I cruise on mine at about 2300-2400rpm, I usually shift somewhere around 4500rpm, mine sounds like it is lugging for anything under 2000rpm, so I stay above that

 

As long as the throttle is responsive you're fine. If you have to downshift to accelerate reasonably then you're too low.

 

Keep it abouve 2200, except in 1st, youbr lugging at anything under that. Keeping it over 3K is as other said a little extreme. 3K would be a good shiftpoint to another gear. Sounds like he is anxious to take your build to a 110, after you tweek this one. LoL

 

You got it figured out yet?The longer your in the saddle the more it will come to what you like for performance.It may take a little experimenting,but that is precisely what dailing in your ride is all about.If we were all the same,it would be a no brainer.Good Luck

 

I've always stayed in the 2000 to 3400 range. After this build, I think the store built a hotrod rather than a torque monster like i ask . It wont perform without being over 3000 rpm with that 585 cam in it. Also it shakes a lot from 2000 to 2700 rpms. I've had two people in that shop tell me they dont let their rpms drop below 3000 rpms. Don't sound right to me. It's sad that a store like that can ruin your experiencs with Harley Davidson.

 

Both my bikes are different. The deuce with the factory Stage II 95 can run as low as 1800 and I feel comfortable cranking the throttle wide open by 2200. The ultra with the low compression 103 and woods cams can run as low as 1900 and can get the throttle wide open by 2300. Typically If I am riding by myself and above 2500 I don't down shift but if someone is playing rabbit, well shift points are over 5000.

 

I've been riding since 1967 by the seat of my pants...a tach is handy for tuning purposes, but I've never looked at one all the time when I was riding...if you can't tell when to shift by how the bike is pulling and running, the problem's not the bike, it's the nut that connects the seat to the handlebars...jk...kinda...maybe...

 

The engine doesn't even come on 'till 3000 rpm. The Power-band is probably 3k-5k... why would you want to shift before that?

 

I cruise along at around 2500 RPM. For hills, passing or accelerating I downshift and run the RPMs up to around 4500.

 

Let me clarify, you can only lug an engine by putting load on it at too low an RPM. Your engine idles fine, you can run it at idle speed if it's not doing much work. When we talk about shifting, I assume you're also talking about accelerating. If you are on level ground at a constant speed, you can run your engine as low as you want. You can be in 5th or 6th at 40mph without hurting anything, just get the rpms back above 3k before you crack open the throttle.