KZ650 best shift RPM's

I was wondering where in the RPM range do most KZ650 owners shift at? Being a brand new rider, I have no idea where in the RPM band I should be shifting that would get me the smoothest shifts. This may sound silly but I have a 4-in-1 exhaust and it was making a considerable amount of sound just in the 2 to 3k range that I thought maybe I was over revving for a shift to take place. Like I said, I am a new rider and my KZ650 is the first bike I have ever owned. Comments are welcome.

I shift mine anywhere from 3000 to 8000, depends how fast I want to go; but I guess most shifts are between 4000 to 6000

I usaully shift between 4 and 5 thousand, but I'll redline it if I'm entering the expressway,,, I'm always amazed at how much power that little powerplant puts out,, :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

I try to shift a least 5000 ~ 6000 and sometimes up to 7000 ~ 9000 if I want some speed fast.
I find I cruise in 4th on country roads at about 5000-6000 and doing 80-90 kph and wont shift into 5th because it brings the rpm down too much for my liking.

Doesn't the KZ650 redline at 9000? Isn't that bad for the motor?

You don't want to stay at 9K all the time but the redline is the "suggested" redline and probably conservative. I've gone to 10K with no problems. Occasionally winding up to 9K is just what the motor likes to do. You'll find that you won't be up there as much as you think. Enjoy...

And here I was not going above 4k. I have a feeling that there is a lot of untapped power I have been missing out on by staying so low in the RPM range. Thanks for the replies everyone.

When you wind it up be ready for a surge at about 7K, the bike will start pulling real hard. Try it in 2nd or 3rd before you do it in 1st!

I have a KZ750. I shift my bike around 3-4000 RPM around town. When I get after it, it's usually at 6500 RPM.

Yeah, these bikes love high RPM's and the sound of it is really off-putting until you're used to it. I personally try to ride in a gear where any change in throttle is very apparent. If you give the throttle a good twist and your bike bogs down instead of taking off, you're definitely in too low of a gear.

I should note that a majority of my riding is in big city traffic and speed control is very important. If I had long open country highways in front of me, I'd probably shift a bit sooner.

l0g1c, that's exactly what was happening to me. I wasn't getting hardly any throttle response because my RPM's were way too low. I found a safe straightaway today and hit 6k in 2nd and third. WOW! Talk about a big difference. Now I know where I should be in the RPM range if I need some power on-tap. I live near Houston and let me tell you, before I get into any major traffic I want to know exactly when the powerband is on my KZ650. I'm still "learning" my bike so to speak but I'm getting there.

Thanks for your insight l0g1c.

When I'm commuting to work in traffic I keep my engine over 4500 rpm, so whatever gear I need to be at that rpm or above is it. For me anyway, hitting the gas at 4500 gets me away pretty darn quick from most bozo's in a cage, so it seems I spend a lot of time in 3rd and 4th on the commute.