bought it at 7K miles and it has now done 30K miles

Ran OK when i got it, had an alternator belt snap and pretty much since then i have noticed probs but they might have already been there. I have owned it about 2 years or so.

Lee

[Boffin]

Sounds like either

a) a dodgy primary plug coil. The twinspark engine has three coils, one twin-output standard type for the lower secondary plugs and two coil-on-plug types for the primary plugs. With the bike idling, disconect the flat LT connector from the primary plug coils one at a time. If one of them makes no difference to idle then it is dead. If so, James Sherlock sells them at £55 a side.

 

or

b) a poorly performed Throttle body sync.

 

Andy

[Leevis]

My Dad (who does my servicing) has done the throttle bodies and reckons that they are OK, i will mention the coils though. Could that be likely to cause all of my issues?