Steady Coasting

[Thebijmaster]

So, as I have mentioned here and there my new FZ8 is unreal compared to my 13 year old VZ800 that I used to have, which by the way did not have a tachometer, so for switching gears I just went by sound.

I drive a stick cooper S which gives me an instantaneous mpg rating so I know exactly what gear I should be in to get optimal fuel consumption if I'm coasting at whatever speed (I burn fuel when its go time but I like to be efficient when my daily commute restricts when I can exercise go time). Optimal rpms for a flat surface without accelerating tends to hang around 2.1k rpms.

With this bike I was completely lost, as I was incredibly focused on the tach and couldn't figure out what gear to be in when. My friend just told me to go by feel like the old bike, so I did. I found that in general I feel like the bike likes to coast around 3.5k - 4.5k rpms (haven't found a sweet spot yet). By car standards this is really high, but again with a redline at 11.5k instead of 7.5k I'm not too surprised.


Does this seem somewhat right? Anyone else can divulge info on around where you coast on this bike and maybe others? Thanks.

 

[Speedo007]

I think your guess is pretty good...under 3k the motor feels out of it's range, above 5k motor starts to feel more lively, but will also start getting more thirsty.
I think 4k is probably right in the middle between to low to be efficient and too high to be economical. On the highway though it's tough keeping it under 5k.

 

[xpertsnowcarver]

4k in top gear is about normal.