when to switch gears on r3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

when to switch gears on r3

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ajax.911

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question when should I switch gears on yamaha r3. When I started to drive switched them at 7-8k r/min , my brother he is a racer told me to bring them up to 10-12.
Just looking for another opinion, not to kill engine.
 
You'll be fine. Unless you really screw up a downshift (eg. go to 2nd instead of 4th when at redline in 3rd) it is hard to damage a modern engine.

The answer is it depends. Try shifting at different points and get the feel for it. I wouldn't want to be shifting up on a 250 at 3K, but 7 or 12 makes little difference to longevity in my opinion.
 
Listen to your engine - when it sounds like you are at the top end of your power band then shift.

Easier than watching a tach.
Q
Otherwise you are not "using" all of the power in that gear, and by switching to a higher gear to early you may cause the poor engine to lug.

What bike does brother ride? My r6 redlines about 17000 rpm so I'd be higher in revs than you. I think the r3 reclines about 12000 rpm? If so I'd say try to keep it off there.
 
Are we really advising new riders to redline their bikes now?

That is, assuming most R3 riders are new to riding. That may not always be the case, but not many experienced riders ask when to shift :)
There is absolutely no reason to redline a bike on the street, be that a R3 or an R6.

My suggestion is to ride according to your environment and that usually means don't annoy the hell out of everyone around you.

I ride a fairly loud Ninja1000 and I shift at 3000rpm around town.

Don't be a douche, be considerate when shifting and focus more on smooth shifting & rpm matching. The rest will come with experience.

As for ruining the engine, you probably won't ruin it by redlining since the bike will have a rev limiter on it. However, certainly running a bike with lower RPM's will extend the life of the motor and probably even go longer between service intervals. I know my high compression motocross race bike certainly has more maintenance (valve's get out of spec faster etc) than my trail bike.
 
As others have suggested learn to listen to the engine instead of focusing just on the tachometer - Its going to vary depending on where/how you are riding. R3 doesn’t like low like RPM’s and makes peak power at the top end. If you’re at the track you wouldn’t be shifting until the redline basically. If you’re just on the street driving at a moderate pace a good rule of thumb is to be in a gear where the bike has enough RPM’s to make power (6-7k) but not so much the engine braking is excessive. I keep mine above 3k at all times, 6-9k RPM is probably where my average shift is when commuting.
 
The R3 is quite forgiving, it won't make much difference whether you switch gears at 8K or 12K on the street -- the bike is approaching 20lbs torque and 25HP. If you run at 10.800, you are over 100kmk in 3rd gear.

I would run at 7000 shift at 8000 when running thru the city. If I was running high speed thru the country side on a twisty, I'd up that to 9000 and shift at 10800.

I don't know the actual math on wear and engine speed, I do know it's not linear -- running your bike to redline on every shift will substantially shorten it's life. A well maintained R3 motor in a street bike should go 100K before overhaul -- maybe more. Racers don't mind overhauling engines after a few thousand KM.
 
If you're tearing it apart and rebuilding every couple of thousand kilometres, then shift whenever you like.

Otherwise, shift where the owner's manual recommends. If you don't have an owner's manual, copies can be found online.
 
amp3d said:
Are we really advising new riders to redline their bikes now?

That is, assuming most R3 riders are new to riding. That may not always be the case, but not many experienced riders ask when to shift :)
There is absolutely no reason to redline a bike on the street, be that a R3 or an R6.
Click to expand...


Yes yes, that is exactly what we are advising. Or if you read well, his brother actually suggested it, I had to look up the R3 RL.

My point was different bikes have difference rpm ranges and advised them to listen to the engine rather than looking at the dash
 
I have a loud exhaust so in town I short shift as low as 4k, but mostly around 6-7, and if I have some adrenaline then I almost redline shift taking a ramp merging into highway..
 
meme said:
Yes yes, that is exactly what we are advising. Or if you read well, his brother actually suggested it, I had to look up the R3 RL.

My point was different bikes have difference rpm ranges and advised them to listen to the engine rather than looking at the dash
Click to expand...


wasn't hard to understand what you were getting at

there's no ideal shift point OP
it will depend on several factors
road/weather conditions
in town or on the highway
cruising or accelerating to enter the highway or pass

here's the torque curve
peak torque @ 9,000 RPM
HP continues to build over that as it's an expression of work over time
but you can see most of the usable power is between 7,000 and 9,000
so when accelerating you'd want to stay in that range
cruising through town drop it down to not be a noisy DB
downshifting well is far more of an art than upshifting

https://imgur.com/NgWQ6ks
 
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Basically you want to shift at the lowest RPM possible that will give you what you need. But also, don't shift so low that you're lugging the engine.

I'm sure you've been in an automatic car before, it shifts based on how much power you are requesting via the gas pedal. Just try to mimic this.
 
JavaFan said:
wasn't hard to understand what you were getting at

there's no ideal shift point OP
it will depend on several factors
road/weather conditions
in town or on the highway
cruising or accelerating to enter the highway or pass

here's the torque curve
peak torque @ 9,000 RPM
HP continues to build over that as it's an expression of work over time
but you can see most of the usable power is between 7,000 and 9,000
so when accelerating you'd want to stay in that range
cruising through town drop it down to not be a noisy DB
downshifting well is far more of an art than upshifting

https://imgur.com/NgWQ6ks
Click to expand...
Close, you also have top factor the gearing differentials. For the most part a stock R3 has 2500RPM drop per shift. Under hard acceleration you want that upshift anywhere between 9500 and 10800 otherwise you drop below the powerband. If you're maintaining cruising speed, anything above 5500 is fine.

As for downshifting, that is a skill best learned later. If you're asking gear selection questions, you have some learning to do before getting too deep into downshifting. For now I'd only be downshifting when you need more power to accelerate. R3s do not have a slipper clutch so unless you're a 220+lb rider they will lockup if you stepdown to fast.
 
Found the recommended speeds in the owner's manual:
vrukv0Nh.jpg
 
Baggsy said:
Found the recommended speeds in the owner's manual:
vrukv0Nh.jpg
Click to expand...
The table you show is for cruising speeds, not acceleration. At those shift points you would be out accelerated by a moped.

If you shift to second at 3800RPM you're making 12lbs of torque and 7hp entering 2nd gear - I'd consider that dangerous. Same goes as you move thru the gears, you are way below the RPM that makes accelerating power.

That table might is fine for setting cruising speed, not for acceleration.
 
Don't worry about any numbers, you're not going to watch your tach or speedo all the time. Also the numbers in the manual are more for best fuel economy than anything else. Drive by feel, road conditions, and anticipation. Pointlessly over revving causes extra wear and fuel consumption, and lugging the engine is horrible. That's really all there is to it.


Funny enough, my CB300F manual has the exact same numbers as the R3.
40713
 
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