They put a rev limiter on it for a reason.

RIDE IT HARD.

Ride it like you stole it.

Sounds like your not beating on the bike, I do the same thing with my kat. I'm at 48K (30K miles)) and she runs as good as the day I bought her. I've even bounced her off the limiter a few times .

As long as your doing the required maintenace you should be good for quite a while. That IMHO is the biggest issue on any bike.

sounds like the way it was built to be ridden to me.

+1 on this. I always like to accelerate hard so I am rev into the top of the rev range on every bike I have had for the first 2 or 3 gears usually before I let off. I have never had any failures in the 10 years I have ridden like that!

I think it's not a matter of "too hard", it's a matter of "too soon" and a matter of "without sufficient maintenance".

Too Soon:
The oil, plugs and valves really need to come all the way up to operating temp before you start flogging the engine really hard. People who jump on the bike, fire it up and immediately go ripping out of the parking lot at 10k RPM are asking for premature failures or heavily accelerated wear rates on the components. As the oil comes up to temp, the engine is fully lubed and the oil hits it's stride, the valves seal up fully, etc...

Without Sufficient Maintenance:
Not changing the oil when it needs it, not checking the valve clearances, not replacing the rubber when it's seen better days, not repacking the wheel bearings, not flushing the brake fluids, failing to replace the pads before they hitting the backings -- these things tend to cause much bigger failures than just the part to be swapped out when they are ignored and contribute to premature junkers (and can also lead to serious accidents under some circumstances). Staying atop the minor stuff is a good way to keep it from snow-balling into something far more serious. Just remember that your butt is riding on a semi-unstable platform and keep up on the maintenance so it doesn't suddenly wander out from under you unexpectedly at speed

Aside from that, flog it.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

Thanks guys. The input has been helpful (as usual). I am performing the required maintenance and I'm allowing the bike to warm up properly so it looks like I'm OK.

they say that if you buy a bike that was ridden hard that I needs to be ridden hard buy the new owner, If you buy a bike that was ridden easy that it doesn't like to be riden hard.

In my case ride it like you stole it.

I ride mine the same way. Feels good doesn't it!

I've never found any truth to the concept that if the original owner babied it, the engine won't respond well to be ridden hard. I have, however, found that if the original owner ragged the sh*t out of it, you may need to rag the sh*t out of it to get decent performance because of the decrease in compression ratios at the rings due to blow-by.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

There's nothing wrong with getting up on the RPM's and letting Kat give you all she's got. Bikes are made to ride at high RPM's and perform well. You'll be amazed at the power the kat has when you really get on it too.

I generally keep mine around 5-6 RPM in town so I have ample power to escape a situation if need be but not riding too high in one particular gear either.

Look the bottle says that if it lasts more than 4 hours seek medical attention....wait were talking about...oh yeah the bike...sorry...put the bottle away...ok what everyone said above is right on.....

I had the same thing on my mind. This helped me too. Thanks guys.

does an 88 kat 600 have a rev limiter?? i have never had the kat above redline but i have had just up to that point acouple times. i ride basically the same for the most part i'm just cruising enjoying the ride but if someone aside of me is d&cking around i wont hesitate to put them in their place normally by screaming by them shifting at redline letting them hear the good ol vance and hines pipe scream. i dont know if its just me or what but when i really get on it up in the higher rpm's it seems as if the front wheel gets so light it feels as if it would come right up off the ground if i gave the handlebars a good yank