Shift Points?
 

I just got my 1st bike. A '93 XT600E (North American model). I can putt around the neighborhood, but I'm unsure about shifts... Is there a graph relating speed to RPM to gears? Or a min/max speed by gear (stock). No tach, so I'm just sorta guessing when it's time to up/down shift. I know there is the rev limit light, but trying not to beat-up the engine too much. :confused1:

I generally find 40 - 75 mph in 5th is good for my sense of mechanical sympathy. This is a nice part of the torque curve so I generally use the rest of the gears in the same rev range.

But it is a tractor like engine and don't be worried about thrashing it now and then. It will cope fine (just keep up with the oil level and change interval).

I usually get the red light up once or twice on a ride though. Brisk acceleration away from the lights up to 3rd, that sort of thing.

Expect a top speed of about 90-95 mph.

I'm still -very- new. About 3 hours on a 200 super-moto at the MSF class is my total experience. Not planning on freeway for a while yet. I'm more curious about 0-40MPH or so, for use in town while I learn.

Went out this morning before traffic, and was about 50/50 on smooth shifts into second, but down to 1st I almost always engine-braked and lurched. Any tricks to rev-matching, or is it just experience? I'm in the middle of the city, so finding an empty lot to practice is tricky.

Since this engine has an abundance of torque all over the rev band, you can shift up almost at will. The main thing is to keep the revs up a little and not shift too high and bog down the engine or let it buck. As long as the engine is running smooth after a shift up, you are good. It really just seems to come natural after a while. I don't think about it. Lugging or over reving is bad. When down shifting, let it coast down, and down shift, coast down more and shift down. Don't over think it. If you don't get down to 1st just shift down a couple times before stopping. It is easier to shift down while moving than when stopped. You want to be in 1st and ready to go when stopped.

I have a '93 also
 

With the stock sprockets shouldn't drive to much under 50 mph in 5th.
Depending on your elevation (I ride at 9K - 11K) dropping one tooth on the front makes a WORLD of difference.

You will get used to it, its just a feeling when you ride this bike. I never use RPM for gearchange on any bike.

Thanks for the help folks.
 

Thank you for some solid advice for a rookie. I found this-

Motorcycle Performance Analyzer - Yamaha | Checkout the Xt 600 1989 performance analyzer

Not my year, but it contains all the info I was looking for, giving me the general idea. Looks like 1st is good to ~20MPH, then every 10MPH after that is a shift.

Shift points will be different depending on load, up hill ?, toddling about or cracking on. It'll become second nature when you've ridden the bike for a bit.

Basically no point revving past the point that no more power is available; some bikes have a very linear power curve, others tail off (run out of breath) higher in the rev range and some have nothing at the bottom and loads of top end.

Ride around a lot, up and down the box, toddling and hooning and you'll soon get tuned into your bike's characteristics.

Most bikes I ride have no speedo or rev counter and I wouldn't take much notice even if they did