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jdeitz1979

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Somewhere on the net or even on here I thought I had read about a 6th gear mod for the vmax. Can anyone confirm this?


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Yeah, I've never heard of a Gen 1 6-speed. Now, if you asked about a vintage Yamaha literbike being converted to a 6-speed, I would say, "yes."

The original Yamaha superbike for AMA racing, the FZR750, was a 6-speed, and you could swap the 5-speed out of the Yamaha FZR1000 and replace it w/the 750's 6-speed.
 
A six speed could be built but the gears would have to be so narrow as to not be strong enough to take the power level needed. We found that out with the FZR1000's we tried to use the 6 speed in. On a street bike that wasn't beat up very hard I think it would survive but not when ridden hard.

We do offer the overdrive which is likely what you have found info on (the overdrive is more like a 1-2-3-4-7)
 
Never heard of the 1-2-3-4-7 but that sounds interesting. I been trying to thumb thru n see where I may have read that but not having any luck. The vmax needs a new gear pack or a replacement one to fit with longer gear patterns. I mean c'mon... Can't most of us lose traction in 2nd gear?


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I've maxed my 83 Venture and have also installed a VMax final drive and a 2002 royal star Venture transmission (essentially the over drive 5th they're talking about).

I wouldn't want a taller gearing on the highway, it drop?s the rpm doesn't around 3200. Much lower and it wouldn't be usable at highway speeds as the engine would almost be lighting. Kills your mpg and is not good for the engined.

1-4 around town is all I ever need, with 4 almost not being used.

If you want lower highway rpm, I'd highly recommend the "over drive" 5th.

With a 'max engine (Ie: lots of torque), another gear just means more shifting to me.. I just upshift if the rear is having trouble holding grip....:)
 
Sean's 12347 reference is that the 'overdrive' swap gearset establishes a huge gap in the top ratio. It would be of interest to someone who is using their VMax for touring, which is not the intended use of the bike. As has been mentioned, for having a ~149 mph top speed, there is plenty of 'motor' to carry whatever speed you can cruise at. Just lessening the rpm's may make things more-serene, but that large of a gap isn't going to entice the average VMax owner to make the swap.

Between the Venture or Royal Star 5th gear swap, and the final drive unit from the same, you can get better cruising rpm reduction, if that is your 'holy grail.' Hitting 9000 rpm in 4th w/a stock gearbox is going to put you in the vicinity of 130 mph I would assume, plenty fast enough for most people. It makes the gap into top gear, somewhat moot.

Another idea would be to go to chain drive, and then you can swap sprockets to your heart's content.
 
Top of 4th gear is 120mph which is right at the quarter mile for most riders. So, unless you want to make regular blasts above that speed the overdrive is great.
 
Considering the 4th to 5th shift you don't drop many rpms unless you're slowing down lol a 7th don't sound bad but don't sound good as well. What kind of damage can occur with that gear in the bike?


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If you're drag racing it and power shifting from 4th to 7th it could break off the gear dogs on that gear. We had one instance of that happening with a 1500 engine. Haven't had any other failures with this modification.
 
I had the OD gear in my other engines gear case and if your hot rodding it on the top end as soon as you hit OD expect for all the other normally geared to go around your and walk away. It takes a long, long straight away to get to even 140 on the speedometer.
It is great for long distance riding as you will get your best mileage in OD.
 

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