600's

[sparkyd31]

Hi guys,
Can you tell me how the "torque" in the low and mid range is in the newer kat 600's.Bike won't see very many high speed runs but it needs to be torquey on the low/mid range for commute to work and short trips around town.Feels good when you can excellerate quickly back up to speed.

[The CyberPoet]

Torque is generally linear with displacement on bikes as a whole. That is to say, any 600cc bike should make approximately 40-42 ft-lbs of torque at peak-torque.

The 98-06 Kat 600's have their torque peak from 7200 - 9400 RPM (a whole lot lower than the typical SS bikes). Although this is a bit higher in top gear than standard highway cruising speed (i.e. - 65 - 75 mph will put you below this range with standard gearing), going down a gear or two to pass in these situations is no problem and you can maximize that torque to pass. Riding at lower speeds, it's easy to select a gear that will keep the engine spinning in the 7k range so the torque is always available on demand.

Altering your sprocket ratios to actually put your standard cruising speed right at the beginning end of the main torque band isn't difficult either, although you'll pay a penalty in both fuel-consumption and top-end speed (plus on the models mentioned, your speedo will be inaccurate unless you install a modification to correct for it).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Wheel]

Hmm... I've been riding my 600 every day in traffic for my commute in town here in Vegas. It has plenty of torque, but not "down low" if you mean like 3000 rpm or something. If you want that kind of power, you need a much bigger engine. I just keep my rpm up closer to 6 or 7k and it's no problem.

[GSXF]

Different bike design with different power band areas, the key is to know where they are and work with them to get the most out of the bike your are riding.

[Rok_Stars_Bars]

Hmm... I've been riding my 600 every day in traffic for my commute in town here in Vegas. It has plenty of torque, but not "down low" if you mean like 3000 rpm or something. If you want that kind of power, you need a much bigger engine. I just keep my rpm up closer to 6 or 7k and it's no problem.

or smaller header pipes

[suzukifan]

you can change the sprockets, that'll help you get more torque.