I ride with high enough rpm's in traffic so I can take advantage of the powerband and quickly accelerate out of troubles way if it were to creep up. Same with the interstate. When I'm on a lonely rode or highway, I chill to save gas. The sound is conducive to relaxation as well.

 

In town 3 - 5 k. Track and Otherwise up to 15.5k on a modded and the std 14.2k on the others as climbing through the gears. Fueling has been changed to match. The last stock motor with an air filter and pipe but no power commander made 35k miles before suspected bearing wear took it out of service (still ran fine with minor noise intermittently after hot and parked when you restarted it). Stock there is a dead spot around 2200-2500 and with mods it becomes terrible without tuning. As the engines wear lugging especially with two riders below 3k isn't advisable. I knocked the rod bearings out of one with 33k miles by flat out adding too much fuel and nitrous at the end of a hard life. They live about 35k or so when you spin the engine at full speed about half the time as long as they are serviced regularly with quality parts and oil. Drive them like a passenger car and they make many more miles. The commuter that never gets above 7k on the interstate and shifted like granny is at 80k and counting (bone stock accept an air filter).

 

These RPM ranges are a lot lower than I would have expected people to be using. When I got my f4i I was riding it around between 4 and 6 in town and between 7 and 8 on the freeway. The bike seems happy enough in this range and it's right in the powerband which is where I'd like to be (ideally) all the time for acceleration and engine braking's sake. However, after getting through several tanks of gas fairly quickly I decided to do an experiment and keep the revs a bit lower. Not enough data to determine an increase/ decrease in MPG yet. By the beginning of next week when I've had a chance to do some weekend riding I'll know.

For a bike that redlines at 14k or thereabouts I'm surprised that people are experiencing problems from keeping well under RL.

 

Just getting to this thread years later... I am a bit baffled why all of these individuals bought a racing motorcycle that redlines at 15k+ only to ride it around at 3 or 4k. The bike has almost no power at this level. If you don't want your bike to rev, go buy a big v-twin -- at least then you'll have some power. If you don't care about power, go buy a smaller bike that is cheaper and gets better fuel economy. 8k RPM being monstrously high... BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Couldn't agree with you more on this. When I cruise at 60 mph in o/d on my first generation magna, I am revving at 4000- 4500 rpms. I certainly rev it higher when I'm driving in town, and I certainly haven't considered that I'm shortening the life of my engine. 4 cylinder engines are made to rev folks.

 

Run it like you stole it!
My F4i is still strong and has (I'd have to check for sure) 34k on the clock... At last valve check, all was in order.

I've purposely run it on the rev limiter many times. And I've also had -1 +2 gearing setup. I went back to stock to reclaim the top end speed, but geesh guys...it's a Honda Sportbike. It'll take it just fine. In fact, you do more damage by babying it. If you get oil blowby you'll know that's from babying the engine too much.

All things wear over time and use. But seriously, sounds like some of you need to get a Vespa.

BTW- My belongings last a LONG time. I don't abuse them but use them properly. I'm driving a 12 year old BMW with 290,000 on the odometer. I have a pair of dress shoes in my closet from 1993, so I know how to take care of my things.

 

Its good you feel all high and mighty with your opinion, but the simple fact is the engine will pull low and high rpm with no problem, and anything in that range is perfectly acceptable. Just because people cruise at low RPM doesn't mean they want a Vtwin, it means we aren't wasting fuel and engine wear revving uselessly like all the squids who want to make noise. I'm in 6th gear by 45-50mph unless I'm at the track, then I'm at 10-14k rpm all day long. Either way is perfectly correct useage, and either one is massively faster to speed then most cars.

That's just plain not true. CBR 4 cylinders are made to rev sure. All 4 cylinders? Not even close. I know of several with 400rpm redlines. Yes four hundred.

 

Oceanliner engines?

 

ding ding ding!!!!!!!! Those things are crazy huge.....