Gearing change...freeway speed suffers

So i geared down in the rear to a 48. My morning commute is about 40 miles freeway at 60mph. With stock 13 and a 48 rear sprocket my bike seemed to like 55mph. Just wondering what others are doing. I may need to get used to revving higher?
Thanks.

I'm running 13/46 with 17" (X) wheels. Should be about the same as a 13/47 R.

It seems to run comfortably all day up to about 60 mph. At freeway speeds (75-80mph around here) it get's a lot of vibration and makes my hands and feet go numb.

For longer distance rides I bought a 14 tooth front to run with the 46. That still works out to be about 2% higher gearing than stock and should lower the vibrations back to a comfortable level. I'm just hoping all the mods I've done have improved power enough to push that gear better than the bike did in stock form. With any head wind I had hell trying to maintain 75 bone stock and 80 was really only an option going down hill.

This should answer all your questions:

http://www.gearingcommander.com/

Just rev it more. I have 13/48 gearing.

You'll be fine. Bike loves to rev.


Are you looking at 55mph on a gps, or do you have a speedo-corrector?

Or, are you reading 55mph off your stock Yamaha instrument cluster?

motokid wrote:

Just rev it more. I have 13/48 gearing.

You'll be fine. Bike loves to rev.

+1 on both counts.

Just rev the sh*t out of it; you'll quickly learn its character (from the limiter) and you won't break it.
I like 13/48 a lot better than stock, even at 'highway' speeds.
Top end is down a little bit, but it gets up there a lot quicker.
I don't regularly do long distances at high speed, however.
I've got other tools for that

Ya I have a SpeadoDRD so it is acutal speed. Just need to get used to revvvvvin...

Just rode some technical single track trails today the gearing was perfecto

click me <--- some perspective


The wr will rev baby....it'll rev.

Great thread motokid. Very interesting. Never tried to hit rev limiter. Guess I am just scared...chicken....yellow...etc. Will have to conquer my fear once Seattle dries out....let you know next August.

I run 12/47 for my dirt tires. Do 120kph (actual) on the highway. Rev it. Ride it like you stole it.

firejosh wrote:

Great thread motokid. Very interesting. Never tried to hit rev limiter. Guess I am just scared...chicken....yellow...etc. Will have to conquer my fear once Seattle dries out....let you know next August.

The rev limiter is there to protect the engine. Once you get the feel for where it is you'll be able to get right up next to it but not hit it fairly consistently.

Not saying you should ride near rev limiter all the time, but knowing what the engine can do is a good thing.

Just twist the throttle until you hit the stop in 3rd gear and wait for something that seems almost scary in sound and feel.
It's almost like you dropped an anchor or something and like you're running out of gas at the same time.
You'll know it when you hit it.