Final drive swap

[54chevybelair]

Now that I have a sidecar on my 2004 RSV, I notice the need to feather the clutch considerably more than before just to get it to move. I have read that some of you put V-Max gears in your RSV to make 5th gear more useful.

My question is for those of you that have done this does it make much of a difference in first gear, just trying to get rolling?

[dingy]

It will help the bike take off better.

 

The VMax gears give a 3.667 ratio compared to a Ventures 3.300 ratio. This is about a 9% difference in take off power. Both rears have 33 teeth on the driven gear (ring gear). The Vmax has 9 tooth driving gear (pinion gear) and the Venture has 10 tooth driving gear.

 

Though it will help your low end, that power increase comes at a price, the gas mileage will decrease some, but probably not by the 9% gear ratio difference. This is due having more power available in 5th and not lugging the motor.

 

Gary

[54chevybelair]

Thanks for the information Dingy

The use of my 5th gear is more limited now with the sidecar. So maybe this swap will be good all around for my application. As far as my fuel mileage, the sidecar has already killed that. Expressway speeds my MPG is flat out embarrassing.

[lsutley]

I have installed the Vmax gears in my 86 for the performance boost to lug my sidecar. The need to downshift was reduced and fifth is usable. I don't believe that my mileage suffered noticeably and may have improved slightly.

 

The car fully loaded is in the 500 lb. neighborhood and can be a bugger on the hills that we have here. If I were in a position to do the swap again, I would not hesitate.

[Yamak]

It takes more clutch slip than I like when starting out, and feels like down right clutch abuse starting on a grade fully loaded. 5th gear is about useless below 60, especially with any kind of head wind or hills. This year was my first year with the venture sidecar rig so I have held off making too many improvements while I decided if it was a keeper. Turns out it is a fantastic 3 wheel rig and the rear drive swap is at the top of my list, unless of course something else comes along first that I can't do without.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I have limited experience with the sidecar world, but I DO know that the Ural sidecar rigs come from the factory with shorter gearing than what they equip the solo bike with.

 

There are some exceptions, but the fact that the sidecar puts a load on the bike, makes me think the shorter gearing would be a huge benefit.

 

For what its worth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeWa]

I did the V-Max gear change. The performance increase is more than 10% because the engine is further into its power curve. It accelerates faster and develops RPM and torque faster. The pleasant surprise was I actually had a slight increase in gas mileage. Probably due to the engine not lugging as much and fifth gear now becoming a usable gear. The only down side I found is the bike is so much more fun to ride I hit the rev limiter more often.

 

Mike

[54chevybelair]

Thanks for the useful comments. I have been following the other post similar to this one and I am going to invest in this change next spring. My bike will also be a dedicated sidecar rig for the next few years, so I may install a car tire on the rear while everything is apart.

Yamak, our rigs are so similar we will have to keep each other up to date on how this modification worked.