Recommended Cruising RPM
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,897
From: Bedford UK
Those shift rpms are a bare minimum IMHO. Your bike has a red line, so ride it up to that on occasions, to get a better feel for your engine. In the right conditions you can safely cruise at up to 5k rpm IMHO. The more often you use the higher revs, the faster your bike will get.
Tourer
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 300
Likes: 112
From: Iowa
As with many things in life, that depends. That's what listening to the bike tells you. Harleys should never whine like a crotch rocket, but the Evolution motor is happier at higher RPMs than are the big twins. If it really is whining you can upshift. If it's bouncing off the rev limiter, you need to upshift. If it lugs on hills or doesn't have the power to pass you can downshift. If you are constantly downshifting, consider staying in the lower gear. What gear you need for which road speed is going to vary with terrain, traffic, and mods you have made to the bike.
The manuals recommended "bogus shift points" are based upon getting the best fuel economy by always riding in the highest gear at which it does not struggle or lug, presumably on a dry, straight, level road. Things are different in the real world and you need to adjust the shift points accordingly.
On the way to work in the morning I have a stretch of 25mph road. The manual says that's the speed to shift into third, but the bike would struggle at that point so I started leaving it in second and accepting higher revs than I liked, but the bike was fine with it. Then I did the stage one upgrades, and it suddenly had plenty of power and torque to ride that stretch in third gear. It was just a matter of doing what made the bike happy.
The manuals recommended "bogus shift points" are based upon getting the best fuel economy by always riding in the highest gear at which it does not struggle or lug, presumably on a dry, straight, level road. Things are different in the real world and you need to adjust the shift points accordingly.
On the way to work in the morning I have a stretch of 25mph road. The manual says that's the speed to shift into third, but the bike would struggle at that point so I started leaving it in second and accepting higher revs than I liked, but the bike was fine with it. Then I did the stage one upgrades, and it suddenly had plenty of power and torque to ride that stretch in third gear. It was just a matter of doing what made the bike happy.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 6,073
Likes: 1,951
From: Somewhere on the Bourbon trail
Like others have said, take it out and do some highway speeds and listen/feel what your bike is telling you. My '11 Custom is very happy and runs the smoothest at 70-75 MPH, about 3200 - 3500 RPM. So that's the bikes sweet spot.
Last edited by RKZen; Feb 27, 2020 at 02:28 PM.
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,897
From: Bedford UK
Much more recently I visited my favourite Harley dealer and while there happened to be close by when a woman arrived on her Sporty, followed in by her 'mate' on his RK. He got off his bike and told her off a strip for changing down a gear to overtake a car - Harley riders shouldn't do such a thing! Pratt.
You're quite right, rev the darned engine, but we big twin owners should do that too - these things aren't V-8s....
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,278
Likes: 465
From: anywhere
I think the question was what are the best RPMs to run your sportster at. Example what should the rpm be at 60 mph at 70 mph, at 75 mph ext
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But there is no choice in the matter only the decision of what gear to be in . If you are doing 60 in 5th gear the revs are what they happen to be . If you increase the revs you go faster and if you decrease them you go slower . This thread is starting to get silly . As previously mentioned , just ride the thing . Look where you're going , hum a little tune and enjoy yourself !