Hi guys
Once in a while i get sloppy with my shifting.. This time I accidentally left it in 2nd gear at the stop light which caused a total engine shake at launching.. Does that harm the engine or motor mounts?

Thanks guys

 

that is called lugging the motor and it is not good for the internals of the engine. if your bike is 2007 or newer it has very tall drive belt pulleys (32/66), and taking off in second gear is just not practical at all. don't ride the rpm's lower than 2500 in a given gear, try to keep your riding in the 2800-4800 range per gear. if you upgrade your drive belt pulleys to 30/68 or 30/70 you'll find that every gear is widely more usable, 6th is actually usable below 80mph, and you can easily take off in 2nd gear if you goof again.

 

As LA Dog says, lugging the engine is not good. We've all done it, and doing it one time isn't going to do any harm.

Coming out of a stop you always want to be in first. I try to always keep my RPMs otherwise above about 2500. This is normally very easy to do.

 

when you get to a stop it's good practice on checking to see if you're in the correct gear. i still do it

 

^^ It should at some point just become a natural unconscious tracking process, what gear you are in- sort of like counting my fired rounds. but at least on the bike you have a gear display to use...

 

La dog if you have an ar style gun it's easy to tell when your at 3 2 and 1 round left, the buffer spring sounds different. As for shifting and speed control ride a bike with no readouts or indicators for a few weeks you'll learn the different feelings of each gear and the needed rpms for those gears.

 

A steady diet of the RPM's so low that it rattles your bike is not good on the engine..
I too have taken off in 2nd, as most have.. If that happens, just feather your clutch instead of letting it all out and you can still have a fairly smooth take off. or just shift into first..

The secret to be able to run lower RPM's and not cause lugging to your engine is install some good Low TQ cams.. I run at 2000 to 2500 most all of the time we ride in any gear..
But you should do that on a stock or even a stg1 96" engine..

 

Lugging can squeeze oil from bearing surfaces and puts a LOT of strain on connecting rods. If you did it a lot, like some people do to get the "potato potato" noise while they're riding, you'd have a problem. An occasional oops at a light won't do harm.

 

Thanks guys... it does happen once in a while.. its also hard when your riding in NYC.. Things happen too fast, u need to act fast...i also havent ridden my bike in months.. i tend to forget