GS 500 motor

[Shaf]

Any know what year Suzuki raised the Redline to 11,000 rpm on the GS 500?

[gsJack]

GS500 redline was always 11k rpm, this data is from the first roadtest published in Cycle magazine in 1989:

[ohgood]

also, there is no rev limiter, like on more modern bikes. the gs' power falls off after 8K anyway, so no need.

[rayshon]

also, there is no rev limiter, like on more modern bikes. the gs' power falls off after 8K anyway, so no need.

really? so you could bring it to 15k rpm if you felt the need to? O;

[bombshelter13]

If you hold it at 15k for long (if it'll even get there, I've never tried) it will probably break. There just aren't any safeties in place to stop you from breaking it if you wanted to try to.

[Big Rich]

I've heard the valves begin to float around 10.5k rpms. Valves don't close = no power to get near 15k = mechanical rev limiter!

[adidasguy]

Valve springs, mass & inertia of valves,  and stuff determine how fast a valve can close. They're right that you can reach a speed of opening and closing where mechanically it just can't close that fast.

[slipperymongoose]

I've only dealt with rev limiters the other night I maxed out my revs and yeah at 10.5k I thought I heard what might be considered valve bounce.

[Shaddow]

I've been up around 12k when frustrated with traffic and that's about where I hear valve bounce on her. Never been back to visit that. 11.5k is usually my absolute max and that's when out pushing it on the fun roads where the bike rarely sees below 8k rpm.

[ohgood]

also, there is no rev limiter, like on more modern bikes. the gs' power falls off after 8K anyway, so no need.

really? so you could bring it to 15k rpm if you felt the need to? O;

it's just numbers, why stop at half of 30,000 ? or 100,000 ?

the thing is, the gs doesn't -need- to rev over 6-7K to be in the fun spot of good power. not to mention keeping the molecular structure of those spinning pieces from going plastic is a big benefit.

it doesn't really sound that good up around float speed anyway.

[burning1]

We did an analysis of the power curve of the GS. The stock cams don't really make enough power above 10.5K RPM to justify going above that. Higher RPM means float, possible damage, and less power... So just shift.

I'm curious what the bottom end of the GS500 is capable of... I've seen heavily modified bikes hitting 13K RPM on the dyno, but those bikes had major improvements to the valve train, and cams to take advantage of the higher revs.

[dgyver]

I have had some of my race engines above 13k but the valves would start ticking on the pistons. I did have higher lift cams and heavier valve springs.  I know one of my engine was blown due to excessive over reving, that was the 555 engine.