Ok, been seeing a lot of videos of cbr 1000s, you know fantasizing and what not lol, but one thing i notice is that the riders never shift up gear till there near the red zone in the rpm meter??? how is that? is that because those are newer modeled bikes or do they have customizations?

 

I'm not sure I quite understand. lol..
All the power is up in the higher RPMs if that helps any.

 

ok when i ride my motorcycle i shift up when i hear the engine getting loud basically, so i go 1st gear up to 1k rpm, then 2nd then from 2-3 at 2/3k rpm, and so on and so on so i've noticed on my bike that the rpms basically match the gear i'm in until i reach 6th then im on that one from 6k rpm and up, but on the videos it's like they override the engine or whatever you want to call it lol and they're at 10k rpm in like 4-5th gear im guessing and they're shifting like its nothing... that's the part i don't get, if i can find the video on youtube i'll post the link if you still don't understand.

 

ok i found this one, notice how he's not shifting till he's at about 10k rpm but i'm assuming he's in 4/5th gear.. how is the bike not overheating or w.e. it is that's supposed to happen!!

 

Um there's a reason you have a redline. Your engine should be fine as long as you stay below it. Seeing as your posting in the F2 forum ill assume you have a 600. All the power on a 600 is made over 6000 rpm. By shifting when you do your loosing out on all you power. Even when I'm just out for a cruise I don't shift until at least 6k until I hit highway speeds, then I'll kick it to 6th to save on gas. If you search the forum you'll find plenty of debates on shifting but generally speaking with a high rev engine like a 600 it's considered not good to shift at to low of an RPM.

 

They just showing you their power....one a normal street riding with cop around the next corner, you don't need to...but shifting at 3rpm is a bit safe. Like if you are riding a passenger....We are not riding HD...though i dont ride a 1k..I shift about 5-6rpm when gunning into exceleration.

 

first, the physics and behavior of an engine/transmission for motorcycles is exactly the same as every other automobile -- so if you are able to find some other resource not specifically designed for motorcycles which better answers your question, then the principle will still apply. in fact, the same principle applies to a 10-speed bicycle (where YOU are the engine).

hopefully you can get an idea from this: here is a chart with a typical power curve, showing you the horsepower an engine puts out at each RPM. you can clearly see how power builds as the the RPM rises, and see that there is far more power available at higher RPMs.

you can see that if you are shifting at 1 or 2k RPM, you are getting barely any horsepower out of the engine (i don't see how you shift at 1 anyway, it should idle higher than that.)

the geared transmission is simply a means of coordinating the speed of the engine with the speed of the rear wheel, each to match a particular speed and purpose -- you don't cruise the interstate in 1st and you don't start from the light in 6th; each gear is designed to maximize the engine potential at specific speeds.

as for the videos using the upper end, that should now be apparent: they are using the higher power available at those RPMs. in general street cruising, i expect you would typically shift somewhere between 3-6k rpm in EVERY gear.

note, in case there was ever some confusion: the number of the gear has NO indication for the RPM at which you should shift (ex: being in 3rd gear does NOT mean you should shift at 3k rpm.)

 

In your video, honestly, he didn't "have" to shift where he did. There was a time or two where he was holding the bike at near redline simply cause he had other stuff going on: traffic, road issues, and he was doing 140mph. At 140mph while trying to navigate stuff situationally, you might not worry about shifitng up and down. It's kinda like when you're looking for a house you've never been to and you turn the radio down in your car, even though it really has no bearing on you being able to read the house numbers. You do things in situations that prioritize you on the most important tasks.

but - as Reger8ted said - 600's don't make power til 6K - then they pull to redline quickly if you're 3/4 - WOT. Literbikes pull even harder in the big RPM range. You don't have a lot of time to shift before the needle sweeps past 10K when you're getting on it hard.

I try to keep my bike in the 4000-5000rpm range in 3rd or maybe 4th when just cruising around town. That's where I've still got enough power to get out of a situation if I need to accelerate, and have good engine braking to help me stop quicker if I need to hop on the brakes. It also keeps my exhaust note loud but not obnoxious (to me and other drivers), so it keeps the po-po less interested in me. I had a buddy take my bike up the road from my house to a point a half mile away, turn around and pull hard through 4th gear on the way back to my house. I could hear him all the way, clear as day, even when he was pulling the U-turn. Cops don't seem to care about hearing Harleys pulling away from lights fast and loud, but the sound of a wound up sportbike makes their ears ***** up like a cat hearing the can opener.

 

hadn't thought about it b4, but it's funny because it's true.

 

I'm not sure on the exact RPM but I have been told that the F2 won't start charging the battery until past a certain RPM (guessing about 4000-6000). I don't worry about it since I ride well past that (The F2 starts to really get going only past 8000rpm).
This has been discussed mostly in threads about storing the bike over the winter where some riders thought it was a good idea to turn the bike on every few weeks and just let it idle in the garage.... ended up with a dead battery if I recall correctly since idling the bike (usually just below 1500 rpm) doesn't charge the battery. The point of all this is that you may NEED to rev your bike higher when riding to avoid killing the battery.

You won't overheat your bike if you keep the RPM below the redline AND are moving air over the radiator (ie. don't rev to redline while sitting still). Assuming your bike is in basic working order.

PS. how are you shifting out of first at 1k rpm? If this is the performance level you are used to on your cbr 600 please be extremely cautious/careful when you actually use the engine/power these bikes have if/when you follow the above advice to shift at higher rpm. You may be more than a little surprised and you don't want to rear end someone.