[plowboy]

I've heard that people who ride the 800 are aways reaching for the sixth gear. This is extremely irritating and is almost enough reason not to buy one. I was wondering how serious this problem is? Does cruising at 70 mph seem to strain the rpm's of this engine? Is a person far better off with the 1400, or does the 800 run about as good with it's extremely light weight.

This brings me to another question, what kind of rider rides a 750 magna compared to an 800 intruder? I would expect the v4 honda to be way way smoother than the intruder, but I don't know. I'm just trying to get the choice right the first time. Thanks

 

[c50tiger]

For a while after I got my C50 I repeatedly went for that elusive 6th gear.. haven't done that in at least a month. Usually I would do that after cruising at low rpm's in town, and then hitting open road. It wasn't that it was straining at 65+, although I'm sure the C90/1400 is turning a few less rpm's at 65-70. Just seemed like there should be another gear. It's not enough to bother me, and the engine still has more than plenty enough left running at 70.

 

[Wombat1955]

I'm still running my C50 in..done about 435 miles. Around town I have found it a breeze to handle, and on the only long ride I have been on ( about 250 miles) had the bike cruising happily at 70-75mph, with plenty of poke left (got up to 95mph) for over taking when needed. Only thing it really needs is a windshield and lowers to stop a lot of buffeting.

 

[md2lgyk]

I have a VZ800 (Marauder) and also find myself looking for sixth gear a lot. At 65 or 70 mph it just feels/sounds like there should be another gear.

Some folks change the front sprocket to a 16-tooth (stock is 15) to cut the rpm at freeway speeds. Pretty cheap to do so I may try it.

 

[axel_2078]

I thought the gearing ratio was very wide on the vz800 compared to my old '04 gixxer. It was weird riding around in 2nd gear when I would normally be in 4th gear on the gixxer. Now I can zip around base in 2nd gear. Since the speed limit is 30 mph (20 in many places), I don't need to shift up since it will just bog it down. It feels different, but I like it.