Hey guys, I know the Dukes have no redline so the rider changes with feel and all that stuff.. but on the older monsters where are people changing, because I really think I may be 'Babying' the bike... I have a 96' 900M and when I'm riding hard ( at the track of course ) I generally up shift at 7k rpm... is that waaay to low? am I not getting the most out of the gear?

Cheers!

usually where you up shift more often than not depends on where you want to be in the next gear. if you're approaching a decreasing radius corner for example, but you aren't braking or down shifting, you want to short shift so you are lower in the rev range in the next gear so you can control the bike easier, with low down grunt to drive you out once the corner opens out. if you're upshifting into a fast open radius corner you want to wring it's neck cause you'll need all the speed and rpm you can muster to stay in front of the nutter behind you.
you may feel you're babying it but really, if you were confident and wanted to go faster you would just rev it more. i'm guessing you're probably getting to the point where you're getting to know the track and the bike but you may be lacking the skill and confidence to go faster. do some track day schools, the stay upright braking and cornering course is excellent value, a lot cheaper way to go faster than buying hot up bits that's for sure.

paul.

why not get it to 7k rpm and sit there and get it to cruising speed, then throttle it to 9 or 10 and see what difference it makes.

Just cause it can go that high doesn't mean it's useful....on the 992 we can go to around 10.....but there's no point, the power just flat lines after 8....much more useful to up shift and get it back into the powerband.