High RPM Highway Riding

Here's a question for you guys who really know this motor. I know it's 1/4 of an R1, and that they like to spin up, etc, but after moving to a 47-T rear, she really screams on the highway (moving to an FMF muffler and opening up the air box only adds to the effect). Recently, I added a digital tach/hr. meter and the chip that calibrates the speedo, so I can now see that at 60 MPH I'm turning 7,200 RPM. Often, I ride a good 20 highway miles or so to get to the trail, and it always leaves me wondering if prolonged running at this RPM is shorting the life of the engine.

What say you. Is there an RPM limit you would observe on the highway?

Low_and_Slow wrote:

Here's a question for you guys who really know this motor. I know it's 1/4 of an R1, and that they like to spin up, etc, but after moving to a 47-T rear, she really screams on the highway (moving to an FMF muffler and opening up the air box only adds to the effect). Recently, I added a digital tach/hr. meter and the chip that calibrates the speedo, so I can now see that at 60 MPH I'm turning 7,200 RPM. Often, I ride a good 20 highway miles or so to get to the trail, and it always leaves me wondering if prolonged running at this RPM is shorting the life of the engine.

What say you. Is there an RPM limit you would observe on the highway?

I have the same issue with my 47and the sweet spot for me was 63 mph. I just switched to a 46 tooth sprocket, but have not had a chance to ride it at all. I will let you now what I find.

Your fine.

These bikes are bullet proof.

Ride it like you stole it.

Only other options are change your gearing, or buy a different bike.
Or - use back roads and stay off the interstate.

However - your fine.

I will agree with motokid

Chances are good, and I don't mean to freak you out even more, but chances are good trail riding is harder on engine than extended highway riding.

With highway riding you're getting a shit-ton of fresh air across the radiator and engine.
With trail riding I'd bet the heat build up in the engine is much higher due to less air movement across radiator and engine.

There's a guy here who road his WR across the country (USA). Tank full after tank full of gas with many miles on interstates.

Go to ADVrider.com and see what kind of torture some people put their bikes through.

I've been on a few supermoto group rides where I spent 90% of the day trying to keep up with Aprilia's, KTM's, and Huskies.
I got about 40 miles per gallon that day because there was almost never a time I wasn't trying to twist the throttle past the stop.
I know I spent a lot of time just near the rev limiter, or bouncing off it.

20 miles on a highway.....shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit........bike's just getting warmed up.

last june i did 5000 miles in 2 weeks. I was doing 75 mph on highway at 10000rpm.

I have a 2013 WRR, when it had a 1,000 miles on it I rode it from Irvine California to Cleveland Ohio and back nearly wide open the whole trip. I remember racing with a beat up Chevy Corsica clear through Colorado at 99mph literally 6th gear pinned through the entire state. I know ignorant right, but I did it and the bike made it. Over 8,000 miles on it now and runs 100% still.

Gruvey12 wrote:

I have a 2013 WRR, when it had a 1,000 miles on it I rode it from Irvine California to Cleveland Ohio and back nearly wide open the whole trip. I remember racing with a beat up Chevy Corsica clear through Colorado at 99mph literally 6th gear pinned through the entire state. I know ignorant right, but I did it and the bike made it. Over 8,000 miles on it now and runs 100% still.

99mph lterally? downhill both ways?

4play wrote:

Gruvey12 wrote:

I have a 2013 WRR, when it had a 1,000 miles on it I rode it from Irvine California to Cleveland Ohio and back nearly wide open the whole trip. I remember racing with a beat up Chevy Corsica clear through Colorado at 99mph literally 6th gear pinned through the entire state. I know ignorant right, but I did it and the bike made it. Over 8,000 miles on it now and runs 100% still.

99mph lterally? downhill both ways?

Yeah, it's good to hear this little motor can hack it, but 99 MPH? With my spot-on calibrated speedo, I'm lucky to see 75 (granted, I'm geared down and running at 10,000 feet MSL). Never tried it, but even at sea level, I have a hard time believing this bike can pull a ton.

Ok ran the 46 tooth. It was just want I wated. I cruise at 70 mph much better, but still have a good grunt of power. I am keeping the 47 tooth increase I go to a taller rear tire though.

I did recently download a speedometer app onto my iPhone and found that 80 mph on my bike was more like 77Mph on GPS. I have a completely stock California WRR, the only upgrade is a K&N filter. It won't always hit the 99 mph, but at least 94-95. And I say 99, because it will not hit 100mph. I weigh 160lbs and had on Pirelli Scorpion A/T's for the long trip, but it will still hit 99mph with my cheap Shinko 244's on it now.

I just completed a trip to San Fran and back with a buddy of mine. I was on the WR and he was on an SV650. Both of us are pretty sporty riders and like to go very fast (while checking out awesome scenery). Anyway, with a 45-tooth, I was consistently hitting high 80s for long distances on the freeways around SLO and Santa Barbara, to the point where the internals of my FMF were getting red hot. Trip completed, I checked the valves and the spark plug. Plug was light brown with plenty of wear left, and valves had barely moved since my last check 5k miles ago. Long story short, you're fine.

Gruvey12 wrote:

I have a 2013 WRR, when it had a 1,000 miles on it I rode it from Irvine California to Cleveland Ohio and back nearly wide open the whole trip. I remember racing with a beat up Chevy Corsica clear through Colorado at 99mph literally 6th gear pinned through the entire state. I know ignorant right, but I did it and the bike made it. Over 8,000 miles on it now and runs 100% still.

My WR will top out at 125 mph...when it gets pushed out of the back of a C130 at 12,000 feet

i run 13-48 gearing with a D606 rear and i have done heaps of km's at 110km/h(100km to work and back everyday)...bike is now on 56000km+ and still going well

I don't know, these little engines have been in Yamaha's lineup for quite a while, and are fairly mildly tuned in the WR.  As long as they are maintained, I think they will put up with a lot more punishment than running down the highway WFO will do.

pfy50 wrote:

Tewster2 wrote:

Gruvey12 wrote:

I have a 2013 WRR, when it had a 1,000 miles on it I rode it from Irvine California to Cleveland Ohio and back nearly wide open the whole trip. I remember racing with a beat up Chevy Corsica clear through Colorado at 99mph literally 6th gear pinned through the entire state. I know ignorant right, but I did it and the bike made it. Over 8,000 miles on it now and runs 100% still.

My WR will top out at 125 mph...when it gets pushed out of the back of a C130 at 12,000 feet

I like these ultimate speed tests. They really mean nothing. Only that the longer and higher you run the bike the sooner your going to have to rebuild or replace it. It is a simple matter of metal on metal friction.

molycbr123 wrote:

I don't know, these little engines have been in Yamaha's lineup for quite a while, and are fairly mildly tuned in the WR.  As long as they are maintained, I think they will put up with a lot more punishment than running down the highway WFO will do.

One's a subjective wish the other a realistic guess. Top mileage I've seen so far was around 70K and he had to rebuild the topend. So the WRR is probably not going to have a 250k,500k,1M club like BMW, but it has only been around for 6-7years so we'll have to wait and see.

Deo Volente

pfy50 wrote:

pfy50 wrote:

Tewster2 wrote:

Gruvey12 wrote:

I have a 2013 WRR, when it had a 1,000 miles on it I rode it from Irvine California to Cleveland Ohio and back nearly wide open the whole trip. I remember racing with a beat up Chevy Corsica clear through Colorado at 99mph literally 6th gear pinned through the entire state. I know ignorant right, but I did it and the bike made it. Over 8,000 miles on it now and runs 100% still.

My WR will top out at 125 mph...when it gets pushed out of the back of a C130 at 12,000 feet

I like these ultimate speed tests. They really mean nothing. Only that the longer and higher you run the bike the sooner your going to have to rebuild or replace it. It is a simple matter of metal on metal friction.

molycbr123 wrote:

I don't know, these little engines have been in Yamaha's lineup for quite a while, and are fairly mildly tuned in the WR.  As long as they are maintained, I think they will put up with a lot more punishment than running down the highway WFO will do.

One's a subjective wish the other a realistic guess. Top mileage I've seen so far was around 70K and he had to rebuild the topend. So the WRR is probably not going to have a 250k,500k,1M club like BMW, but it has only been around for 6-7years so we'll have to wait and see.

Deo Volente

70k is pretty impressive mileage for most any small bore thumper.  I doubt many on here will put in that kind of mileage before moving on to something different, although I could be wrong.
 
I still feel that these little bikes can run up and down the highways almost indefinitely without any real damage. I would be much less surprised by an engine failure in someone who rode their's hard off road.  Even if a top end rebuild is eventually required, the job is almost ridiculously inexpensive, relatively speaking.  Probably about the cost for a set of footpegs for a BWM.

Time will tell...

the day i see it...my little wr is 1/4 of a R1...the R1 puts out well over 160 hp.....or well over 40 hp per 250cc cylinder...my wr about maybe 30....so the wr is way undertuned and stressed as compared to an R1....R1 redline is over 14,000 rpm....wr about 10,000....wr piston speed is much less than the R1...many inline fours run for well over 100,000 miles....my friend has one....102,000 so far...so i expect my wr will run at least 100,000 before i need to check on it....with proper oil and pressure there is never any metal to metal contact except at start up....i'll never shut off my wr and run it wide open all the time

You logic has one flaw & that's load. Cruising 75 mph the wind load is about the same on both bikes, so it takes about the same HP to cruise 75 mph on either bike. The R-1 spreads that load over 4 cylinders & cruises at about 20%, the WRR is at 80% or 100% if there is a headwind.

i expect my wr to run for a million miles....but only if I use a different brand of oil at each change on a serious note...the things are so cheap to rebuild i'll ride it slow, fast, and in between....as long as i'm having fun i'll stick a piston and rings in it when it develops a cough...right now, i'm off for another ride

Ya, nothing to worry about. This summer I rode from the U.P in Michigan to my home town of standish, which Is around 100 miles give or take, down I 75 with the throttle pinned the whole way. She took the 90+ quite well as I would have guessed. But to my surprise, it was just sipping fuel. Best MPG observed during that trip.

Those of you who want to do a lot of high RPM hyway droning on the R2 should read the thread on and think about upgrading the Rectifier to a series Mosfet unit to keep the Stator from overheating and frying.