term question

[petriljoe]

" Its never been Red lined nor dropped."

What does red lined mean?



Reason I ask is cause' I like skimming through E-bay, checking out the hot bikes I'll never be able to get, and couldn't find it in google.

[pantablo]

red line refers to the maximum rpm's the engine has seen, shown on the tachometer (or tach/tacho).  If someone's saying its never been there, you can guess it has.

They are probably saying its never been raced or ridden hard...also probably not true.

[petriljoe]

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.  I'll keep that in mind.  

[GeeP]

Yep Yep!

There's also the English version:  "Never been raced, rallied, or rolled."

The 4X4 version: "Never been mudded."

and finally the heavy equipment version: "Always been shedded."

None of which are likely to be true.

[john]

Of course "never been red lined" is suck a obvious lie.  Everyone who owns a bike wicks it up sometimes.  Actually a few excursions to the red line is good -helps blow out the carbon.  Ask Srinath, he'll tell ya.

[Aussie GS]

Guess I'm a real old fuddy-dud    I've never been over 8500 rev,s on any of my bikes,maybe that's what my 2002 GS need's, a real good blow out, just as long as it doesnt become a blow up  :mrgreen:

[mrblink]

My GS should be 100% carbon-free, since it seems like redline is a requirement to get the bike moving @ Honda Civic speed.

[Roadstergal]

Look up the phrase "Italian tuneup..."     I dunno why Never Redlined is thought to be a good thing.  

[Stephen072774]

For sale:  1000cc hyper sportsbike, only driven by my grandmother to church on sundays. :lol:

[Roadstergal]

For sale:  1000cc hyper sportsbike, only driven by my grandmother to church on sundays. :lol:

I tried to get my sister to drive my old Miata, so I could say in the ad "Lady driven."

A friend of mine was thinking of selling his E30 race car - "Driven only on weekends by middle-aged father.  Never used to commute."

[Eisenfaust]

I cut my teeth in automotive performance by getting into the world of turbocharged rotary engines (RX-7s). It seems to me that bikes have a lot of similar preventative-maintainance conditions as rotaries.

Some crossovers include: not revving the engine until fully warmed up, letting the bike warm up every time its started, and redlining the engine once a ride to prevent carbon buildup.

To my mind, modern bikes run valvetrains that are designed to be effective and efficent primarily at high RPMs. In an automotive context, bikes run a 'lumpy cam' that kind of screws up combustion at low RPM. It allows the bike to breathe at high engine speeds, but run poorly at low speeds. This explains why lots of bikes have their 'happy spot' up at 8000 rpm or more.

Anyway, the idea is that the bike is *designed* to be run at high engine speeds.... its not bad for the bike, and in fact may be detrimental. I dont know why people bother to lie about how theyve treated the bike.

Back to RX-7s... any RX-7 thats been 'grandmothered' is probably a write off, engine wise. Wouldnt touch it with a 10 foot stick.

[pantablo]

...and redlining the engine once a ride to prevent carbon buildup....

AT LEAST.

Anyway, the idea is that the bike is *designed* to be run at high engine speeds.... its not bad for the bike, and in fact may be detrimental. I dont know why people bother to lie about how they've treated the bike.

...because most would consider this being hard on an engine, without an understanding of the inner workings.

Run it hard. Good for the bike. Good for the soul.

[Eisenfaust]

...and redlining the engine once a ride to prevent carbon buildup....

AT LEAST.

What I always did with my 7, and do with my bike, is give it one last rev-up before killing the engine. Any carbon worked loose during the run will likely break off as the engine cools. Good to force it out of there before turning the bike off.

[pantablo]

I'd rather not let the carbon build up to begin with....by running it hard the entire time.

I do not commute.

[Eisenfaust]

Heh, I do everything I can to keep my engine on boil most of the time. My fuel economy suffers for it, but I do my best to keep my engine in the responsive part of the powerband for whatever speed I'm riding. But, I do commute. Much better (and even cheaper, gas wise) than taking the bus to work. Weekly bus fair = 13 bucks, weekly gas bill = ~10 bucks, and I dont have to spend 45-90 minutes late at night waiting for the bus in the rain.

Of course, she'll be getting a much harder ride once the roads dry up for more than 30 minutes at a time. I really really cant wait to get out and practice my cornering.