QuestionHi pat I really need your help on this one. Well I been riding on a 250 moving to a 600 yamaha r6 09. Then I saw one of your answer about shifting. My question is when you shift at 2th gears at 25 mph how come it sound like you are working the bike to hard?Is this normal . Well can you also show me the down shift point too. Thank you.
AnswerThe important thing is to shift where you're most comfortable shifting. My recommendations for when to upshift and downshift are just generalities ... every rider and every bike is different.
It sounds as if you're working the bike hard because you are. And working an R6 engine hard is not necessarily a bad thing ... as long as you have the skills to control it.
An R6 is for all practical purposes an inline-four race bike with a license plate. Inline fours like to be revved. They're smoothest and make their best power when they're up in the 8,000-12,000 rpm range.
Rarely, though, is it wise to be running an R6 up to 12,000+ rpm, in any gear, on the street.
So, starting with my other recommendations for shifting in mind, here's how I'd shift an R6 (or 600RR or ZX6 or Gixxer 600) on the street:
1st gear 0-20 mph
2nd gear 20-40 mph, downshift at 10
3rd gear 40-60 mph, downshift at 30
4th gear 60-80 mph, downshift at 50
5th gear 80+, downshift at 70
6th gear overdrive, only use for highway travel
This won't even get you close to operating the bike in the rpms that it wants to run, but it's a sane enough place to start on the street with your new R6.
Racers on a closed course (track), for example, would probably use something more like this:
1st gear 0-30 mph
2nd gear 30-60 mph, downshift at 25
3rd gear 60-90 mph, downshift at 55
4th gear 90-120 mph, downshift at 85
5th gear 120-150, downshift at 115
6th gear 150+, downshift at 145
At any rate, the bike can handle it. It's meant to. But DON'T do it on the street. When you decide you want to open it up, sign up for a track day.
Have fun and ride safely!
Pat
