Proper Engine speed

[MMH]

Where (i.e what rpm) is the 1150 engine the happiest? For easy cruising, in town at what engine speed should shift? What is the minimum highway speed that I should put it in 6th? I hear that lugging will promote clutch spline wear and want to minimize the chances of that happening.

[Roger 04 rt]

There is no proper speed. Just run where you feel your engine is happy. Obviously if you open the throttle and the engine starts to buck, you're lugging it. If it pings that's not good either.

Cruising along at any RPM is a low load situation in any gear. The way to put the highest load on the transmission input is to accelerate at a large throttle angle in ANY gear. For instance WOT in 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd to quickly reach your cruising speed, this puts a great stress on the transmission input because the engine is producing maximum HP and torque.

[riceburner]

Where (i.e what rpm) is the 1150 engine the happiest? For easy cruising, in town at what engine speed should shift? What is the minimum highway speed that I should put it in 6th? I hear that lugging will promote clutch spline wear and want to minimize the chances of that happening.

Ride it like you stole it. 'tis the only way.


In all seriousness - these engines respond well to being ridden hard, they're tough, and you'll soon find the best engine speeds for how you ride.

[peels]

For some reason mine has a happy spot in 6th gear at 4400 ish. less vibration, seems smooth.

which is right around 90mph.

for best mileage, you'll want 70-75.

find your own "happy place" LOL

[beemerron]

I've heard that 1/2 the red line, +/- 500rpm is a rule of thumb.

[sjbmw]

6th gear will depend on the year and options your R1150R is/has.

Up to model year 2004, the bike came with a "overdrive" 6th gear, that I find impossible to use under 75mph. If the highway is a strict 65mph, then this gear stinks.
Need to use 5th.

Starting in 2005, this 6th overdrive gear became a priced option, (that I wonder if anyone ordered) and the bikes shipped with a standard 6th gear.

I never found a good explanation of why, but I would guess that using this gear (in the USA as opposed to Germany) as intended caused speed limit violations, as I explain above.
Just a guess, I could be wrong.

My bike cruises best at 4k rpm, speeds will vary on gear. And I have thrashed it for 12 years now, and it just comes back for more.

[kirby]

6th gear will depend on the year and options your R1150R is/has.

Up to model year 2004, the bike came with a "overdrive" 6th gear, that I find impossible to use under 75mph. If the highway is a strict 65mph, then this gear stinks.
Need to use 5th.

Starting in 2005, this 6th overdrive gear became a priced option, (that I wonder if anyone ordered) and the bikes shipped with a standard 6th gear.

I never found a good explanation of why, but I would guess that using this gear (in the USA as opposed to Germany) as intended caused speed limit violations, as I explain above.
Just a guess, I could be wrong.

My bike cruises best at 4k rpm, speeds will vary on gear. And I have thrashed it for 12 years now, and it just comes back for more.

Never mind!!

[gregor]

My 2002 model has the 'lower ratio ' UK 6th gear. From a previous discussion I recall my engines speed is around 500 rpm higher at our legal motorway max of 70mph. Not really significant. I used to ride everywhere , above 40 mph, in 6th gear because I could. I now keep in 5th gear in the open twisty bits up to 70mph or so. A much more fun experience. 3 to 4 thousand ish rpm I suppose.
I think most of us know what an overdriven gearbox means technically. IIRC the output shaft of the transmission turns slower than the input shaft (the rpm of the engine). Which may or not be the case with the BMW cog box.
Just checked and both 5th and 6th UK gears are overdriven (Data from Phil Hawksley).
Gearbox Ratios 2.050 / 1.600 / 1.270 / 1.040 / 0.900 / 0.700

[kirby]

Just the opposite, the output would turn faster than the input. In other words the transmission output would be higher than engine speed (assuming no primary reduction like the BMW).

On a trans with a final ratio of .7 means that when the input shaft turns I turn (360deg) the out put will turn .7 of that or 252 degs.
I know the way the ratios are presented are confusing .
The '04 R1150 , according to my BMW(factory) manual has a .8 ratio for 6th and the Rockster has a .7 ratio. This will give you about a 400 rpm difference at about 80 mph with the .7 at about 4400 and the .8 at about 4000.

4000 rpm X .8 = 3200 rpm (output shaft) divided by 2.82 (final drive) turns the 170/60 tire 1134 rpm. The wheel/tire has a circumference 6.55 feet and at 1134 rpm will =7429 feet divided by 5280 (mile) = 1.4 miles per min or 84 mph

This represents just a higher ratio not over drive. If the rear wheel was really overdriven by 20% then the speed at 4000 rpm would be 126 mph. I doubt that the engine has the power to do that!

The .7 (in 6th) on the rockster will pull smooth from about 2500 rpm on up, it about perfect.

I guess as an engineer I get over excited over nomenclature in these discussions and really it does not matter one bit so if people want to call that over drive so be it.

[sjbmw]

I apologize for my nomenclature. The R1150R comes with 2 type of 6th gears. One has been called a "tall 6th gear" that morphed into the term "overdrive" in the USA. It may not be a scientific term, but that is the term that has been used.

In 2005, the BMW Motorrad American web site listed this tall 6th gear as an option that cost a few more bucks. (It was standard on all R1150R bikes prior.) I remember this exactly, as I had a 2004 non ABS, that had a MSRP of 9,990, and the 2005 non-ABS was MSRP of 10,500 and 6th gear had a choice of 2 options. The 2004 R non-ABS was the last under $10K big bore BMW ever sold in the USA.

From the interweb scuttlebutt American dealers always ordered the tall 6th anyway in 2005. This gear is really for the American Interstate Highway system and tight Euro roads don't support this "overdrive" gear as well.

an interesting post from the MOA board, that sums up my riding experience exactly: 4k rpm = 80mph in 6th gear

****
I believe the difference is the gear ratio for sixth gear in the R1150R's sold in N. American and those sold in Europe. The American bikes have a big difference between fifth and sixth where sixth gear has ~4,000 rpms at ~80 mph. Its my understanding that the gear ratios are such that the difference between fifth and sixth isn't as great with the Euro bikes, so the rpm's are higher for sixth. The American bikes should, therefore, get better highway mileage. I believe the ratios for the American bikes are what you are referring to when you use the term "overdrive."

In my experience with the American R1150R, the only sixth gear hassle is on urban highways where you are constantly hovering at 55-65 mph. The difference between fifth and sixth is sufficiently large that sixth gear doesn't like speeds under 60. But over 65 mph cruising is more comfy in sixth. I generally treat the bike as a five speed machine unless I know I'll have a couple minutes of consistent 60+ mph highway riding.

****

[kirby]

I understand and I am making too much of the "overdrive" description for sure.
After 250K miles on oilheads I find the difference of .125% hardly significant @ about 400 rpm. I like the .7 on the rockster but either will cruise very happily at 50/80 on the road but the .7 will give a slightly better acceleration from those speeds in top.

I've said enough on the subject.


:-)

[peels]

I have that tall 6th....personally. I like it... I wish 5th was slightly taller.

I like the tall 6th gear in my 02, but there "seems" (at least to me) to be a gap, just for the highway speeds I end up running. tall 6th makes you wanna go faster lol

also feel like 1st could be shorter. but they all work JUST fine. I'm used to it.

[swamper]

I don't know anything about this subject. The beer got my attention, I'm headed to the Beemer Bash camp out in Quincy Ca tomorrow. I'll post a couple of pictures Monday on a new thread.

[gregor]

Just done 330 miles of mixed motorway, A roads and minor roads. All speeds were great. 4000rpm in 6th equals 70 mph. Dry ans sunny at the end of September! But heading for the Scottish west coast tomorrow pm. Not many midges but rain forecast.

[skylarmav1]

So for my Beakster, it seems everything works better above 3.5k.
Shifting between 3.5 and 5k is like butter (barely any clutch) and she just snicks right in to next gear.

If I'm just crusin around I'll find whatever gear matches the 3.0-3.5k ish range and stay there all day. Anything below about 2.7k is not a happy place-she will perform, but she is grumpy.

Hope that helps.

[MMH]

So for my Beakster, it seems everything works better above 3.5k.
Shifting between 3.5 and 5k is like butter (barely any clutch) and she just snicks right in to next gear.

If I'm just crusin around I'll find whatever gear matches the 3.0-3.5k ish range and stay there all day. Anything below about 2.7k is not a happy place-she will perform, but she is grumpy.

Hope that helps.

This is exactly what I concluded running my bike over the last couple of weeks. Thanks