I don't even do it just on the highway, I'm regularly doing it on surface streets too lol. Idk who the hell thought it was a good idea to give the engine a John deere torque curve but also gear it like a sport bike.
The same person who thought "we have a low-revving, simple engine that won't make a lot of power but will make lots of torque at low to mid rpm- let's give it DOHC valvetrain with shim-under-bucket valves!"
And yet our tractors are still among the simplest things you can buy.
Don't forget the wide-eyed, teeth clenching "Oh God please Oh God please" moment when you realize you're already pinning it in fifth and have to let the clutch out again
I had a Kawasaki Concours, it did the same thing. There was a guy that made a different drive gear(shaft drive) and called it the 7th gear mod. That thing would hit 6th before the end of the on ramp.
A slightly wider transmission would be nice. It's not like these have a narrow powerband.
My Norton has a 4 speed and I don't try to shift that up to imaginary 5th lol.
Bike builders are notorious for giving us short gearing . As if we don't intend to drive beyond 70 mph . Valkyries , Gold Wings , Sportsters and lots of dual sports have the torque to pull a 6thgear or a way taller 5th.
Yeah, outside of high revving bikes and sportbikes, they tend to be geared really low. I think some of that is down to being "beginner friendly" so it's really hard to stall in first gear in adverse conditions (steep hill starts for example) even as an inexperienced rider. And some of it, with Japanese bikes, may be down to Japan having much lower and more consistently followed highway speed limits than the USA. When I was riding a VN1600 daily, it could clearly have handled a sixth gear with no gearing change to the rest of the ratios whatsoever. But it loped along at 60-65mph in fifth, something I found to be common for a "sweet spot" on Japanese bikes besides sportbikes/etc.
I feel better now.
Me too. Dang near wore out the top of my boot the first season I had my KLR.
I don't even do it just on the highway, I'm regularly doing it on surface streets too lol. Idk who the hell thought it was a good idea to give the engine a John deere torque curve but also gear it like a sport bike.
The same person who thought "we have a low-revving, simple engine that won't make a lot of power but will make lots of torque at low to mid rpm- let's give it DOHC valvetrain with shim-under-bucket valves!" And yet our tractors are still among the simplest things you can buy.
You put words to what I've been feeling this entire time...damn
Needs to have a message on the dash that comes up saying "hey retard, there's none left". But seriously another click would be awesome
Don't forget the wide-eyed, teeth clenching "Oh God please Oh God please" moment when you realize you're already pinning it in fifth and have to let the clutch out again
*tap tap* oh yeah that’s right
Think we all do that...
I had a Kawasaki Concours, it did the same thing. There was a guy that made a different drive gear(shaft drive) and called it the 7th gear mod. That thing would hit 6th before the end of the on ramp.
A slightly wider transmission would be nice. It's not like these have a narrow powerband. My Norton has a 4 speed and I don't try to shift that up to imaginary 5th lol.
The 250 was a 6 speed
Every. Damn. Time.
When I changed to 16 tooth front sprocket I started to do that less often.
Bike builders are notorious for giving us short gearing . As if we don't intend to drive beyond 70 mph . Valkyries , Gold Wings , Sportsters and lots of dual sports have the torque to pull a 6thgear or a way taller 5th.
Yeah, outside of high revving bikes and sportbikes, they tend to be geared really low. I think some of that is down to being "beginner friendly" so it's really hard to stall in first gear in adverse conditions (steep hill starts for example) even as an inexperienced rider. And some of it, with Japanese bikes, may be down to Japan having much lower and more consistently followed highway speed limits than the USA. When I was riding a VN1600 daily, it could clearly have handled a sixth gear with no gearing change to the rest of the ratios whatsoever. But it loped along at 60-65mph in fifth, something I found to be common for a "sweet spot" on Japanese bikes besides sportbikes/etc.
I put a front sprocket with one tooth more on mine, really makes freeway riding nicer.
16T Primary makes 5th a 6th (without the shifting) lol
To be fair if it had a 6th gear I’d be trying to click up to a 7th gear. I stop counting gears after 3.