Cruising RPMs??
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,672
Likes: 18
From: Orange, VA,
My 99 felt the same, at 70 mph I would get the buzz factor hitting 3,000 rpm and higher. I did not want to drop all that money for a 6 speed, I found an overdrive pulley that Andrews makes, its the front drive pulley for the drive belt, it is 2 teeth bigger and lowered my rpm's about 300 at 70 mph, now I am cruising about 2,700 at 70 mph and am much more comfortable, total cost from my indy was about $350 parts and labor. This is one of the best mods I have done to my bike, makes it much more enjoyable to ride going down the highway and on long trips.
Tourer
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 369
Likes: 1
From: Lubbock, TX
Ran 80mph, mile after mile, on a 2003 Road King is owned at one time. Ran great and no problems over 40k miles that I owned it. Change something if you want to but you will be doing it for your peace of mind and not for the bike.
good greif, at 55mph I'm still in 4th, I wont shift into 6th unless I'm at 70mph and higher and plan to cruise. No way in hell would I lug my bike at 55mph by shifting into 6th then.
Banned
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 678
Likes: 1
From: LA
Ah, that's the problem. Well spotted. It's an FLHR-P with a tach fitted.
Take the tach off, problem solved!
OP, what else can you tell us about your bike .... which pipes, engine mods, rear pulley teeth no. etc?
Yes, it's at the start of the sweet spot where the cam comes on an max torque is being made.
What is the OP actually wants ... more quiet? To ride at lower RPM? (requires more power)? Are there vibes in the bars? To keep up with bigger cube guys (requires tuning/more cubes)?
But in terms of mechanical sympathy, you're just stroking that cat. Without more cubes, lugging it slower would be worse for it.
Take the tach off, problem solved!
OP, what else can you tell us about your bike .... which pipes, engine mods, rear pulley teeth no. etc?
Yes, it's at the start of the sweet spot where the cam comes on an max torque is being made.
What is the OP actually wants ... more quiet? To ride at lower RPM? (requires more power)? Are there vibes in the bars? To keep up with bigger cube guys (requires tuning/more cubes)?
But in terms of mechanical sympathy, you're just stroking that cat. Without more cubes, lugging it slower would be worse for it.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,962
Likes: 140
From: NY
I attempted a search of the forum and didn't find anything (which doesn't mean anything where I'm concerned). If this has been discussed please forgive me. I was curious what is the proper cruising RPMs for my year/size bike. It's a 98 Road King Police. When I am at 70mph my RPMs are at about 3grand. Most of the guys I ride with cruise around 75-80. The rpms seem a little high to me. I find that it feels like I need a 6th gear.
Sorry if this has been beat to death in the past
Glen
Sorry if this has been beat to death in the past
Glen
Your cruise rpm isnt a problem but if it were my bike it would not cost much to buy a drive pulley that has 1 more tooth on it.
Doing that will reduce cruise rpm by approx 200rpm,thats not a lot but just enough for a little relief / reduction in cruise rpm while still retaining decent perf arround town when taking off too.
I did just that for the same reason on my last bike(06 Roadstar Silverado 1700 v-twin 100flt lbs trq stock!) prior to just buying an 09 FLHTCU w-TW96 with 9,700 original miles on it 11/2014.
You may also pick up a 1 mpg or so in the process like my bike did when i did that.
scott