to red \line or not....

[florence]

I was out the other day (shopping) and I was in a safe place to overtake a slow moving car in front.  I changed down two gears and opened the throttle without much of a thought.  As I went past the car, the bike accelerating quite fast for an old machine I suddenly wondered whether or not it is a bad idea to ride these bikes hard considering how much goes on inside that little engine at 9500 RPM with 40 plus year old components, or is it OK to thrash them every now and again.  It hadn't occurred to me properly until that moment just how old these things are now.  My thought was partly triggered by someone saying how brittle the top yolks can be on old Hondas etc.

Is it just misplaced anxiety on my part or should these old machines be treated with more respect than perhaps I would have done twenty years ago?  What do people here think?

[AshimotoK0]

I say go for it. If it was an old Brit bike i wouldn't but Mr Honda was a qualified metallurgist and it shows in the Honda designs. Just change the oil regularly.

[Nurse Julie]

I would say go for it as well Florence. Today I have ridden my 400/4 150 miles, some slow riding and some fast riding and in the red many times. I ride the old 400 the same way as I did my new CBR's , pretty dammed hard and I'm sure the 400 feels better each time she gets a good shake down.

[hairygit]

If the oil is changed regularly, and the camchain aint rattling like it needs a knot in it, fear not! Honda always set the redline well below the critical point, that way customers would never blow an engine by over revving. After all, Yoshi tuning kits back in the day allowed the fours to rev way up into the teens, without any mods to the bottom end. Valve bounce can be an issue with stock springs above 12,000r.p.m. but most stock engine owners wouldn't take it that high for long, these old girls thrive on revs:-)

[steff750]

  old man Honda knew the only way to beat the two strokes was too make his engines rev higher .yes thrash them by all means when they are warmed up ,but i would never ever go into the red line,that is a reason for it being there. the bike will have reached its optimum power before the red line ,so there is no reason to put extra stress on the engine
my fireblade would top out at 10000 revs even though the red line was closer to 11000 rpm

[Bryanj]

Years back I spent 14 months running a 500 through the red in the first 3 gears and the damn thing would not go wrong so i took it apart anyway!

[Johnwebley]

I expect to be close to the red line going up Birdlip on the way to Sammy Millers today,

 I have started to change up early ,maybe only 8,000,

[Green1]

Thrash it mine has just done the last hour home touching the red line 
It was close to it keeping up with Mike the bike on his 400 going to the Sammy Miller museum today as well.

If it did it in the 70's it will do it today. 

Mick   

[Bryanj]

Further to my previous post ride it like you stole it BUT only after you have warmed it up first

[tom400f]

Thrash it mine has just done the last hour home touching the red line 
It was close to it keeping up with Mike the bike on his 400 going to the Sammy Miller museum today as well.

If it did it in the 70's it will do it today. 

Mick

You wouldn't know Mick your tacho is bust!

[petersy]

Back in '74 I took my first (new) Honda 500 four back to the shop as it appeared to lack power after being used to 650 Norton twins.

The shop owner asked if he could take it for a spin, to which I agreed.

Well I thought he was going to blow it up as he revved it like hell through the gears.

'Nothing wrong with that' he told me on his return.

'It's not a Norton' he told me 'you have to red line it through the gears - that's where the power is'.

Once I got used to the red-lining bit, I was hooked, and have been ever since.

[matthewmosse]

Something I am reading with some interest, this thread, my first 500/4 I really worked hard, it saw a lot of revs and it had more miles put on it than most of the replacement engines I fitted when that original unit started jumping out of 1st and second. When I think about it that engine ran flawlessly for over 150k with regular thrashing, and I never did more than oil changes and check the tappetts and points. The replacement engines all got less grief but gave more, so thrash away, right to the red line I geuss is actually better.

[Green1]

Thrash it mine has just done the last hour home touching the red line 
It was close to it keeping up with Mike the bike on his 400 going to the Sammy Miller museum today as well.

If it did it in the 70's it will do it today. 

Mick

You wouldn't know Mick your tacho is bust!

I wasn't far of the red my dad clocked me at a ton down the A130 

[Nurse Julie]

I hope the Police didn't clock you doing a ton on the A130 as well

[Green1]

Did I say a ton I meant 69mph

Mick