I would be inclined to side with thundermug, if you gas it and it bogs down then grab a lower gear, unless you do it all the time, I see no real harm in it. I and others I ride with enjoy the low speed cruise. Usually around 3G to 3200 on take it easy rides. My evo doesn't need any where near 5000 rpm shift point to get down the road. Above that rpm usually comes from folks that are used to the higher rpms of rice burners, but generally, harleys don't rely on rpm to move down the road at a smart pace. IMO

 

I never said I run my engine that slow. Better performance is found at higher RPMs.
However, mine says to the shift speeds are:

1-2....15mph
2-3....25 mph
3-4....35
4-5....45

I usually shift at higher speeds though. It all depends on how fast I am accelerating.

 

Here again, it's as you said: how fast you're accellerating. Defining "lugging" in my unwarranted opinion is simply having too much throttle at a given rpm that has no noticable accelleration effect - I may shift to 2nd at 20, 3rd at 30 and so forth if I'm just easing along, but wouldn't think of doing that with a handful of gas.
So it really doesn't have so much to do with a SPECIFIC rpm, but rather too much throttle for the displacement of gasses.
The book recommendations are fine for keeping up with normal traffic. But even that would be "lugging" if you wanted to shoot ahead of them to change lanes or whatnot, and any of us with a brain knows to rev it a bit to do that.

 

Well said.

All this talk of rpm, but not enough mention of what gear vs mph.

That would be lugging. Time to ease off the throttle, or downshift.
You are torquing you components and wearing them faster.

Bike don't have to jerk, rattle and shake to be lugging.

 

One thing not mentioned is that Twin Cams rev much easier than Evos, but (for me anyway) my Evo always seemed to have more bottom end. Maybe it was the gearing too. But on my Evo Dyna (basically stock) I could let out the clutch without any throttle and it would just roll away. Not on my 08 Road Glide, even with a 103". I know the bike is a lot heavier, and the gearing different, but it doesn't have that bottom end -- yet it likes to rev much more (and smoother) than the Dyna did.

 

You are right on about the EVO. You just let the clutch out at idle, and it takes off like a John Deere tractor. I was amazed the first time I rode my 99 Softail Custom. I always had to give my old Sporty a little gas when taking off. Maybe that is why so many talk of lugging their bikes. I have not ridden a twin cam, so I do not know. I think the low compression ratio probably helps this also. Just my 2 cents.

 

I don't have a tach nor a shift light. Guess I'm screwed. I find it hard to believe people look at thier tachs every time they shift. I mean, eventually there has to come a time when you become "familiar" with your bike, that you can recognize the need to shift up or down by feel without having to depend on a tach or a light. I mean...c'mon..
Am I alone on this thinking?

 

no sir. i didn't have a tach on the last bike, don't have one on this bike.

the bike tells you when to shift and how to shift

some guys before me said it better than i can. quad dancer and faast ed have taken care of putting it into words.

drop a gear if you grab some throttle and don't feel the bike responding accordingly. shift up if the bike starts to scream and you're winding the gears out.

it's a simple pushrod motor, people. not rocket science.

 

I do not use a tach, but I have had air-cooled motors for years in one form or another. I use the old time-tested rule of thumb, which is using the speedometer as a guide. Air-cooled motors hate to be lugged, period. And, by the time you FEEL the motor chugging, you are doing damage by that point. I shift into 2nd around 15mph, 3rd around 25-30, 4th at 40, and 5th at 50. I do admit that I have a 6-speed box, but I will not hit 6th until around 65. Because of gearing, my wife's 883 can be shifted slightly different, but if you use your speedometer and watch your tach, you can marry up the numbers and find the range you need to be in.

 

I tried this today for ***** and grins. The ***** win, my FLH bucked and jerked starting slightly at 1400 rpm. I spent all day shifting at 2500 rpm in normal cruising. I noticed that every gear shift at 2500, dropped me right at 2000ish...every time. And I got 4 more mpg.