Hey everyone,

New to riding so please go easy on me! Recently got a ninja 650 as a first bike. Been out riding as much as I can since getting it but have been really struggling to know when to shift gears. From what I’ve gathered, what gear to be on is situational.

What I’m struggling wrapping my head around is when to shift into a higher gear. Right now I’m mostly riding in the city (50km/h speed limit sometimes 60km/h). Due to frequent stops at lights and stay within the 60km limits I find myself riding in first gear almost the whole time and only ever getting up to around 6,000 RPM.

Friends of mine have CBR 250 and he tells me I shouldn’t ever be riding on first gear aside from rolling from a stop and that I should be switching before I hear my bike scream. Problem is I feel like I’m not reaching a high enough RPM to hear my bike loud enough to warrant a shift up.

Please help! Also is am I messing my bike up by riding in first gear so much?

For reference I’ve gotten it up to 5th gear but only really when on the highway at speeds of 100-120