If this has been covered before, I apologize. I had a friend ask me when he should shift gears, he just got a late model 883. I told him that I do it by feel and sound, but said I would look it up in my owners manual. I was surprised to see that the recommendations seemed really low. Shifting from 4th to 5th at 45 mph is really slow. If I did that on my 1200, I would be lugging my engine like crazy. Im shifting into 5th around 65. Anyway, the upshifting and downshifting numbers seemed really off to me. Any thoughts?

Ride safe and have fun

 

hands down, best piece of advice i've gotten on this site... wrap a bandana over your speedo for a week - i don't even look at mine anymore

and if he's knew, like me... every once in awhile you will push a diff gear a little harder than you have before and realize your not hurting anything and it actually sounds and performs better in that higher RPM range

 

manual riders, ???
"when it feels good shift up , when it don't feel good , shift down.
wats a tach ????

 

I agree. Just like driving a stick car. Eventually you realise to an extent there is alot of grey area on the "rite" time to shift. After enough miles on your machine. You will know what it likes.

 

There's your best answer

 

His owners manual provides guidance on that. If his bike is recent and he doesn't have one his dealer can supply the book, or he can download one on the H-D website - go to the Owners tab.

 

i think your friend would be surprised at just how far you can wind these things out. ive already hit at least 30 in first gear before. i dont necessarily recommend doing that but i was drag racing mine at the local strip and was pretty surprised how it did with it. i would say as long as he's not short shifting it and bogging it down he should be fine. like highest said a couple posts above wrap a bandanna around the speedo or a piece of tape and learn by feel and sound.

 

it honestly made riding my sporty so much fun, because i'm not fixated on the speed and speedo- just ****in let er fly man and she'll be alright. Like any good woman, she'll let ya know what she doesnt like

 

I shift by sound and feel also, 99% of the time. Sporty engines start getting really happy around 3000-3500 RPM, so most of the time that is the lowest RPM I would shift at.

The 883 is geared lower, so shift points will be at a lower speed for the same RPM as a 1200.

Here are a couple of charts that are interesting...and show the difference in 1200 and 883 gearing-

 

Hey tennispro, watched the match today? whos fan are you?