cruising rpm

[bob duke]

whats a safe cruising rpm for the boxer on the highway?

usually i am at 5000-5500rpm  at the highway  and maybe hit 6000 once in a while only for overtaking.

 

I am used to 4cylinder bikes, but if that rpm stress the boxer i will slow down a bit.t.Love my 1100rt and taking care of it.

 

 

[dirtrider]

31 minutes ago, bob duke said:

whats a safe cruising rpm for the boxer on the highway?

usually i am at 5000-5500rpm  at the highway  and maybe hit 6000 once in a while only for overtaking.

 

I am used to 4cylinder bikes, but if that rpm stress the boxer i will slow down a bit.t.Love my 1100rt and taking care of it.

 

 

Afternoon Bob  

 

The BMW boxer is a rather large piston, short pushrod, conventional bearing,  very durable engine. 

 

It is neither a high revver or a good low RPM lugger so the sweet spot seems to be in the 3000-6000 RPM area.  

 

Some running at over 6000 sure won't hurt it (probably better for it than trying to lug along at 1500 RPM in too high of a gear. 

 

Riders have been abusing the BMW boxer for many years now & seldom if ever do you hear of a Boxer engine failure that isn't due to neglect, mistreatment, long (improper) storage, or bad workmanship during service. 

[Paul De]

For sure much below 3,000 RPM and you will note the R1100 boxer will lug.  I will say with a light load and moderate speeds (tooling around) 2,500 is OK, but this motor is happiest at 3,000 RPM and up.  I think max torque is around 5,500 RPM, so the heart of the sweet spot would be in the 3-6 K range DR spoke of.  Throttle body synchronization should be spot on particularly in the 4,000 to 5,000 RPM range for a no/low beemer buz ride at highway speed.  I recently took my  R1100RT for a 5 hour jaunt where I wanted to get to Point B fast, so I super slabbed it to that location at 75-85 MPH and that old boy happily spent hours above 4,000 RPM, no harm, no foul and thankfully no tickets.

[Highway41]

Cruising for me is best  a little over 4K rpm, around 80 mph.  That is when the spark advance and valve timing/opening are at optimum and both plugs firing.  And the wind is bordering on intrusive.  And the exhaust note best.  And most cops give you a pass.