Is 5th gear useless to anyone else?

[alanmcorcoran]

tommy,

I am in a hilly area as well and I generally have dropped 5th from consideration unless the road is flat. On a positive note, I can get the bike up to 60 in 4th without difficulty. I have a pretty big windshield. Before the windshield, I had to put my face down on the speedo to get the last 10 mph out of the bike, but I think I was able to go 3-4 mph faster at the top end.

I do not have the 16T mod which apparently improves the low end power bands but adversely affects the top end.

You will hear plenty otherwise from other riders here, several of which are competent "modders", but in my opinion, you can forget about cruising at 70-75 on the interstate. I've hit 70+ on the bike, in 5th, on a flattish paved road (probably with the wind on my back) but it's an ideal condition thing. I do think you can count on 63-65ish or so most of the time.

Mine is a 2008 too (about 2400 miles) and did get a little faster over time. Not dramatically so though. I completely agree with Easy - get the all the revs you can out of 4th. After the first couple thousand miles, I changed my shifting habits to use a lot more of the upper range of the gears.

At the end of the day, the GZ can be used on the interstate, but it's not the best use of the bike. This bike shines around town and on the backroads.