On my morning commutes I find myself doing 80-90 in 4th gear for most of my 20 mile ride. The only reason I try to keep the rpms high is cause the bike is more responsive than it would otherwise be if I were in 5th or 6th gear. I do try to pull it up to 5th but then the traffic slows down & I have to keep it in the power band.

The question is am I being too abusive to my bike. I've been told that it's bad to ride in lower gears for long periods of time but I disagree. What do u guys think ?

Thanks
Ashish Hareet

 

I ride at 5 or 6 all the time, these engines are designed for higher rpms. But when I get on the highway, i shift all the way up to 6th.

 

yeah, just hurts your gas mileage man. on the highway I'm always in 6th no matter what speed if im just rollin with traffic.

 

yeah i just cruise it at 6th... won't exactly be needing the power unless an emergency pops up which most likely will require swerving, not power. but if u do need power, could always downshift to 4th, or if you want, downshift without the squeezing the clutch... if it's an emergency, go for it.

 

same here

unless there are no cars around me, i'm always in high revs.

 

no you're NOT abusing your bike...you're abusing it if you ride it around 5K all the time.
you're not even close to redline...you're just in the powerband...all good.