Posted by M.Badger on November 24, 2009, 8:01 am
TOG@Toil wrote:
>> M.Badger wrote:
>> > If the revs bother you, mask your rev counter :)
>>
>> That is almost always the right answer when someone says their bike revs
>> too high on the highway.
>>
>> With stock gearing, a 130/90-16 rear tire and an overall reduction
>> of 6.25 in 6th, the KZ550 is turning about 5000 RPM at 60 mph, which
>> is not high at all. Speed in 1st gear at redline is about 42 mph, so
>> if the OP is really only getting up to 20 mph in 1st gear at redline,
>> someone has *really* screwed with the gearing.
>
> Looks that way.
Yebbut the rear sprocket must be the size of a dinnerplate to drop it -that-
much. I suspect the OP may just not be used to how much these little fours
rev.
>
> They're lovely little engines, those 550s. I lost my licence on a 1984
> GPz550, the first ZX model. "In excess of 118mph" it said on the
> summons. The police who nicked me observed that I was actually pulling
> away from them at the time, but the police car would go no faster, so
> 118 was the figure. The bike was indicating just under 130 at the
> time.
I rather liked the UniTrak GPz550. A good looking, sweet handling bike for
the time. ISTR it thrived on revs. Really came alive in the upper 3rd of
the rev range.
>
> I also took a GT550 (the shaft-driven one: did you ever get that in
> the US) around France once. That had what was basically the engine
> from the first GPz550H1 in it, so very whizzy but not as peaky as the
> ZX. Still needed winding up, though. That would easily indicate 120mph
> solo. Comfy, too: they sold zillions of the things here to despatch
> riders.
Our works pool bike for despatching was a GT750. Wretched looking thing, but
would run flat out on Motorways day in, day out, screaming the 'nads off it
without complaint. As it was the pool bike, it was subjected to the sort of
outright abuse that we wouldn't mete out to our own precious steeds.
Thrashing them when they've warmed up doesn't kill them. Lack of oil
changes and thrashing from cold probably would. No matter what we did, it
steadfastly refused to die.
We treated it to a can of beer when it reached 100,000 miles. Well, we
poured a can of beer over it. It was 18 months old, so it was kind of its
18th birthday too!
>
> The LTD is a rare beast in the UK. Generally, we don't do the cruser
> thing, and those who do tend to buy ones designed as cruisers from the
> ground up, rather than the bastardised roadsters that predominated in
> the late 1970s/early 1980s.
Posted by Mark Olson on November 24, 2009, 8:12 am
M.Badger wrote:
> I rather liked the UniTrak GPz550. A good looking, sweet handling bike for
> the time. ISTR it thrived on revs. Really came alive in the upper 3rd of
> the rev range.
I _loved_ mine. http://www.visi.com/~olsonm/GPz550.jpg Very comfy rear
suspension for a little bike, the Uni-Trak was very supple over small
bumps.
Posted by M.Badger on November 24, 2009, 9:07 am
Mark Olson wrote:
> M.Badger wrote:
>
>> I rather liked the UniTrak GPz550. A good looking, sweet handling bike
>> for the time. ISTR it thrived on revs. Really came alive in the upper 3rd
>> of the rev range.
>
> I _loved_ mine. http://www.visi.com/~olsonm/GPz550.jpg Very comfy rear
> suspension for a little bike, the Uni-Trak was very supple over small
> bumps.
Looking at that, a couple of things come to mind. Firstly, what a good
looking bike it was, and still is.
Secondly, it looks 'together', and finally, my ( rather crap ) arbiter. When
I park a bike up and walk away from it, do I turn and look at it again?.
My current Bandit?, yes, every time. My XJ650?, yes, every time ( ged, I
miss that bike ). My SD900?, hell, I'll park that and just stare at it!. My
old TransAlp?, sometimes. When I had an ER-5, or an XJ750 or the ZG1000
Concours?. Can't say I ever did.
That GPz would always get a second glance as I walked away.
Posted by =?UTF-8?B?4LmC4Lit4LihIOC4oeC4? on November 24, 2009, 7:54 am
> Speed in 1st gear at redline is about 42 mph, so
> if the OP is really only getting up to 20 mph in 1st gear at redline,
> someone has *really* screwed with the gearing.
OTOH, the OP may just be noticing that his transmission has a rather
"low" first gear, compared to the other five gears.
Posted by Mark Olson on November 24, 2009, 8:07 am
โอม มณี ปัทเม หุม wrote:
>
>> Speed in 1st gear at redline is about 42 mph, so
>> if the OP is really only getting up to 20 mph in 1st gear at redline,
>> someone has *really* screwed with the gearing.
>
> OTOH, the OP may just be noticing that his transmission has a rather
> "low" first gear, compared to the other five gears.
This is an exact quote from the OP: "It redlines at 20 mph in first
gear".
Sure, 1st is lower than the rest of the gears. I've had a look at the
gear ratios for that model and unless someone has lowered the final
drive gearing from 2.37:1 to about 5:1 he's exaggerating by quite a bit,
or his speedometer and/or tachometer aren't working right.
My guess is he was just throwing out a WAG and hasn't actually run it
up to redline in 1st while carefully watching the speedometer and
tachometer. None of that matters, if he's replacing the chain and
sprockets it would be best to simply start with the stock sizes and not
worry about how fast his engine is turning at highway speeds. That
engine has no problem running 6000 RPM or more all day long.
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>> > If the revs bother you, mask your rev counter :)
>>
>> That is almost always the right answer when someone says their bike revs
>> too high on the highway.
>>
>> With stock gearing, a 130/90-16 rear tire and an overall reduction
>> of 6.25 in 6th, the KZ550 is turning about 5000 RPM at 60 mph, which
>> is not high at all. Speed in 1st gear at redline is about 42 mph, so
>> if the OP is really only getting up to 20 mph in 1st gear at redline,
>> someone has *really* screwed with the gearing.
>
> Looks that way.