First highway run!

After a couple weeks of running around with the new R on the dirt & gravel roads where I live, I finally got a little higher speed highway time

Couple questions - Through 5th gear there's plenty of power and I'm going to 6th around 50mph. In 6th I'm kind of running low on power climbing small to medium inclines and drop back to 5th. Normal? How fast do you run in 5th gear before going to 6th?

Bike is stock and I live at 7200 feet. Thanks!

from my experience (without mods), this is very normal... This bike likes to be revved to the moon......you prob could drop to 4th and let it scream!
Pretty sure this is how it is meant to be ridden...good luck!

If you gear the bike down a little, 6th gear will be useable on the highway.

13/46 or 13/47 seems to work well.

I run 13x45 on an x. Uphill at 50 is 5th; uphill at 60 is 6th; up a good grade is 5th. This engine wants lots of revs right up to the limiter. If I HAD AN R I WOULD RUN 13X37.

Geared 13/46 with a maxxis 110/100 knobby, 4th gear pegged at the rev limiter was 75 mph (gps). This is why most gear them down, you can achieve higher top speeds, we don't have enough horsepower to fight the drag effect at higher speeds. They are very long legged in stock form.

6th is sort of like overdrive in a car. You get in to it when you are coasting, but its useless for any kind of acceleration until about 60mph or so. Sure it will pull from 35 up to 80, but youll grow some gray hair in the mean time.

Major Highways are 100/110 kph around here, mostly 110 for me.
With a 13/52 combo, I just shifted to 6th on hwy and left it there, worked everywhere, no need to shift down. Maxxed around 140 for me.
Now with 13/42 combo, I just shift to 6th, but , sometimes , need to shift down to 5th if there's heavy traffic, or don't time a major hill right.
At the same time I've caught myself in 5th and ...oops, there is another gear...rather forgiving for a 250. Regardless, still maxxes around 140...again, for me. Never tried a downhill speed test. Never hit the rev limiter on hwy ...without blowin a shift.
I regularly cruise at 120 to get where I'm goin...tonight was 130...

...And nothin to complain about but the seat.

I just did a trip to NS/NB and back to NL last week, and on the divided highways I found a GPS speed of 130 to be the sweet spot for my X, or speedo indicated 140ish, it's the only time in 6th I've found that the bike had power to get up hills and pass other cars. My X has stock gearing as well. I basically did my whole trip running those speeds, and put on about 2600 kms.

Great!

Tried higher revs on my next trip out and that really helps. Yamaha's numbers and speeds for shifting seem waaaay off.

i often run 6th at 40mph lol

I have just gone back to stock gearing and the other day with a little head wind I had my bike on the stop the whole way down the highway in 6th and it was struggling! Couldn't pull over 110kph (70mph) unless it was a downhill section or I was drafting behind a 4WD or truck. I think I may go back to gearing it down a bit.

NorgeWR2X wrote:

i often run 6th at 40mph lol

You run 6th with stock gearing at 40mph. That's impressive.

mordicai wrote:

NorgeWR2X wrote:

i often run 6th at 40mph lol

You run 6th with stock gearing at 40mph. That's impressive.

yeah stock gearing. why is that so hard to believe? lol. yeah the revs do feel a bit low in 6th at that speed but i'm getting like 65+mpg hehe

Run a few gears up to rev limiter.
You'll know when you get there.

With lower gearing I hit about 64mph (corrected speed) at rev limiter in 4th gear.

Rev the bike. It's made for thrashing.

My commute everyday is 9 miles of highway at 75mph. Stock gearing here, but I have no issues. I'm saving the sprocket change (with lower gearing) for after I move to AZ where I won't be doing the highway thing.

I actually just ordered a 14t front. I spend a good bit of time cruising at 55mph. It feels like such a waste to have the motor buzzing where it feels like it could easily pull another gear even up a slight grade.

oic0 wrote:

I actually just ordered a 14t front. I spend a good bit of time cruising at 55mph. It feels like such a waste to have the motor buzzing where it feels like it could easily pull another gear even up a slight grade.

What's on the rear for you?

I've never felt like the motor is "buzzing" at 55mph.

In 6th gear at 55mph I've felt like the motor has no power at all if I've needed it.

With 13/52, I saw 168 kph, goin down a mountain. Coulda went a lil faster, but it was screaming easy, I was nervous. My speedo was off by about %20+ , considering tire size, gearing, and stock calibration.
That makes about 134 kph.

motokid wrote:

oic0 wrote:

I actually just ordered a 14t front. I spend a good bit of time cruising at 55mph. It feels like such a waste to have the motor buzzing where it feels like it could easily pull another gear even up a slight grade.

What's on the rear for you?

I've never felt like the motor is "buzzing" at 55mph.

In 6th gear at 55mph I've felt like the motor has no power at all if I've needed it.

Stock rear. 55mph is 6000rpms though. Thats probably ok for the engine but holding 6000rpms for 10 minutes straight feels real odd to me. I'm used to my KX500 which is about done at 6500rpms. If I feel I may need more power I can pop it down in to 5th, but generally my commute is lazy and with a big space between me and the car in front / behind me. Often there are no cars in front of or behind me. It feels like it has some decent power at 55 in 6th though, a blast up to 70mph happens faster than my truck can manage without downshifting a few times. Who knows, maybe the dealer stuck a 12 tooth on it when they put on all the other mods. If so I guess I would be in for a rude awakening with the 14t lol.

So I rode my X tonight and paid very close attention to the motor, the gear I was in, and the speed.

I discovered that I rarely ever pay attention to what gear I'm in. I just shift based on feel and never really know what gear I'm in.

At 55mph (corrected speed for my gearing with a 12 o'clock labs device) in 6th gear with 13/48 gearing my bike is so smooth I can let go of the handlebars.
I can barely hear the motor over the wind noise. I can barely feel the motor because it's so smooth.

Maybe an R is "buzzier" because of the 21 inch front wheel and knobbies....but an X should be smooth as silk at 55mph.

Mine is anyway.