Highway v. in town riding

General motorcycle conversation

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nickjtc
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:49 pm
Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada

Highway v. in town riding

Postby nickjtc » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:35 am

My riding at the moment consists of a simple 440km 'commute' each way (one way on Sunday, the other on Friday) to and from my new job. The ride is all highway, at various posted speeds. There are a few interesting bends along the way, but it is mainly an 'enjoy the scenery' trip. I can, and do, vary the route, to a certain extent. I've been doing it every week for over a month, and the novelty has still not worn off, not least because am riding a new (to me) bike.

So here's the question: is riding like that 'better' for the bike? As in: longer, steady state loads on the motor and chassis, rather than lots of stop and start in-town riding.

Just curious what the forum thinks.....
.....to be myself, a pattern for others.

1979 CB650
1971 Norton Commando
1968 CB175

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Ibsen
Posts: 375
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:09 pm
Location: Kongsvinger, Norway
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Postby Ibsen » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:51 pm

I do both actually. Both riding in town, and 150-250km rides. But I do belive that the longer rides are much better for both the egine and the chassi.

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kbailey
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 7:43 pm
Location: central Iowa USA

I agree

Postby kbailey » Fri Jul 28, 2006 12:59 am

I agree. highway riding with its constant loads and steady RPMs would be easier on many of the engines parts. the suspension and chassis also don't tend to work as hard on the (typically) smoother highway surfaces.

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Volker_P
Posts: 5508
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:53 am
Location: southern Germany

Re: Highway v. in town riding

Postby Volker_P » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:06 am

Due to the air cooling the engine gets quite hot in town in summer. You can run at a high speed at the highway to get it comparable hot. Due to the transmission of the CB going on the road means running at higher rpm which however is no problem for this engine when it's warm and oil is enough and not old. The loads on the wheels and their bearings, of the brakes and so on rise with speed, same for the chain but here maintenance status is also decisive. So it depends a bit what you are looking on.
For all cases, it is a good idea to get the engine really warm before you really open the throttle.
I avoid going through towns with the motorcycle as it is much more dangerous and provides no fun. And I am faster with a bicycle (this point may vary somewhat with fitness and the relationship to redlights :wink: ).
Presently most rides with my CB are around 200km.

tsp37
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:01 pm

Postby tsp37 » Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:21 pm

Most of the wear and tear on an engine is with a cold start. Lots of short trips will wear an engine badly. With fewer long trips, you can put a lot of miles on an engine. The salesmen (road warriors) that drop in to see me at work can have well over 200k miles on a late model car and the car still runs strong. An urban vehicle with 40k is worn out.

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Vatch
Posts: 232
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:26 am
Location: West Virginia, USA

Postby Vatch » Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:07 pm

Long trips are better for the bike, worse on your underwear.
'99 1500 Drifter


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