[cyclemanstan]

I just purchased a '01 VL800. Liked it from the first mile I rode it but I have one concern. I do a lot of interstate comuting to work and it seems the motor is strained to run 70. My previous bike was a Honda 750 ACE and it seemed to be more at ease at 70. The Suzuki seems to be turning about 500 rpm more than the Honda at this speed. I find myself looking for another gear at about 60. Can the final ratio be changed at the rear hub. Does anyone carry a different ratio ring & pinion for this bike. Any other Ideas would be appreciated.

 

[SonsVS800]

2000 VS 800 Intruder, My son's (Sweet Bike), If one of these could be geared up... Different secondary gears? One of the forums I read mentioned swaping with European? rear assembly for 06% and for him a larger diameter rear tire for 10% total. I would be interested in one like his... I would also like to see if there are other ways to change gear ratio... Still lookin...

 

[axel_2078]

You could also switch out the front 15T sprocket for a 17T. That should make a noticeable difference at highway speeds. Look for the post by MattC. He just upgraded his to a 16T and likes it, but he's going to change that one with a 17T sometime in the future. It's a quick, cheap fix.

 

[SonsVS800]

Is there a way to change the final drive ratio at the front of the driveshaft?
The only chain I see in the Clymer book is for the cams...

 

[DrBob]

You could also switch out the front 15T sprocket for a 17T. That should make a noticeable difference at highway speeds. Look for the post by MattC. He just upgraded his to a 16T and likes it, but he's going to change that one with a 17T sometime in the future. It's a quick, cheap fix.

The VL800 is shaft drive...no sprockets to change.

The reach for a non-existant sixth gear is just one of the drawbacks of a small displacement cruiser. In order to get good performance at low and mid range speeds, the gearing makes the RPM at highway speeds rather 'busy'. I prefer the power around town and up in the mountains, so I love my 800. But for highway trips or sustained high speed operation, the best bet is a bigger bike (I have a Yamaha Voyager for long trips on the interstate). There is no way to swap the gear set of the drive unit, as niether Suzuki nor the aftermarket make different gears. But the design is far more complicated than the rear end of a car, so you can't swap out gears like you can on a car. Nor does anyone make a primary drive gear or a different gear set for the transmission.

I was the one on the other board that modified the VS800: a taller rear tire and a shaft drive unit off a European spec VX800 gave me a 10% drop in RPM in fifth gear. Because the VS800 motor really makes its best power above 4000 RPM the bike's performance suffered at lower speeds, but it did make the bike more confortable at 70 MPH on the interstate.

I don't know if the VX drive unit would fit on a VL. They are also pretty hard to find, as the VX800 was only manufactured for a short time, and went out of production on 1992. The drive unit was also an inferior design to the VS and VL units, wearing out fairly quickly. By comparison, the original drive unit off my 1996 VS800 has 130,000 miles on it and shows less wear than a VX800 unit with 18,000 miles on it. I put the VX800 drive unit on my other VS800 and ran it for about 3 months, but once the unit got to 25,000 miles it was shot and I had to swap it back. All in all, it was not worth the effort.

 

[cyclemanstan]

Thanks for everyone's input. I knew that being shaft drive would be difficult to change. Looks like the taller tire is my best bet. How tall can I go and what are the size dimentions. It seeems that a lot of people have this concern on all cruiser Suzuki's. I would like for everyone who has this problem to contact Suzuki and request that they spread out the final 2 gear ratios a little to lower the rpm's for hiway cruising. This would still give us low speed torq while allowing a more comfortable hi speed ride. Honda and Yamaha have already done this. Of course the best solution would be to add a 6th gear overdrive to what they have now. The only way things get changed is to voice your opinions to the manufactuers. I have contacted Honda many times on my preferences and beleive me, they have always been glad to get feedback from their clients. This helps them to tailor there products more to the liking of the buyers needs. Thanks again, Stan.

 

[Trapper]

I found the solution today. Wear earplugs. You'll never harm the engine.

 

[cyclemanstan]

I just solved the problem today. Sold the Volusia and replaced it with a Honda VT1100 Ace Tourer. It was a bit more exspensive than ear plugs but my wife loves it. Hey now, how much better can you do than that! I still have my Marauder for kicking around on. Now, if I could just get the M running right again.