Rev Limiter and Chain life.

So forgot to mention the other day when writing in ....

When i had my bike dyno'd at "The Wheelsmith" we agreed to set the Rev Limiter to 10,000 . Now to do the mapping without touching into the limiter revs need to be set at 10.300 - Previously during Mapping with the limiter set to 10,100 testing at the 10,000 spot would hit the limiter anyway causing the engine to skip out .... Soooooo the Dyno guy set Limiter to 10,300 to do the mapping ....

Now the guy asked me how often i thought i might hit 10,000 rpm and how often was i hitting the stock 9,600 , i told him i was hitting the 9,600 often as it just felt too short for me and i added thought i would use every bit of 10,000 rpm if i had it ....... Now during the talk AFTER the mapping i was talking about rev limiter with him - it was then i sorta detected in his tone ( i'm pretty perseptive ) that he did NOT reset the limit to 10,000 from the 10,300 necessary to do mapping - though he said yes in fact it had been reset down to 10,000 .......

So this bike is relatively new to me having been riding it only 6 months now. So dealing with all the other modifications ( suspension ) tyres - blah blah blah i never really focused on whether or not the bike was Revving higher than the 10,000 dyno guy said it was now set at. HUmmmmmmmm.....

The other day ( yesterday or 2 days ago - don't remember ) i'm getting all used to the bike now and "Remembered" the conversation with the Dyno guy and decided to pay close attention to what RPM bike hits before Limiter kicks in .................

You guessed it 10,300 rpm ... HOLY SHIAT !!!! And i do hit that rev limiter on purpose when i'm really riding aggressive just to make sure i'm using all the available rpm and power......... So Shiat - 10,300 guys - just so you know - i'm the Guinea Pig on this one !!!

The point is - why don't shops do what they're supposto do - Jaesus !!! I will say this - bike RIPS up to that 10,300 rpm and i don't notice one bit of power drop off all the way there.... KABOOM !!! better not blow but i tell ya "FOOKING NICE MAN" .............

NUMBER 2 : My chain ! i bought bike with 8 thou miles on it - it was immaculate - Chain / sprockets 16 up front dampened and 40 on back and chain looked great !!! I don't know if that's the original chain or not so can't verify if it had 8 thousand miles on the chain when i bought it -----

The question : I've put almost 9 thousand miles on the bike in 6 months . I have been lubing pretty religiously about every 4-500 miles. The chain has shown very little stretch ( and i ride damn hard ) and the sprockets look like there's basically no wear on them at all - What's you guys typical lube interval ( time wise ) and how many miles should i expect to get out of a chain/sprocket set on this bike --- At this rate i'd say i should get 15 - 16 thousand miles out of the chain / sprocket set ... Normal ?

Johnny

RPM's are irrelevant, its the ability to flow sufficient air at those RPM's that really give you power. My RX8's engine can rev to 14K RPM's with no internal damage, it still begins to lose power after about 9K RPM. I would keep the red line at 10K or 9.8K personally. That's still pretty high for a big twin. Any more and I'd be concerned with putting too much pressure on the internals.

My 08 SDR makes power all the way up to redline (I believe 10300 is stock on SDR) and it would probably keep pulling a little bit past that if not limited. I've hit the limiter quite a few times at track days, and I'm pretty sure the factory would not set it that high if the motor could not handle it.

Chain wear if mostly due to the dirt accumulated on the chain, so if you clean and lube the chain religiously, it should last quite a few miles. I've seen chains gone in 5k miles due to no lube + dirt.

Is that "Wheelsmith" in San Rafael? If it is, what did he charge? If you don't mind me asking. I got a quote for $750 and my jaw just about hit the ground. No way I have that amount of cash to sling around. I just ordered a cable for Tune ECU and going load one of the maps available then have a local dyno shop fine tune it for $100.

I clean my chain without removing the chain from the bike. I use a rear wheel stand. I still have all my fingers too. I do ride on some gravel roads and when I clean my chain I wear gloves and use a stiff brush to get all the dirt off I can. WD-40 will loosen some of the gunk. I lube the chain with motor oil from the inside and let the oil fling the remaining dirt out. This is not for everyone, but I do the flinging with the motor running as it is on the rear wheel stand and make sure the oil is not on the tyre before I ride. When I don't get in the dirt I use Tri-Flow Industrial Lubricant with Teflon. Make sure to shake the Teflon to mix the mix before lubing. I get 20K-30K from my street bikes chains. The key is to keep the chain from rusting. The rust will tear the O or X rings and will let the factory lube out of the chain.

I got 15k miles out of my original chain and sprockets and that was with the lovely British weather and my often neglectful lubing intervals.

EDIT: Actually whilst I think about it, are the rev limits and chain the same on all SDs (excluding the R's rev limit of course). I'm sure I saw 9600rpm on a map for the 05 though I'm not sure if that was a very safe map or not.

RE chain my SD has over 6000 road miles + about 15 trackdays under it's belt, rarely needs adjustment, still original chain and sprockets