Up Hill Battle & Wheelies

[riceburner_imp]

Use the gears to keep the rpm's in the powerband,that's what the transmission is for.If the grade is steep enough the mph might be slower than desired,but the engine will pull.That's why you see slow tractor trailers on long steep grades pulling 80,000 lbs with only 300 or 350 horsepower.Once went up I80east out of Salt Lake City with a 300 Cummins and 80,000 lbs at 11 mph,took almost an hour to hit the top,got passed by a UPS truck,it was embarrassing.

[offroadfx4_imp]

On my recent trip to BRP I found myself compelled to down shift when the RPM's dropped below 3000.

It's happy place was 3000-5000.

If I needed to pass someone quickly, up to 7000 was plenty.

But I estimated the difference between 1st and 2nd was 2000 rpm while 2-3 or 3-4 was 1000 rpm, which made dropping to 1st unpleasant.

[the Ferret]

I can't imagine the hill that couldn't be taken in at least 2nd on the CB. A serious sharp turn on a hill may require a drop to first to negotiate but I have ridden up some seriously steep hills in Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina in 2nd and third gears.

[CIP57_imp]

I can't imagine the hill that couldn't be taken in at least 2nd on the CB. A serious sharp turn on a hill may require a drop to first to negotiate but I have ridden up some seriously steep hills in Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina in 2nd and third gears.

I agree, 2nd is the power gear, maybe off road uphill negotiating pot holes you would be in first.

There are a lot of similarity between a motor's torque and human torque. When bicycling up a grade you would never see a professional in a gear that would cause him to max out torque and cause burn, there always spinning. Torque builds big muscles and burn out rather than endurance. Same with a motor, its much happier and less stressed at higher RPM. A motor will be less stressed up hill spinning at 5000rpm's than 2500 rpm's.

[4 Paws_imp]

I doubt there any public roads with steeper hills than my neighborhood. A couple of folks visited for a cookout during the Bland Rally and got a sample.. Second gear gives me a lot of speed and power options on the tight up hills, first spins out too much. On one dirt gravel seriously uphill road I need to have a flying start and lean over the handlebars while in second to make it up the hill. Definitely not a night time road.

I use second gear usually and run 15 - 25 mpg through the "neighborhood" - too many deer and turkey to go faster. Out cruising on the hills up to the BRP which are pretty tight and twisty I'm usually in 3rd running 35-40, on the bigger sweepers and faster fun roads I try and stay in 4th to take advantage of engine braking to slow down enough for the next curve.
Our inline 4 cylinder gives us a lot of options and enjoys the advantage of some midrange grunt to go along with availability of high end RPMs.

Rode a few thumpers around here recently and discovered they like to stall out, surprised me. Dual sports are geared differently, not necessarily better.

Anybody for a supercharger?

[memphismike_imp]

We just got back a week ago from the BRP and surrounding areas. The wife and I were on the GoldWing...all I kept thinking was..."it would be nice to have the CB1100 up here by myself for a few days"!! Don't get me wrong...love traveling with the wife, but I really want to hit those roads on the CB!


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