Ok, I know, I'm like an old paw-paw. I don't drive THAT slow, but I don't accelerate fast, although on long stretches I do over the speed limit regularly. My majesty red lined at 8K, if you did much over 6500 you were pushing the speed limit on any road in the USA. I shift my car at like 2000 rpm, my truck at about 2200 or so. I just am so scared to throw a rod on this bike shifting at 7K or higher. I took it on the highway and I was doing 65 at about 6K RPM or so, which would mean in normal commuting I shouldn't need to go above 6K by much, but my question is this, wouldn't it reduce the life of the engine to run it as hard as I see people running their bikes? It can't be good for it. I'm a licensed mechanic and recip engines are bastions of stress due to their nature. I don't know.