minimum speed in 6th gear

65 for my liking is a minimum

Depends on road. Flat land I will put it in 6th after 60 mph. I usually run around 62mph in a 55.

Usually interstate. Long flat stretches of 55, I usually do 63, I'll get 6th.

I like 65 for 6th.... if it's flat. But my speedo is probably 4-5 mph above actual.

Sounds like a good plan. Low RPM's and a hill can cause lugging. I like keeping my bike between 2500-3000 RPM's so if I have to accelerate to avoid a bad situation I can.


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65 or above for 6th for me also.

62 ish for me.

I added home made XIED's to richen the mixture and that alone made a big improvement in using 6th gear below 60.
On flat roads I can run 55 in 6th all day long without lugging.

I usually don't hit 6th unless I'm doing highway speeds of 75 and up. I can go to it around 65 with no problem though. For me 3000 rpm in 6th is around 80 or so. 2500 is around 65 I think. Don't usually hang around that speed much. It's either in town speeds or 75 and over.

60 in 6th. is ok for me on flat road at 2200 rpm riding solo. 80 is 3000 per. my tach. Likes to run there, spend a lot of time eyeballing mirrors at that speed.:eek

6th is worthless under 70 for me. I leave it in 5th unless I plan to go above 75. At 75 in 5th I think I am at about 3K RPMs. 70 in 6th I drop to about 2.2K RPMs and that leaves me with no ooomph on I-95.

I downshift for oomph.

My 2014 Heritage Classic manual says shift to 2nd at 15 mph, 2nd to 3rd at 25mph, etc.
I found this waaay to low. For 6th gear I am shifting at 60-65mph. I've added 5-10mph before shifting at any gear. The bike feels and sounds better. I am curious about the RPM. I don't want to exceed rpm limits.

I find that I get the best fuel consumption when I ride around 3,000 rpm. I use the rule of tens into second and third but beyond that I wait till I feel 3,000 to shift. That translates into shifting to 4th at 55 5th at 70 and 6th somewhere in the 80s

Depends on the road, but 60-65 is usuually about it...

Farfrombk said:

I find that I get the best fuel consumption when I ride around 3,000 rpm. I use the rule of tens into second and third but beyond that I wait till I feel 3,000 to shift. That translates into shifting to 4th at 55 5th at 70 and 6th somewhere in the 80s

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I keep it simple when entering freeway, traffic permitting. Use 3rd. wot to almost 5k, apprx. 70 mph, skip all the way to 6th.

Mine will do 50+ in 6th if I'm easy on the throttle. But it's much happier at 60+ in 6th.

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You are correct...forget the manual on this point...A HD mechanic I TRUST pulled me aside and told me to NEVER lug the engine and only use 6th gear going 65 mph or higher...He said the cranks won't take it at all...He then repeated it to me again...making sure I got it...
My brothers heritage went thru 3 cranks...and he doesn't lug the engine that I know of...
When in doubt, I downshift...
Ride safe.

Man ,that some weak cranks ! Is that late model twin cam cranks that are bad or just the 6-speed bikes . I've also heard that the 6-speed trans. are not as strong as the ole 5-speed .