[Fsjunky]

I have never owned a high revving high performance engine before. Earlier I read a thread on how the 919 likes to be ridden hard, and some times it is hard for me to not try to keep the revs around 3500. so My question is 2 fold. 1 what is the line between healthy hard riding and abuse? 2 what is the way that you ride your 919, how do you leave a stop lite, what rpm do you aim for when your headed home from work?

 

[LDH]

It is not a bad thing to have an excess of mechanical sympathy. That being said lugging the engine at low rpms is no better for it than bouncin' off the rev-limiter with the throttle pinned...


Commonsense should be the denominator here, but:


1. Not everybody has it.


&


2. It's yo bike and you can treat it anyway you want.

 

[K1w1Boy]

I have never owned a high revving high performance engine before. Earlier I read a thread on how the 919 likes to be ridden hard, and some times it is hard for me to not try to keep the revs around 3500. so My question is 2 fold. 1 what is the line between healthy hard riding and abuse? 2 what is the way that you ride your 919, how do you leave a stop lite, what rpm do you aim for when your headed home from work?

The engine is quite happy at low revs under light load - you don't have to scream it everywhere, but it will rev when you want it to. The key is load - low revs and a wide open throttle aren't a good mix; if you need it to do more work [steep hill, heavy passenger] then higher revs will get you more power, so a downshift or a delayed shift might be in order.

I ride a lot in the city, with 50km/h or 60 km/h restrictions, so revving it all the way out just isn't an option - redline in 1st gets me around 95km/h...

 

[PC1978]

No need to ride like an asshole, but most people I know that own a sport/sport orientated bike have it because of the performance.

No shame in wringing it out every once in a while, or more😉.
IMO best saved for back country roads with limited traffic.
But I like quick blasts from a stop light now and again when I’m in the mood.
Just be cognizant of your surroundings (traffic levels, upcoming intersections and parking lots/driveways, etc.).

Twisty backroads are obviously the most fun you can have on the street😉.

But I also enjoy “practicing” the 2-3 car pass. Couple of cars driving slow holding up traffic on a 2 lane road, make sure it’s in the correct gear for your speed and upcoming pass, hit a clear straight, whack the throttle and bang up through the gears, shifting at redline as you scream by them.
My last 2 bikes when doing this, if I start at 45-55 mph will be by them in a couple of seconds and be going 120-130 when I get around the lead car.
Then quickly slow back down lest an officer decides you need to go to jail.
You can obviously make safe passes in much shorter times/distances on a fast bike than in a car.

 

[KarlJay]

I tend to feather the clutch in order to smooth the takeoff from a stop. I also tend to hit it pretty hard getting on the freeway or coming from between cars at a red light.

Generally I don't get all that close to the redline, haven't found much need, she's pretty quick about 3/4 the way there. I do ride a bit aggressive, but she doesn't seem to have a problem with it.

The 919 is known for having a very solid engine.

 

[mcromo44]

I have never owned a high revving high performance engine before. Earlier I read a thread on how the 919 likes to be ridden hard, and some times it is hard for me to not try to keep the revs around 3500. so My question is 2 fold. 1 what is the line between healthy hard riding and abuse? 2 what is the way that you ride your 919, how do you leave a stop lite, what rpm do you aim for when your headed home from work?

The 919 engine is car like in terms of torque curve, lots of area under the curve for a very wide range of revs.
You can lug it, and you can spin it, plus everywhere in between.
Ride it the way you like it, and if you're happy while it's happy at 3500, you've won the game.
As for the "likes to be ridden hard", that comment is purely in terms of the gearbox, which a number of riders have found to shift better when things are on the boil.

 

[nathanktm]

I think the motor will ride any way you want it to for as long as you'll live.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[CB700S]

I tend to ride mine in traffic as a series of low to low-mid throttle 2k-3k/3.5k-shift sequences on surface streets. There's just not really enough room to let the 919 have its head on closer city surface streets and even with the Stealth Field Generators the bike comes with, rocketing away from traffic at the lights can get you unwanted police attention. The 919 has more than enough torque for this kind of work, and I can wind it out on freeway ramps, the freeway itself and interstate travel.

This is a very flexible, very torquey engine and as long as you're not bogging it or lugging it badly or constantly bouncing it off the rev limiter, it will go along with almost whatever riding style you like. I do have my idle bumped up about 150-200 RPM to help with charging and pulling away from lights/stop and go traffic work, but that's a common thing I've ended up doing with my I4 bikes forever.

Of the bikes I've ridden, the 919 seems to strike the best balance of "doing whatever you want, however you want to do it" in the real world of paved roads. Unless you buy an example that was somehow beaten far worse than mine was when I got it, and as long as you maintain it per the factory recommendations, you will get bored of the bike long, long, long before it even thinks about breaking if you ride it even half reasonably.

 

[MattR302]

Lol, if you think this is a high-revving performance engine, you should ride a real sport bike. The 919 redline is 9500 RPM, a Yamaha R6 redlines at 16k!

 

[Sniper-x]

There was a zone at about 6500 rpm where the engine vibrated a little more and the tone of the exhaust was a little different. That was my favorite place to be with my old 919.

 

[CB700S]

Lol, if you think this is a high-revving performance engine, you should ride a real sport bike. The 919 redline is 9500 RPM, a Yamaha R6 redlines at 16k!

He probably is an ex-Harley or cruiser rider. Those things sometimes top out at 4500-5K.

 

[Fsjunky]

He probably is an ex-Harley or cruiser rider. Those things sometimes top out at 4500-5K.

I had a 85 CB650 night hawk, she revved out at almost 8 but was also happy as could be at 2 or 3K, Yes a Victory Kingpin that red lined at 6. but i have also driven a decent amount of street tuned V8s that complain above 5500 RPMs.

For getting me to and from work, playing in the canyons, and having relaxed fun on a sunny day the 919 beets an R6 in my book...if i start running track days ill probably get a second bike though

 

[rickyhornet]

When I was a kid way back in the '60s, the Honda dealer in Eugene, Oregon was Gene Thiessen. You could look it up. He was a top Triumph racer in Southern California, and also set some Bonneville records. One time he said to me, "I can take a bike off the showroom floor and ride it in the dirt for a day, wash it off, and put it back on the floor because I am a good rider. But sometimes I sell a bike on Saturday morning to a guy who can't ride, and he brings in back on Monday morning totally destroyed."
My point is, it's not how hard you ride it, it is whether you have the skills to ride it hard. If you abuse it, it will fail earlier. And in the racing world, there were some fast riders who saved their equipment, and others who Did Not Finish. That is, a good fast rider has a certain "simpatico" with the machinery, doesn't overrev, doesn't jam shifts, doesn't abuse the clutch. And also, the bike is lovingly and regularly maintained.
If you've got all that, you can ride the 919 very hard indeed and it will last a long time.

 

[Islandboy]

When I was a kid way back in the '60s, the Honda dealer in Eugene, Oregon was Gene Thiessen. You could look it up. He was a top Triumph racer in Southern California, and also set some Bonneville records. One time he said to me, "I can take a bike off the showroom floor and ride it in the dirt for a day, wash it off, and put it back on the floor because I am a good rider. But sometimes I sell a bike on Saturday morning to a guy who can't ride, and he brings in back on Monday morning totally destroyed."
My point is, it's not how hard you ride it, it is whether you have the skills to ride it hard. If you abuse it, it will fail earlier. And in the racing world, there were some fast riders who saved their equipment, and others who Did Not Finish. That is, a good fast rider has a certain "simpatico" with the machinery, doesn't overrev, doesn't jam shifts, doesn't abuse the clutch. And also, the bike is lovingly and regularly maintained.
If you've got all that, you can ride the 919 very hard indeed and it will last a long time.

+1 to that!

 

[Sniper-x]

"Mechanical Sympathy" is the term LDH uses.

"Clean, Greased, and painted is what my old man used to say. Years ago, on the farm, you HAD to take good care of your equipment. You'd go broke and out of business if you didn't.

I participate in several forums. The best example of Mechanical Sympathy occurs, or not, is on the Dodge Ram site. There are guys that can't go 2 years without burning up an automatic transmission. Other guys can get 400,000 miles out of the same transmission.

Use, usually does not do a motorcycle in.

Abused, even when well maintained, a motorcycle will go a long time.

Neglect is a killer. (Park it in an old barn for years, and let the mice have at it)

 

[Darth_Firebolt]

I usually keep it under half throttle and 4,000 rpm until the temp gauge gets to the notch, but then it's fair game. Around town I keep it between 2,000 and 4,000, but on an open highway or on ramp I use the full 9,500 I paid for. I usually upshift at 8,500 or 9,000, because with this engine the show is pretty much over at those rpms.

 

[Trailing_Throttle]

The thing I love about the 919 is how flexible and forgiving the engine is. I have other bikes but none of them has the low end grunt that the 919 displays. Every time I ride the thing I think how nice it is to drive a bike with a big (displacement) engine. While it goes just nuts above about 8000 rpm, it will start from a stop in 3rd gear with just a tad of clutch slip. (sometimes I forget what gear I'm in when I stop for a traffic light)


I have heard that Honda expects those engines to go 100,000 miles even if you beat them like a rented mule. But you do have to take care of the maintenance.

 

[marylandmike]

The thing I love about the 919 is how flexible and forgiving the engine is. I have other bikes but none of them has the low end grunt that the 919 displays. Every time I ride the thing I think how nice it is to drive a bike with a big (displacement) engine. While it goes just nuts above about 8000 rpm, it will start from a stop in 3rd gear with just a tad of clutch slip. (sometimes I forget what gear I'm in when I stop for a traffic light)


I have heard that Honda expects those engines to go 100,000 miles even if you beat them like a rented mule. But you do have to take care of the maintenance.

I am at 116K on my 2007 919 and still going strong. :grin2: