08-05-2017, 09:10 PM
The only flaw I see in Randys explanation is " horsepower will always rise as rpm increases" and that is not true. Most often the hp decreases in the far reaches of the rpm band having peaked earlier, often well before redline. The horsepower graph often looks like a lopsided mountain a long rise, a peak and a short drop off after the peak. If peak hp is at 10,000 and drops off after that, and redline is at 13,000, there is little need to rev to redline, since at that point, you are actually losing power. That's why they invented shift lights, to tell riders when is the optimum time to shift to take advantage of maximum horsepower.