Seriously--are you serious? I've never heard of anyone that couldn't tell when to shift by listening to the engine. I mean maybe someone who's never driven ANY kind of manual transmission, but come on--if you've never driven ANY type of manual trans, what are you doing on a Harley? Especially without taking the new riders course.

 

will and ezrider62881235678947 or what ever your id is, Thanks for your less than $0.02 cents of worthless info and input.

Shi#@#$^%, with people like you two who needs enemies!

Feel free to keep your comments to yourself, this is suppose to be some type of support forum for Harley Davidson owners and your telling fellow members to buy other bikes.

Don't get me wrong, I am not mad just disappointed that fellow members would verbalize such lack of support.

 

It's hard to explain, but you can both feel and hear when a machine (Harley or anything) needs to go to the next gear. As mentioned above, you won't damage anything experimenting around to find that spot because of the rev limiter. My quad has neither a tach nor a speedo (that will definitely teach you all about feel).

I couldn't tell you the exact speed I feel each gear top out at because I'm focused on the road ahead (especially so when screaming through the gears). Don't worry about the speed; my advice is to just go by feel and keep your eyes on the road.

 

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sportster-models/263051-what-speeds-do-you-shift-at.html This thread gave some good info. I go a little higher to get to 5th then the other gears but the info is spot on.

 

As you get know your bike you'll know when to shift. A lot depends on the road, the traffic, and your mood. Keep the revs up and DON'T lug the engine. Power comes at high revs, and it's all "sound & feel".

 

You should listen to your bike and feel it, don't need a tach. The only time I want a tach is riding a 2-stroke.

 

What do you mean by lug? Is that when it chugs and you are in to high of a gear or when you can feel it pulsate a little and it is time to shift up?

When I am riding around town I tend to shift quick and when I am on the highway I run each gear out so I am getting into 5th closer to 60mph. When I do that on the highway I can keep up with the bigger bikess

 

Thanks for the great response fellas, I really appreciate your informative input to my topic.

Once again I am glad to have joined such a cool group of people.

I knew I was right in getting a H-D!

Awesome following and support.

I'll keep my ears open and keep riding.

You guys be safe.

 

When he says lug he means using a gear at too low of RPMs which is bad for your engine. Like being in 3rd gear at like 20mph. It is better to have the rpm's higher prior to a shift then shifting into a higher gear at lower rpm's.

 

That's almost right...

Lug means to put load unhealthy load on the engine... engines create more power at higher RPMs, 'till the torque curve really falls off. At low RPMs your bike is not creating much power... if you really hammer the throttle, you can do damage... you're bike can idle... 1000rpms doesn't hurt the bike... 1000rpms at full throttle and you on top will hurt the engine...

You're engine functions best in the power-band, that is the area between peak torque and peak horsepower... depending on gearing, sometimes you want to bring it past peak horsepower for max acell... but simply put, when you want to move, you want to shift it so you are riding between max tq and max hp... you that's probably between about 3krpm and about 5.5krpms... when you are running it below that, that's fine... but you probably don't want to hammer it too hard... if you need to move quick, downshift.