In 2009 Harley added two extra teeth to the rear sprocket. This allows comfortable 6th gear running at 60mph. Any older bikes would be lugging in 6th at this speed. Personally, I cruise at 70 in 6th which is 2700 RPM.

 

Where I shift tends to be a matter of how hard I'm accellerating. As far as what I do once I'm up to speed, somewhere between 55 and 60 I put it in to 6th, depending on what traffic looks like (if it's clear, I'll be in 6th, if it looks like a fairly short time before slowing down 5th). I've got a '08 RG with the stage 2 big bore/255 cams. One of the things I was curious about whas what the shift points were for the 103 engines, so I checked an '11 touring manual and they were the same as my manual from the '08.

I've never had any problems with 6th down to about 50 MPH (The manual indicated downshift point, btw) and only start lugging noticably below about 45, to be honest.

I'm guessing a lot of this has to do with how much weight the bike has, total, and the degree of tuning on the bike.

 

Hmmm, Ok! I didn't know how they lowered the gearing. Always assumed it was internal but adding a couple of teeth to the rear sprocket works too. Actually, the only complaint I have with the gearing on my bike, and this is really picking nits, is I wish 1st gear were somewhat lower with 2nd and 3rd spaced accordingly up toward 4th with the top three gears left the way they are. My bike idles along at darn near 10 mph in 1st gear which means I'm doing a "lot" of clutch slipping when I'm stuck in slow traffic. It's probably not a big deal for the bike but I'd really prefer 1st to idle at least half the speed it does. Oh well!

Weight, tuning, and road conditions (hills) obviously have a big effect but I believe that for most of us, it's 90% in the right wrist. When you say you've been all the way down to 50 in 6th gear with no problems, I believe you but I'd also bet that you're much more gentle on the throttle than most when accelerating from that point. Ease into the throttle easy enough and the engine will respond smoothly with no undue protest. Roll it on harder and the engine is going to complain because it's simply not making the power needed to do what the rider is asking it to.

Like so many things, what's lugging and what's not, when will we get good gas mileage and when will we not, etc., there are multiple factors that determin the outcome. I firmly believe that ultimately, it's the rider that's going to shoulder the lions share of the cause of such things whether good or not. Sometimes we don't want to acknowledge that.

Ride Safe,
Steve R.

 

The sound of the motor sounded different than HD motors. It doesn't really have that loping cam sound that even a stock Harley does. It sounded and felt like it needed to shift. With my RKC I feel like I can pull through a wider rpm range. It's mostly the sound that throws me off. And it got worse when I got the monster rounds cause it sounds like I'm lugging louder. 2k miles so far and I'm still trying to get the feel for her but I'm loving every moment