Hey ya'll,

I've got my '95 that I've been bumming around town on the last couple weeks and never really had a chance to open it up in 5th gear on the highway until recently. I was looking for some guidance/opinions from you guys.

It seems to be revving a little higher than I seem to remember so I adjusted the clutch lever as many of you have mentioned in other threads but I'm still concerned about possible slip in 5th gear. I'll explain the scenario below:

I'm in 4th going 45 mph to 50 mph and then shift up to 5th gear. The revs drop to about 3000 RPM and then quickly climb back to 4500 (and 5000) RPM before I get above 70 mph.

I guess I want to know what your highway experiences are with your bike (RPM's to MPH, etc.). I'm wondering if it might be time to change out the springs and clutch pack. FYI the bike has 17,500 miles on it.

Thanks,

What happens if you shift to 5th and give it full throttle? Do the rpms just run away without gaining speed in proportion to rpm? That's slipping.

Just in case ... What oil and weight are you using?

I found on my bike, it's a fine line between clutch not dragging and clutch not slipping, as far as cable adjustment. I had to go past the dragging stage to slipping, then adjust very slightly until there was no slippage and no dragging. It had just one spot where it had to be.

The bike had the wrong oil when I first got it, so those adjustments were just after switching to Rotella 15w40. Clutch adjustment is one thing I haven't experimented with, once it worked, I left it alone.

I can always tell I'm in 5th gear if my tach is [email protected], [email protected] Can't remember what 80 mph is, been a while since I rode those speeds. 5th is not very tall, your rpms at 70 sound fairly normal to me

RPM's climb quicker than when I initially got the bike but almost proportionally to the mph.

I don't know what the PO used but I was going to change it out with Castrol GTX High Mileage 10w40 since that's what the manual calls out.

That's good to know that I'm in the relative ballpark.

Thanks!

Don't use automotive oils, use something with the JASO-MA spec. This includes pretty much all 10w-40 motorcycle oils (a little pricey, but can be worth it) or Shell Rotella 15w-40. (Rotella T4 & T6 are very popular here and on many other motorcycle forums. I used to run it, now I have Castrol Actevo 10w-40 in mine.)

Again, do NOT use automotive oils. This can contribute to clutch slippage.

BTW, this bike is OK to rev high. You don't have to shift at 3k rpm like a car, this engine seems to make best power and act happiest at 4k-6k RPM in my opinion. 70-80 mph you ought to be turning about 5k rpm or higher, it's just the way these were built.

High Mileage sounds like something with friction modifiers. Make sure it doesn't have 'energy conserving' on the rating seal.

Thanks for the pointers! You're not the first person that has mentioned using Rotella (outside this forum) so I'll go with that instead!

Nice graphic! Thanks for the help!