Shift points and '06 owner's manual

Anytime I need a good chuckle, I go to the page in the '06 owner's manual where it lists the shift points: My favorite is 6th gear, shown as 37mph.

This is my first VFR and the manual provides a reasonable description regarding lugging down the engine, but 37mph??? I haven't even tried 6th at that speed.

My intuitive choice of shiftpoints for regular, economy mileage riding for 4th and up is to keep the RPM above 5K. For 6th gear, that translates to a 75mph minimum on my bike.

Take me to school: Am I wasting gas? What are your shiftpoints?

randy.B

 

Normal riding 5000-6500rpm. I stay out of VTEC unless I want to boggie and break the law.

My father hated the bike because he tried riding it and never getting passed 4,000 because harley has warped his mind. He did the same thing in my S2000.

 

True that! I accidently lofted the front wheel again in third getting on the freeway yesterday.

Blasphemy!

 

My thoughts. 37mph is a joke for 6th. It is a waste of time if you are below 5000rpm unless cruising with a tail wind. I don't use 6th unless I am over 120kph and even then it can be touch and go. Will you use more fuel staying in 5th yes but it is so much easier to ride I don't care. In the first four gears I find 4000 to 4500 is ok to change but to 5th and 6th I don't change unless I will be over 5000 in the new gear.

 

didn't Honda have recall on the manual or suggested making a note on the correction for the manual? i kinda, sorta remember something like this with the 02 manual.

 

shift point in '06 manual

That's b4 my VFR time, but if they made the correction, why would it still show up in the '06 manual?

I needed a laugh this morning so I double checked page 58:

2nd: 12MPH/20KPH hmmm
3rd: 19/30 chuckle
4th: 25/40 giggle
5th: 31/50 guffaw
6th: 37/60 Bwaaahaaaaah!

 

Outrageous!
Talk about short shifting; 6 kph increments!
That's less than 4 mph difference between gears. Just rolling down the average road that's probably how much my speed differs regularly without referencing the speedo all the time.
I have a '95, but wouldn't ride a new one any different; changing gears on approximatley 25 kph (15 mph) increments and keeping the tach around 6000 rpm where the power band starts getting sweet.

 

So there are a lot more people idling around in fourth than I originally thought ...
and I thought it was just me ..

 

Yeah, I read those shift points in the manual for my '07. Not a chance. I mean, i guess it would WORK at those speeds/Gears, but the ride wouldn't be much fun. Some traffic situations require that one accelerates out of danger, and when you have the bike close to lugging (37 mph in 6th gear) your acceleration is going to be bollocks.
And I hear you on the Harley riders, I have let my father and a friend try my bike, and I keep having to tell them "This is a high-revving sport bike, not a V-twin cruiser, keep it humming or screaming, no blub-blub". they usually get it after a while.

 

Yeah when my dad was on mine I kept telling him "you need to rev it more and not to shift until he hit atleast 5k" She really likes it the harder you push it. Most of the time I don't shift until atleast 9-10k. I've over reved a couple times and burried the tach. I just let off the gas and gave her another gear and she loved it.

 

Maybe it should read 137 MPH!!!

 

I've always used the 20-60-20 rule:
During normal riding, I keep the tach in the middle 60% of the tach.