I've had my SD1290 for a couple weeks now and I'm still getting used to the characteristics of this engine. I want to know which gear people ride in for the following typical scenarios:

urban riding (60km/h or 38 mph)
back roads (80km/h or 50mph)
highways (100 km/h or 62 mph)

Coming from a Harley, which I realise is a completely different bike, I am used to lower revs. When I change up in gears, the bike tends to feel too snatchy and the revs drop back too suddenly. I think this is because I haven't got the revs up high enough to begin with.

I would appreciate some comments on how other SD owners ride.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am still debating on whether or not to do the front sprocket mod.

“Normal” and “Cruising” riding a 1290 let me think about that . . . . no don’t get it . . . . are you sure it’s 1290?

I have to disagree with you guys.

My typical riding gear is as follows :

urban riding (60km/h or 38 mph) : 2rd
back roads (90km/h or 55mph) : 3th
highways (130 km/h or 80 mph) : 5th

as an example, i can't ride at 100km/h in 5th gear because the bike has some vibrations which become more intence when you are accelerating.
in general, i try to keep the RPMs above 4-4.5k especially in high gears (4-5-6) where the bike feels a lot smoother.