Speed & Long Distance Trips

I know that I touched briefly on this in another post... However, I was hoping to get a few opinions...
I know that my bike (82 xj650 maxim) tops out at about 130 -give or take. And I take it up to about 75mph on the highway for about 15 miles every day. At 75 I'm only rolling about 5k rpm.

I guess I'm wondering if this bike was made to handle long trips at this speed our not? My old bike was a bit bigger and didn't seem to rev up so high on highway and I'm afraid that a 100 -200 mile trip may wear out its ticker. :?

 

I am wondering the same thing. I drove mine three hours across Florida once at around 70 avg speed. I am to wanting to ride a long ride at those speeds but wondering how it will do. I am sure it is fine, but better safe than sorry.

 

Well the 650 maxims don't redline until what, 9500? It should be able to run 5000-6000 all day. That's when they are just waking up, power wise.

 

You should do a little reading of the comments by the Motorcycling Press about these XJ-Bikes after they had time to evaluate some data.

Our Engines are Mass-market developed and engineered using the famous Yamaha 4-Cylinder Race Engine as its platform.

6000 rpm's is an "All-day" Cruise speed.
At 6K revs, ... you still got a ways to go before you're at Red Line.

If you got good tires.
If your Headset Bearings are still good enough to let her track straight.
If you can handle the racket a DOHC Mill makes wound-up a bit, ...
Get ... on ... it!

 

I drive about 175-275 miles every weekend at 75-85 miles an hour with no problems. If your bike is tuned and running properly, there isn't a problem running at those speeds all day long. Just keep in mind that you will tend to use a little more oil at higher RPM's so keep an eye on it at regular intervals. Also, your 650 will be turning closer to 6 thousand RPM's than 5 thousand at that speed but that still isn't a problem when red line is 9500. Most important, make sure bike is capable of handling those speeds with good brakes, proper tire pressures and appropriate riding attire.

Lastly, it is much more fatiguing driving at higher speeds so be especially careful.

 

Good advice.

"If your bike is tuned and running properly" is the key; then you can run 6K rpm all day.

Re: Oil consumption-- also good advice, but I've discovered that since I switched to Castrol Act>evo 4T Semi-synth I've had almost zero oil consumption compared to what I used to see with conventional (motorcycle) oil.

 

I usually when getting on a highway run in 3rd gear to about 8K before I go to 4th gear I am already doing 70 at that point. when I shift to 4th I am doing 80 before I get to 8K again at that point I cut her off and shift to 5th. These my 82 XJ650 really starts to make power around 7K and seems to top off some around 8.5/9K I know my bike will run at 5.5 RPM all day long or as long as 2.5 gallons of gas will take me.

 

Thanks a lot! looks like I get to do some Indy trips!

 

I rode my bike from New York to Strugis SD last year. I put on 4000 miles in a few weeks. I did change the oil during the trip. Most of the time I was traveling @ 75 many times the traffic was doing 80 - 85 as was I. I also did part of the trip 2up with 75lbs of gear. Made the Harley jealous as I was still blowing their doors off with my little 550! I only problems I had was I over filled the oil ((extra weight gear) make it tough to get off center stand) and at high speed it came out the breather. The starter solenoid did fail once at the end of the day 10hrs of 80mph in 104 temps. As soon as it cooled it worked again I replaced it anyway. Put 10,000 miles on the bike in the last year.

 

I've been running that Castrol T-4 20/50, to ... Fitz.

I used to have to dribble a little into the Bike, ... after an outing where I goosed-it all day.

Lately. No ... oil ... consumption!!!