[billmusser]

Hi Guys and Gals
Well my new to me 650 berg 2012 with 3100 miles and now 2 weeks later about 3900. Everything seemed fine until a sunday roadtrip of about 200 miles 2 up very nice ride but it seemed like the D mode was running at a high rev about 65mph , im thinking 4500rpm . It just did not seem to be quite right . hit manual and went to 6th gear and dropped about 500 rpm .. Today seemed to do the same thing .. starting off in D mode showing on the dash and really reved up over 5k at 65mph never seemed to shift oh well maybe i am not a scooter rider yet after years of the big ones
Jef

 

[knucklehead]

Your transmission sounds like its doing exactly what its supposed to do. With two-up there is more load on the motor - the trans will shift to keep the motor in the power band which isn't all that wide IMO. The 650 motor isn't a low rpm design.

 

[Buffalo]

As the prior poster commented, the computer will downshift the transmission to keep the motor in it's power band. You can use manual to force it into a higher ratio but performance will suffer when you try to accelerate.

The rpm numbers you posted are not unusual to see depending on load, wind and road conditions. The computer will sample inputs from a number of sensors and select the ratio it calculates to be the best. Usually that is somewhere between the manual ratios of 5 and 6 but it could be lower. In D mode the computer has an infinite number of ratios to choose from not just the 6 pre-programmed ones offered in manual mode.

 

[billmusser]

OK thankyou for the input ...just dont feel it shifting but the revs stay high ..will check some more after driving dont understand where the shift point is on the D mode overdrive its still up there at 75mph in 5th gear i suppose .when i go to manual i can get it to drop off in 6 .. gas mileage down about 5/6mpg us

 

[NormanB]

Welcome to the forum Bill. :hello2:

You will get used to the seamless nature of the CVT changing through the range of ratios available. This is very different to the traditional automatic gearbox where you can feel, hear and observe the box shifting between it's fixed ratios.

Have fun.

 

[Buffalo]

The CVT does not shift in the traditional sense. It does not have any gears in it. It has a V belt running between two pulleys. It changes ratios by changing the width between the faces on the two pulleys effectively changing the size of the pulleys. As one pulley gets larger the other gets smaller.

The advantage of a CVT is that you have thousands of gear ratios to choose from not just a few like in a conventional transmission. That means you can take the engine to the rpm point where it is most efficient and hold it there. As the speed of your vehicle changes the CVT adjust the pulleys to keep the engine running at that point instead of letting it slow down or speed up.

The electronic CVT in the 650 does this a little move efficiently than a conventional CVT because it can monitor load conditions with sensors and use a computer to determine what is the best ratio for the CVT to be in. If you are running in low load conditions it will shift the CVT to a higher ratio to slow the engine down to match the load. If you are running in higher load conditions it will downshift the ratio so the engine does not have to work so hard. You can see this happening by watching the tack while you are holding a steady road speed. As you encounter hills the rpm will rise and as you go down the other side it will drop. Turn into a high head wind and you will see the rpm is higher for a given speed than if you have a tail wind. Any kind of change in load conditions can cause a change in rpm relative to road speed.

You can circumvent this if you want to by putting the bike in manual mode. In manual mode the computer picks from 6 preset pulley sizes to mimic the fixed ratios you would get in a conventional transmission. Within some parameters it will lock the CVT to the ratio you select. It won't let you over rev the engine by shifting to low a ratio or shift into to high a ratio and stall the engine. Using the manual mode you get the feel of a conventional transmission but loose the efficiency of the CVT.

 

[billmusser]

Yea
I think i have it now thanks for the great explanation and now i have some knowledge of the CVT. Complicated little bugger

 

[billmusser]

yes ,and talking to some burg owners they say they always shift to 6 gear because in the D mode the overdrive doesnt kick in till between 75 and 80mph