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mezap
03-27-2007, 02:28 AM
...um, guys? Need some enlightenment. Got the s**t scared out of me this weekend, don't know exactly what happened. Was on my way to Suches to ride some curves, got stuck behind a cager. Accepted it for a ways but they were beating their brake pedal to death and killing my ride, so I went to pass them. Took it up a notch or two, not trying to be a smart-ass, just wanting to get around them, about the time I got parallel to the cage a semi appears on the horizon heading my way. I twisted the throttle and the last time I looked down I was still only around 5000 rpm so I wasn't close to redline, but when I saw the truck I started focusing on getting out of the way. I'm not sure where the tach was when it happened, but all of the sudden the engine started losing power, like I had blown a gasket or fouled a plug really bad, like the fuel got shut off. I have never had to push a bike till it hit the rev-limiter, so I don't know if that was it or not. Like I said, I thought I had more room on the tach, but I can't be sure. I backed off on the throttle, and she woke back up and we got our asses out of the way, but I had completely run out of room by this time. Scared my buddy even worse than it did me. I just thank God he didn't follow me, or he would have either run over me or not made it. I would have tried to drop back and take my place back behind the cage, but knowing how they close the gap once you pull out I didn't want to risk not having anywhere to go so I stayed with plan A. I don't know what happened, if I just hit the limit or what, but I need to know so that this NEVER happens again. I can work within the limitations of the bike, I just need to know what they are. Is this a common occurance, or maybe someone can tell me how a bike (especially the XB12s) acts when you hit the limiter, or am I mistaken, does the buell even have a limiter? She acts like nothing ever happened, still peppy, nice torque, she has a little over 2000 miles now, I observed all the guidelines while breaking her in, and I don't ride hard, I just got my back up against a wall for a second there. I have done the first oil/tranny fluid changes, shes still consuming a little oil, but I figure its still young, a little more seating to do, no smoke, reset the TPS at 1000 miles, shes running fine! Just don't know what the heck happened Saturday. Its like she just choked. I was pretty close to wide open throttle, could it be that there was just too much fuel going in and I started to foul a plug? Any ideas? This one was way too close!

07xb12r
03-27-2007, 03:01 AM
hey mezap, sorry 'bout the close call bud. The limit is 6800 on the 12's. Wish it was a bit higher, but thats it. The 9's rev higher. What you described sounds just like you hit the limit, since you got power back after you let off. Sorry you had to find out like that. Not to tell you what to do, but I try and find all the limits on some isolated roads first. You had better get used to that front brake too, very powerful! I'm the same idiot who power slides in the the parking lots in the snow so I know how to get out of a situation well in advance. I would just rather know my vehicle limits and how it's going to react before I acually need to avoid a "cager", semi, or some kid running out in the street in between cars. Take care bud. Good luck, God bless...

mezap
03-30-2007, 11:16 PM
Yeah, I should have known by this point where the ceiling was, but I have been babying her since she only has 2000 miles and I just got my back against a wall. This was the first time that tachometer had ever been higher than 5000 in any gear.Truthfully, that was the first time I have ever experienced the "rev-limiter" on any bike. This just goes to show how quickly the typical can turn into a crisis situation. MSF could've sure used the footage from it to open some eyes. I guess another point would be to never pass "easy". If I had hit it from the start like I had to towards the end, I would have had ample time to get out of the way. I just figure some folks get the impression that we motorcyclists are trying to be smart-asses, flying by when we pass them with what could be considered excessive speeds, but I think this was an error on the other side. You said God bless? Man, did he! I'm just glad I get to walk n'chalk. (walk away and chalk it up to experience!)
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