60mph at 6000rpm?

[EricWoods]

Just wondering if anyone could let me know if 6000rpm at 60mph sounds right on a gs550T/ In 6th gear the rpm is an exact mirror of speed. Like 40 mph is 4000rpm , 60 mph is 6000rpm and 70 is loud at 7000rpm? Does this sound right.? Also on hard acceleration the bike likes to slip out of 2nd gear and straight into 3rd or sometimes neautral. Any starting points there? Cheers Eric in Ireland

[Pete Logan]

Dunno on a 550 - on my 750 60 mph would be more like 2,500 - 3,000, so I would guess something's not right.

[Tarbash 27]

Well with my stock gearing I remember 9,000 rpm was 125mph.

[Dave8338]

That sounds a bit high to me...my 650L at 60 turns 4500 RPM's. 6000 RPM's at at 80 mph.

[Nessism]

Dunno on a 550 - on my 750 60 mph would be more like 2,500 - 3,000, so I would guess something's not right.

Someone changed your gearing from stock for it to turn so slow.

Regarding the original question, 6000 rpm at 60 mph seems too high. Going to have to check my T model to compare.

[tkent02]

How many teeth on each sprocket???
Could be your tach or speedo are way off.

[catbed]

i dunno but my 850 goes 60 in second gear.

[rphillips]

On larger bikes, 750 thru 1150, 1000rpm = appx 15mph. You'd think the 550's would be a little slower per 1000rpm than that. & it would be if the 550 was in 5th gear but I'd think the 550 in 6th gear, that is an actual overdrive, it should be closer to the same as the larger bikes. Just my opinion

[jimfj]

my 425 does 50-55 @ 4000 rpm in 5th. 6th is about 500 rpm less so 3500-3700.

Jim

[Clone]

Time for some transmission work, slipping out of gear is a really bad sign. You can change your top speed or rpm in any gear by changing your sprockets, up one on the front or down three on the rear.

[SPARKSS]

Just for a ballpark, the 78 GS550 I had (stock ratio) showed 5000 rpm @ 60mph in 6th.
The 79 GS1000 I have turns up 4000 @ 60mph (100 km/h) in 5th

[Nessism]

Just for a ballpark, the 78 GS550 I had (stock ratio) showed 5000 rpm @ 60mph in 6th.
The 79 GS1000 I have turns up 4000 @ 60mph (100 km/h) in 5th

That sounds about right for an base/E model using an 18" rear wheel. My T model has a 17" rear wheel which makes the gearing lower - I suspect an L model, with 16" rear wheel, may be geared lower still.

[Steve]

My T model has a 17" rear wheel which makes the gearing lower - I suspect an L model, with 16" rear wheel, may be geared lower still.

Ness, would you mind throwing a tape measure around that 17" wheel? I am not so sure that the 16" wheels affect the gearing any, as the tire is wider, therefore taller, maintaining the same (more or less) outer diameter of the tire. I have a 16" tire here that I can measure for comparison.


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[Pete Logan]

Someone changed your gearing from stock for it to turn so slow.

I believe it's stock, which means I'm wrong about the revs :-D

[Suzuki_Don]

Don't know if this is any help or not. But I have a road test on the GS550 from Motor Cycle Mechanics from October 1977 and it states in the article that at 5000 rpm the speedo was reading 60 mph. this is with an 18 inch rear wheel.

Cheers Don