650 Max speed in gears

[yyz0]

Hello everyone,
My wife just got an 04 v-star that isn't even finished with the break-in period. It only had 680mi on it when we got it. It is getting close to the 1k mark so we'll be taking it in for that service pretty soon.

I've never owned a bike that didn't have a tach., so it makes me kind of nervous not knowing how close to redline I might be getting when riding the bike hard. Which leads to a couple of questions.

I assume that the bike has a rev limiter, is that true?

What is the max speed that can be achieved in any gear?

I'm wondering if I should just take it up to the rev limiter one time for a second(after breakin of course) just to "hear" how it sounds at that point which would give me an idea of how far I can go before up shifting. The manual states that you should shift into 2nd at 9mph and into 5th at 25(I think), that seems kinda early to me. But I'm biased by many years of riding inline 4s where RPMs are everything. I realize that it's a different style of power output in a vtwin, but I want to know how far I can push the motor to get the most out of it that I can when I need to.

[geoffsimpson]

Originally Posted by yyz0

Hello everyone,
My wife just got an 04 v-star that isn't even finished with the break-in period. It only had 680mi on it when we got it. It is getting close to the 1k mark so we'll be taking it in for that service pretty soon.

I've never owned a bike that didn't have a tach., so it makes me kind of nervous not knowing how close to redline I might be getting when riding the bike hard. Which leads to a couple of questions.

I assume that the bike has a rev limiter, is that true?

What is the max speed that can be achieved in any gear?

I'm wondering if I should just take it up to the rev limiter one time for a second(after breakin of course) just to "hear" how it sounds at that point which would give me an idea of how far I can go before up shifting. The manual states that you should shift into 2nd at 9mph and into 5th at 25(I think), that seems kinda early to me. But I'm biased by many years of riding inline 4s where RPMs are everything. I realize that it's a different style of power output in a vtwin, but I want to know how far I can push the motor to get the most out of it that I can when I need to.

It's not so much the sound you're going to get in that bike, it's the sensation...you'll feel when it's time to shift.

I imagine, if it's anything like the 650 v-star i've ridden, the engine will run out of usable power long before then and you'll be into another gear already. You really don't need a tac.

The shift points are strictly optimal break in mumbo jumbo...shift when you need to shift...the bike will tell you when.

[robertc729]

Originally Posted by geoffsimpson

The shift points are strictly optimal break in mumbo jumbo...shift when you need to shift...the bike will tell you when.