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A friend of mine told me that I should not use 6th gear on my bike due to the spline issues. I have a 2002 r1150r with 14,000 on the clock. I don't understand why 6th gear should have anything to do with the spline. He said don't use 6th gear on anything under 80mph. Is he full of it or is he right?

krowl wrote:A friend of mine told me that I should not use 6th gear on my bike due to the spline issues. I have a 2002 r1150r with 14,000 on the clock. I don't understand why 6th gear should have anything to do with the spline. He said don't use 6th gear on anything under 80mph. Is he full of it or is he right?

Why then did they put the 6th gear in ? I'll agree to not 'lugging" the engine. but realistically how often do we ride over 80 mph?

Is his motorcycle perhaps a 5 spd....? maybe he's just jealous....

I disagree with the gear/spline statement BTW.

I've an '04 with 70K and I use 6th all the time. I avoid lugging for obvious reasons. If ya got 6th.......use it! (just don't abuse it)

A friend of mine told me that I should not use 6th gear on my bike due to the spline issues. He said don't use 6th gear on anything under 80mph. Is he full of it or is he right?

He is full of it. The OilHead motor has very heavy flywheels for a motorcycle engine, humongous 4 inch diameter pistons and pushrod operated rocker arms, which removes it from the performance crowd, cements it to the standard class and to some extent the add-on windscreen touring crowd. It is NOT a high RPM 5th gear cruising engine. That heavy flywheel, plus the rubber dampened shock absorber integrated into the transmission input shaft, nearly eliminates the low frequency cyclical power stroke torque variations your friend says will speed up spline destruction. Wheelies, burnouts and heavily loaded sustained high speed cruising are what can damage, overheat and destroy the under-engineered clutch spline design.

My 2002 R1150R rarely was out of 6th gear at 50+ MPH, even on average hills at 1/4 throttle. A spline check/clean/lube at 61,877 miles showed minor wear, when some bikes had input shaft total spline failures at less than half that mileage.

CycleRob wrote:A friend of mine told me that I should not use 6th gear on my bike due to the spline issues. He said don't use 6th gear on anything under 80mph. Is he full of it or is he right?

He is full of it. The OilHead motor has very heavy flywheels for a motorcycle engine, humongous 4 inch diameter pistons and pushrod operated rocker arms, which removes it from the performance crowd, cements it to the standard class and to some extent the add-on windscreen touring crowd. It is NOT a high RPM 5th gear cruising engine. That heavy flywheel, plus the rubber dampened shock absorber integrated into the transmission input shaft, nearly eliminates the low frequency cyclical power stroke torque variations your friend says will speed up spline destruction. Wheelies, burnouts and heavily loaded sustained high speed cruising are what can damage, overheat and destroy the under-engineered clutch spline design.

My 2002 R1150R rarely was out of 6th gear at 50+ MPH, even on average hills at 1/4 throttle. A spline check/clean/lube at 61,877 miles showed minor wear, when some bikes had input shaft total spline failures at less than half that mileage.

Exactly... #1!
216,000 miles with a separation and check at 169,000 miles with almost no ware.
Vast majority done in 6th.

The other night when our slow club chip butty outing was trickling along (no overtaking allowed and compulsory use of the 'drop off' system) behind our autocratic run leader, I noted I was in 6th at a steady 2000 rpm. Albeit on a very light throttle. Not my usual riding style and very boring.

I seldom shift into sixth gear below about 60 mph, about 3000 rpm. Maybe I'll try hitting it a little earlier....

I usually roll thru the local park at about 22-25 mph in 6th so I can hear my ipod clearly. The 1100 rpm idle pushes me along quite nicely. I can also hear the 1150"s water pump pushing the antifreeze thru the radiators.

gregor wrote:The other night when our slow club chip butty outing was trickling along (no overtaking allowed and compulsory use of the 'drop off' system) behind our autocratic run leader, I noted I was in 6th at a steady 2000 rpm. Albeit on a very light throttle. Not my usual riding style and very boring.

Sounds like your rideout organiser has totally misunderstood the drop-off system.

It's designed to allow everyone to ride their own ride, fast or slow, overtaking or not, without getting lost. The only person you shouldn't overtake is the ride leader, and the only person who shouldn't overtake anyone in the group at all is the tail-gunner. Everyone else is free to ride however they like (obviously bearing in mind that they'll meetup with everyone again at the far end, so pissing people off tends to not go down too well. )

For reference, I once led a group of 50+ from Woburn to Castle Donnington on minro A-roads using the drop off system - didn't lose a single rider.

I love the tall 6th.

the ONLY time I would make a case for what your friend said, is 2up and/or heavily laden. Like on an RT. In which he might have gotten his info from a CHhris Harris video. he says that almost verbatim. basically saying "don't lug it"

but still 80? my bike prefers 5th up to about low 60's 2up. not even near 80. that's silly.


read cyclerobs post. hes right as usual.

and thanks tower, for making me laugh with the same exact joke almost daily. lug in 6th for monitoring waterpump operation. genius idea.

My R1150 pulls nicely in gears 1-5 from 2000 rpm on up. In 6th it runs great from 2500 rpm which is about 50 mph. Even at 2500 rpm there are zero signs of lugging, the engine is happy as a clam. From a science standpoint, even in 6th at 2500 rpm the input shaft torque is only about 12 lb-ft, a small load, not one that could cause damage.

Thanks for the replies guys! Just a side note: My bike did not come with the water pump Tower. I just mix the antifreeze in with the oil. It smokes a little but that's OK.

Our run leader gives us plenty advice on all the media and face to face, about dropping off, with illustrated diagrams. I hesitate to approach him about overtaking again after being told off. I dislike riding at 30 mph or so in a queue of motorcycles. Maybe he does not realise what is happening further back in the line . But I do enjoy meeting up with the club guys and gals.