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I see that some question the need for a 6-speed tranny from a previous post.
So I owe an explanation as to why I think it needs one.
First of all the whole nonsense about changing the pully teeth count to me is silly, its like taking asprin for a headache when you're head's in a vice, you're fixing the symptom not the problem. Although I sold my VR a couple of years ago, If you go back to the old posts here you'll see that the discussion boards on this site back in '03 were mobbed with people trying to come up with the right teeth combination (and spending some major cash to do so, I'll add). Back then we were all tweaking and trying new things and that was one of them, it was a lot of fun, but the combinations never worked out. All the teeth change does is correct the 1st gear problem by tacking it onto the 5th gear problem. It's no solution for anyone that wants the bike to have all the versatility it was intended for.
The problem isn't the top end, although a change to a 6-speed would improve a concern there. The problem is that the bottom end is too tall. (IMO).
Here is the gear ratio on a VR:
1st :11.75
2nd :7.898
3rd : 6.322
4th : 5.459
5th : 4.889
6th : N/A
Notice the big jump from 1st gear at 11.75 to 7.8 in 2nd gear. Through each subsequent gear the transition is a smooth 1-1/4 or so.
Now here is the ration on the Ultra Classic that I have now:
1st :9.593
2nd :6.650
3rd : 4.938
4th : 4.000
5th : 3.407
6th : 2.875
Now understand that the ULTRA has another 200 lbs to dig up out of the hole at the light, so the VR loses nothing there, but the transition to 2nd gear is a smoother 3.0 drop. Instead of shifting into second at 50MPH on the VR you could hit 2nd at a more stable 35 and you would still be able to get back to 3rd at about 75.
As an added bonus you could turn back the cruising RPM in 5th gear at the top end which to me is much too high for a 70MPH cruise at about 5K, and with the 6th gear make it a more enjoyable 3.5k or so while still having 6K to dig into when passing those 14 dump trucks become necessary. In fact on my Ultra the 6th is actually a bit high because it is rides very well in 5th at about 65 and a smooth 3k, but really jumps up a notch when you get to 75 and into 6th gear.
That's just my opinion. Feel free to disagree.
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How's that 'Hope and Change' workin' out for ya'? 
Last edited by DJW : 07-23-2009 at 04:36 PM.
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