That's a good range for a v-twin but not a sprint. You're on the verge of lugging the engine. What's your gas mileage like? I would imagine it's fantastic.

I cruise around 4500 and run through canyons around 6k when I get on it. Over that my mileage plummets and she gulps oil too, but feels like a rocket.

I saw that video too and tried running around 7k for a tanks worth of gas. My bike has 83k on her and I don't have a desire to have to rebuild her any time soon

 

4-6,500 RPM, more every so often to blow the cobwebs out.

 

Badonka seems to like the 2500 to 3500 range. Below 2000 I sense her engine is lugging, over 3000 she seems to be asking for the next higher gear, that is unless we’re engaged in heavy acceleration. So, for normal easy riding, it’s 2500 to 3500.

 

Obviously, uphills or accelerating need higher RPM than a cruise on level ground to prevent lugging so we must be talking about level ground, steady speed cruising. Going downhill and decelerating, I let the RPM get to idle speed. Don't own a Sprint so my roughly 2000 RPM (37 mph in 5th) self-imposed lower limit at a steady cruise on level ground for the Street Cup (1st gen WC 900) isn't pertinent. I can take it lower without bucking but rather not.

 

I rarely run under 4k. Usually 5-6k and up to 10.2k tuned redline as enjoyably often as possible. Gas mileage? Who cares…a lot better than my minivan on its worst day.

 

After watching Fort Nine's video, I've been running my 900 street twin in the 3500-4000 range. There is plenty of power available in that range to drive out of the corners. Sounds cool, too!

 

Street Twin , I run about the same as you, 3500- 4000.

Plasma1

 

I seldom look at my tachometer. But I would not own a bike that didn't have one because I think twin guages look cool.

 

My T120 likes 3200 and above. The 39T rear sprocket really is a good fit for this and other reasons.

 

My T595 Daytona with the 955 engine does not like to be running around at 3K. Higher revs for sure. It`s all about the torque curve. If riding in a quiet residential area I will upshift to quiet the bike.

 

OK, so I watched the Fort Nine video on RPMs. Then I took a ride looking for a breakfast place. I intentionally ran Badonka one gear lower than usual, so I spent a lot of time in 2nd and 3rd. That got me up into the 4K + rpm range. Then I did the Italian tune up thing, and ran faster. I got it up to red line, and ran for a couple of miles at 5K+ rpms. I didn’t see any black smoke, and she ran just fine. After hearing Fort Nine, I’m going to make sure I keep the rpms up more than I have in the past. Instead of running at 2500 to 3500, I think I’ll keep it up to 3500 to 4500 rpm during normal riding. There’s more torque there, and apparently it’s cleaner for the engine.

No luck finding a breakfast. My regular place, Hill Country Cafe, was out of business and being torn down! 😢 My back up places, Lee’s, and The Lighthouse were both closed. So, I came home and made my own breakfast. Three eggs over medium, hamburger patty, a buttered potato, and OJ. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself! 😋

 

I would love to come to breakfast with you , that seems like it would be nice.


Plasma1

 

I use low RPM for no or low load and high RPM for high loads because there's no one best RPM for all conditions or every gear. If I was at 1500 RPM while slowing down, I wouldn't attempt to speed back up again without downshifting to get the RPM up. Same with hills. Below 2000 RPM in top gear with no throttle downhill and maybe over 5000 RPM in a lower gear uphill is needed depending on the grade. A tach is no good for determining what RPM is going cause low RPM problems under all conditions.

 

My Speedmaster seems to run best starting at 3000 rpm. It seems like 3000-4000 is the engine’s happy place. But if I’m just being mellow it’s generally 2500-3000. And as mentioned above, if I’m going through a residential area I’ll drop down a gear just to be neighborly. After that I’ll usually get it up to 4000 or so just to clear out any quick-forming cobwebs. Nice video. Loved his bike, lol.

 

As the original poster here, I'll add that alot of my experience has been with twins - mostly BMW airheads - and a couple larger inline 4's, so a modern triple is somewhat new to me. My thoughts on the triple is that it is a cross between a high-revving 4 cylinder and more torquey twin, and I've maintained my revs in the 3000-4000 range, mostly for better throttle response both accelerating and decelerating through the curves. Again, I'm more of a relaxed rider, not looking for fast changes in speed.

Given the video, and the replies in this thread, I'll probably up my revs a bit to keep from lugging the bike. And I've been a practitioner of the Italian Tune-up since my days dialing in SU carbs on Brit sports cars, so there will be the occasional winding it out just to let the bike breathe.

 

I picked up a 2002 Sprint RS in the Spring. I bought it from a guy about an hour from me. Riding it home sounded like it was screaming going 65mph. The two brothers muffler without the baffle in didn't help. I checked when I got home and found it had a 17 tooth front and 45 tooth rear. I immediately bought an 18 tooth front thinking I should calm the engine down a bit. Now at 55mph I'm turning about 4000 rpms which seems to be about optimal. I guess according to FortNine I should try the 17 again and bump up the RPMs. I don't remember what RPMs I was turning at 55 when I brought it home. The odd thing about different manufactures transmission gearing is my Ducati ST3 has a 15 tooth front and 46 tooth rear and turns 4000 RPMs at 60 mph.

 

I picked up a 2002 Sprint RS in the Spring. I bought it from a guy about an hour from me. Riding it home sounded like it was screaming going 65mph.

Stock gearing is 19/43. Here's a chart from Gearing Commander website showing Gearing differences for 00-04 RS/ST.

 

I took out my Street Cup out for the last time this year and paid close attention to the lowest smooth cruise speed attainable in top gear on level ground which was 36-37 mph at 2000 rpm. Peak TQ doesn't come on until about 60 mph so I'll avoid giving her all the beans until it gets closer to that speed without downshifting. It's rarely the case I'm on a slow level road for very long so over 2500 RPM is more often the norm.

 

The Street Cup is a different animal from my Sprint. I understand the 900 twin was designed with its torque down low, and not meant to be as revvy as a triple.

 

I know. Just thought I'd mention it because others with twins posted higher engine speeds as their lower limit. The later 900 twins have much less TQ way down low so I can see why.

 

I thought that was the selling point for the 900 twins. Low end torque like a sportster

 

I bought my used Street Cup mainly for its looks and the price was right. I already owned my Yamaha Bolt (942 cc twin) which put out even more TQ at a lower RPM but it's 60 lbs heavier. My Zero tops them both with a TQ to weight ratio of 78 lbs-ft from 0 to 5000 rpm and weighs just 290 lbs but that's not relevant here either.