Gears

[officerbill]

Since the MPG gallon question seems moot, let’s try this one. FPG (fun per gal) is high and I don’t care what my dear wife says. (she never reads this forum, so I’m safe being chauvinistic).
I ride about 10 miles to work, some times I have an open rode and go a little fast. Other times I’m behind every bus and cager in the county and none of them know how to push the pedal under their right foot.
Question is which gear is going to give the best MPG? I usually fly in 5th, but with traffic I seldom get above 4th. Should I shove it into 5th as often as I can or stay in 4th for the acceleration and quick decel?

[tejasmud]

Keep the throttle between idle and 1/4 up to 1/2 throttle.

Shift gears accordingly to keep the RPMs in a decent range, 3-6k.

If you are in 4th or 5th and notice your throttle is twisting up above the 1/2 throttle point to speed up, that is where the MPG goes out the window.

[Nessism]

My suggestion is to imagine you are driving a car with an AT, and shift your bike the same way if you want max mpg. Light load on the engine and low rpm will burn the least amount of gas.

[Don-lo]

Gentle on the throttle, and get into the highest gear possible for economy. Downshift (sometimes twice) when acceleration is needed.

[tkent02]

These engines are made to spin, cam timing, intake design, exhausts, etc. are not as they would be in a tractor motor or an economy car, lugging them is not very efficient. Keep it at an RPM that lets the engine breathe well. Use the gear that lets it maintain speed with the least amount of throttle.

[officerbill]

Thanks for the advice. If I'm follow you, use the highest gear, ballance the throttle, kick it down a gear of two for a quick burst of speed or to slow down and or just ride and the hell with MPG!
bill

[Riding Again]

Also, if you keep it in the low-rpm range (less than 3,000 typ), you run a chance of not recharging the battery on your runs with a stock r/r. If you upgrade the r/r, it'll have a better chance of recharging at the lower rpms. Don't ask me how I know this.