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Should I feel guilty above 4K rpm?

15K views 31 replies 19 participants last post by  frostbitevinnie 
#1 ·
made a quick run home today,about 100 miles mostly above 4-4500 rpm on the highway.
Is that too much for that far?
I felt a little bad...
 
#3 ·
"Felt bad," WHY?

You''re WAY under redline rpm, and you're riding a 4-valves-per-cylinder engine with a low-mass shim-and-bucket valvetrain . . . your engine LIKES high-rpm operation!

You're not about to hurt anything at higher rpm; AFAIK, the KLR650 engine has no rpm limiter, as do some more highly-stressed engines. To me, this absence of any rpm limiter means the KLR engineers realized, the intake/exhaust system of the KLR650 will not permit damaging high-rpm excursions; thus, no electric rpm limiter is needed.

Keep 'er below redline, and . . . "Don't worry, be happy!" :)
 
#6 ·
I think that PDwestman identified the KLR valve train as being much the same as a KZ1000.
Those were good for 10,000 RPM stock so unlikely a problem. FWIW, my slightly modified KLR will spin up over 9,000 RPM in 3rd and 4th gear.

I've done it several times merging onto the freeway and it's still pulling. The tach checks out with two of my test tachs & the RPM matches road speed in gears. Compare the KLR's RPM range with a small block Chevy such as 327 or 350, which have a similar bore/stroke and consider low RPM. It will be seen, I suggest, that the KLR engine isn't the low RPM thumper which people claim. It actually doesn't pull worth spit in the low RPM range useful in automotive V8's of similar bore/stroke. It will hardly run at 500 RPM and isn't useful below 1,000 RPM where a V8 will putter along.

Keep good oil in it (enough good oil) and ride it the way you need to to get the job done. It will likely handle it without affecting the engine life at all.
 
#15 ·
It will be seen, I suggest, that the KLR engine isn't the low RPM thumper which people claim. It actually doesn't pull worth spit in the low RPM range
I have to differ on this one, my daughter's ninja does not start to pull until 8000+rpms and forget moving that thing anywhere under 3000 rpms, meanwhile I am pulling over rocks between 2000-3000 rpms. I suspect the thumper is in comparison to other bikes and not the torque of a v-8, which is my second love.

I rode next to a boss hoss a couple weeks back and it had a v-8 with only two gears: (1) fast and (2) get-out-of-my-way fast, but that is a rarity for a comparsion of thumpers



 
#8 ·
They'll rev way higher than that no problems :).
Though if you are running it in the 5000 and up range I would keep an eye on your oil level, that seems to be the rpm that some bikes drink oil at. My 08 doesn't touch oil at 4500 rpm but when I get on a long trip at 5000+ it will go down a bit.
 
#10 ·
4K seems to be where my bike is happiest. But I'll do 5K for hours on the slab. As mentioned, check the oil if it's a Gen2. Other than that, have fun. :)
 
#11 ·
I'm not questioning them, but these answers on this forum actually surprise me and beg the question "Why do people change their sprockets in order to drop their rpm's by, say, 500 at a cruising speed of 75mph?

I mean, what's the max rpm one could reach in 5th gear on a highway at top speed? 6K maybe before the thing just wouldn't go any faster? That's still 1500 rpm's away from redline.

If redline is 7500, why worry about whether you're running at 5000 or 5600 rpms on the highway? Is there some magical number somewhere above 5K rpm's where oil consumption is known to increase dramatically?

If so, could one not argue that it's "bad" to operate a KLR at higher rpm's even though you're not close to redline?

I always understood people did sprocket swaps to limit oil consumption rather than trying to gain higher mpg's.
 
#12 ·
I was like minded when I got the bike, kept it low RPMs mostly, but decided to play with higher RPMs. I like 4.5 and will spike it up to 6ish having fun but I havn't had the need to go anywhere close to the redline. It pulls real nice 4 to 5K I find. I am little OCD about the oil I check it before and after every ride, keeping it full when needed.

Crash
 
#17 ·
I guess it's an issue I can ignore. Mine turns about 5100-5200 rpm's at 75mph indicated and that's about as fast as I ever go. I've never checked it with a GPS, but based on traffic observations, I don't think my speedometer is off a huge amount. I would say 75 on the speedometer is about 70mph or so real speed. My front tire is only rated to 75mph so I don't press my luck.
 
#22 · (Edited)
OCD is the guy who carried a graduated cylinder on a road trip and drained the oil at ever fuel stop to insure that it was exactly full to the service manual volume.

For an interesting twist on oil level, PDWestman posted that the crankshaft orientation has an effect on oil level. If the crank oil passage is pointed down, the crank and oil gallery will drain so the level will be higher. If the crank is up, there will be an ounce or so (one should look for his post because my recollection is not accurate) will remain in the crankshaft and oil gallery.

Is this significant? IMO, no!
Is it an interesting twist? Yes. Fun to maybe plague an OCD buddy? Absolutely. :stickpoke::stickpoke:

I check oil level at every stop or feel foolish for not having done so. It only takes a few seconds to level the bike with one hand and look so compared with the consequences.....

FWIW, I hope that I didn't give the impression that I thought Paul's work on oil flows wasn't important because that would be the complete opposite to my views. I'd recommend that anyone with a technical interest in engines might enjoy and learn from following the discussions around his threads. No way Paul will ever buy his own pie & coffee if I'm present!
 
#28 ·
You know, I missed that. And I've been the guy swearing to god that the oil was at the top of the glass til he moved it, wondering how the heck... Thank you. The crankshaft position makes sense. I'm not crazy.

That's not true. :)
 
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#24 ·
KLRogu,
You are not riding a 'long-stroke' Matchless or Velocette.

Let'er Rev up a bit, you will both be happy. I find any thing between 2500-6500 RPM entertaining, depending on the road surface. ;)
 
#26 ·
Let that sucker spin!

The fun starts at 4,000 rpms.
One previous question: "Why use a larger front sprocket?"
The buzzy vibes come in right at highway rpms (60-65 mph) so
many riders drop the rpms 500 or more at that speed they ride often.

As far as the high rpms hurting the engine, if I can't kill it, no one can.
I have gotten to, and held the bike in the 90's doing around 6,000+ r's for miles
on end. '09 and runs like new. I beat the total crap out of the thing with wheelies,
panic stops, full throttle acceleration in all gears, a massive burnout before a tire
change, etc. The bike can handle it without breaking a sweat.

Luckily I got one of the "good" cylinder liners. Not a burner.
 
#27 ·
I run 16/42 and its right in the sweet spot for Torque and cruising speed rpm .... just yesterday did a cruise up the tallest hill in our area and it pulled 5th at 100kph all the way up.... like everyone has said the motor wants to rev so let it ..... mines a 91 tengai and it doesnt use oil at all .... and im doing 300km a day on it ....

Clint
 
#31 ·
Oil thread... ...oh, what the... >:)

The KLR "likes" 3500 to 4200 rpm. IMHO.

However, punching it up to 5200 hasn't seemed to hurt anything. ...and apparently, from testament here, higher is ok too.

For a period of time, I was using a lot of oil. Couldn't discover from where, until I dropped the bash plate at end of season. Was coming from the water pump. Fortunately, no water in the crank case. Rebuilt the water pump and all is ok. So, check your oil often even if you don't think you need to, and if you are using oil, determine the cause.

I use more oil off road than on road. That seems to make sense with some people saying that more oil is being used at higher rpm because, given similar conditions, I tend to be in one lower gear off road than I would be on road and am likely to be higher to a lot higher in the rpm ranges. Too easy, for me, particularly in hilly and forested terrain, to get bogged down and lug the thing at lower rpm.
 
#32 ·
My shift lever broke this summer on the trail and I had to ride dirt roads, nice ones, in second gear at 5500-6000 rpm for 30 miles at 50-60 mph to get back to town. I was worried that the bike would over heat and blow up or something. It did NOT over heat and stayed in the normal range the entire time. As a matter of fact I would say at this rpm the bike was very smooth running. A buddy was with me on his dr 650 and we had filled up at the same time that morning. When I got the lever welded back up we both went to fill up as his dr does not have the fuel capacity as the klr. In 70 miles or riding I put in 1.2 gal. of fuel and he put in 1.4 gal. of fuel. I was shocked as I had gotten better mpg at a much higher rpm in 2nd gear than he did in 5th gear. This convinced me that the KLR is superior to the dr in so many ways I had not thought.
 
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