what is the proper gear to miles or where is my tach

[The Beast]

Ok heres the problem. I'm lost without a tach. I know, my 2003 venture only has 5 gears & 4 stroke will pull me through starting out in 3rd, but, I'm always thinkin when I'm on the bike, am I winding it out if I do 50mph in 3rd. I know that I'm Canadian ah! but I bought the bike state side last year, so we can go with MPH ( also, the numbers are bigger on the spedo)

I know what the manual says but, when I'm cruising at 50 MPH ( 80 kph ) where is the best gear? 60 MPH ? 40MPH? I love my bike and want that 200,000 mile mark. I would try to listen to the bike but full face helmet, age, and the constant whine( ok second thread next week) I'm lost. A tach I can see the red line know where the engine is. Thoughts and opinions requested. PS. went for a quick beautiful ride with my wife, for ice cream after my chores got done and man it was Awesome. they don't call it Beautiful BC for nothing.

So, any one have a tach on their Venture?

[awsmsrv]

I have the Drag Specialties Mini Tach. Works great.

[ATTACH]82619[/ATTACH]

Edited March 10, 2014 by awsmsrv

[KeithR]

Not sure if this will help

 

Keith

[RedRider]

Your bike has a rev limiter. Use it sometime to find out how far it winds out. 50 in 3rd gear isn't winding it out. 90+ in 3rd gear is winding it out. It's fun, try it. Just don't panic when it dies at 90+ mph. That's the way the rev limiter works. Scared me first time I hit it.

 

And to answer your question, at 50 mph, I would ride in 4th.

 

RR

[Bert2006]

I bought my RSV last summer and had the same issue at first. You will find that as you get used to the bike and its torke range you will be able to better judge what gear you should be in. I try to stay in a gear that still provides me room to use available torke if needed to keep myself out of trouble. 5th gear is only used on the superslabs. I know what you are saying though on having to remember what gear you are in as that is a pain.

 

[ACE50]

Your bike has a rev limiter. Use it sometime to find out how far it winds out. 50 in 3rd gear isn't winding it out. 90+ in 3rd gear is winding it out. It's fun, try it. Just don't panic when it dies at 90+ mph. That's the way the rev limiter works.RR

 

+1, just don't do it ALL the time!

[bongobobny]

Unless you swap out the rear end for a VMax rear end, 5th gear is useless under 100KPH. These engines thrive on higher RPM's!

[AKRefugee]

You are not winding it out in third at 50. Depending on terrain wind etc it is not abnormal for me to run in third at 50. If it's flat or tailwind etc then I will run in fourth at 50. I have found for me that my sweet spot is 4th gear 63 mph. Lots of power left and great mileage but I have the largest windshield that F4 has so if you have a smaller shield your sweet spot may be at a higher speed. Also don't lunk this bike down. Yes you can power out of a higher gear start or running at to high a gear but I can tell you from experience that to slow at to high a gear will bite you one day. This bike LOVES high rpm's. As others have said run those rpm's on up there. The rev limiter will not let you blow this thing up. The bike will sputter on you when you hit it, almost like you are starting to run out of gas, you will know it. My top out are 1st - 45, 2nd - 63ish 3rd- 85ish 4th - unknown but at 104 I, umm I mean my friend, has to shift to fifth to overcome the wind push on the windshield. If you ever reach the rev limiter in fifth we all would like to know what it is. If you are coming from a vtwin to this bike all I can suggest is that when you think you should shift add ten mph. Good place to start from as you learn this bike. This is not an off the line bike but once you get it wound up it will blow by just about any other big bike except the wing, and keep them well behind you.

 

 

Ride Happy Ride Safe

[Yammer Dan]

Rev Limiter in 5th???? Humm.......

[billmac]

If you don't have room for a tach they have a model that connects to a cover for the brake fluid or clutch lever reservoir. I also forget I have a 5th gear most I use is 4th up to about 65mph which is seldom.

[MikeWa]

OK if you are going to lay it out and push it to the rev limiter. 1st gear to just over 30 mph. 2nd gear to just over 60 mph. Third gear to about 100 mph. 4ht and 5th you are on your own. I usually consider it as a 30/60/90 deal.

 

Mike

[steamer]

Rev Limiter in 5th???? Humm.......

[Venturous Randy]

I know this is about 2nd gens, but while out the other day on flat ground on my 83, I took my bike all the way down to 15 mph in 5th gear and powered out of it smoothly as long as I did not give it too much throttle. As it started getting faster and I could give it more throttle, it was surprising how much harder it started pulling.

I know my bike is a little different as I have a V-Max rearend with the stock 1st gen engine gear ratios (for now), but this is still a testament to the range these engines have. With the rev limiter set at 6,300 rpm's on the 2nd gens, to me on my bike, that's about when it starts to pull the hardest. At about 8,000 rpm's on my bike, I can begin to feel the pull starting to flatten out some. My bike has 164,000 miles on the engine and I am sure the valve springs are getting a bit tired.

I really think that those of you that ride a 2nd gen without a tach, learn to get a feel for where the engine is at in different gears. Run the engine up to the rev limiter as you are NOT going to hurt anything. These engines are designed to run a lot higher than 6,300 rpm's. I think a lot of 2nd genners would be surprised at how much power their bike have if they would stop lugging them around.

RandyA

[SilvrT]

they don't call it Beautiful BC for nothing.

 

When I had my RSMV, I would generally not go into 5th until appx 110 km/h. Now, we know 80 km is 50 miles so .....

 

Can't remember at what speed I would change out of 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th.

 

Where in BC are you? I'm in Burnaby. Wife and I were out riding for almost 5 hrs yesterday. Weather was great!

[The Beast]

Thanks to everyone. Every time I connect with this group I am amazed at how much more comfortable I become with my bike.

[videoarizona]

Snip - With the rev limiter set at 6,300 rpm's on the 2nd gens, to me on my bike, that's about when it starts to pull the hardest. At about 8,000 rpm's on my bike, I can begin to feel the pull starting to flatten out some.

RandyA

 

 

This is from an older post. Wondering if the numbers are right RE the limiter. This is the first time I've seen a number put to the limiter. If so, what the heck is going on? 6300 rpm is nothing for these motors!!!!

@Venturous Randy where did you get these numbers??

Just curious....don't doubt you...but wondering why Yamaha would set the limiter so low, when my 1st gen will crank past 7500rpm!

david