MikeWa Posted November 26, 2011 Share #1 Posted November 26, 2011 Well I finally made the plunge. I have not been happy with 5th gear since I have owned this bike. So I finally broke down and swapped out the differential for one with the Vmax gears. That changes the gear ratio from about 3.3/1 to about 3.6/1. Not a drastic change but oh what a difference in handling. This is the gear that should have been in the Venture from the factory. No more bucking and lugging. Fifth is now usable from under 40 to over 100 mph. The bike is much more responsive at all speeds and in all gears. Slow speed cruising in first is much improved as well. So thanks Freebird. Your article in the Tech section convinced me to go ahead and give it a try. John Furber at RMSportmax was easy to work with and got the gears to me quickly. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farm1810 Posted November 27, 2011 Share #2 Posted November 27, 2011 My wife and I went for a relatively long ride yesterday. I did the swap (with freebird's excellent tech article in hand) a couple of weeks ago, but this was the longest ride 2 up since I did the swap. For me, the bike is now just totally enjoyable. When I first got it (I have a second gen), folks on this site helped me to understand that I was lugging the engine. So I learned to keep it revved up, not worry about getting out of third gear until about 40 mph and to accept that I didn't use 5th unless I was on the turnpike and about 55 to 60 mph. Now, my riding is back to being intuitive. The r's are natually a little bit higher, the engine just sounds right for the wheel speed. I know that sounds a little strange to some, but prior to the change the gearing felt more like something I would want to use out on the salt lake making a run for a high speed record. I have not gone 100 mph since making the change on my bike, but 80 mph feels like the bike is as happy as can be. I too worked through John Furbur. Great service, fast shipping, great product, and rapid refund once he received my old core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWa Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share #3 Posted November 27, 2011 Glad to hear your outcome is similar to mine. I looked at quite a few things before making this kind of modification to my bike. Now I am glad I did. The gears are RSV 10/33 and VMAX 9/33. That means a 10% increase in torque in all gears. It also means the engine will be operating at 10% higher rpm for any given speed, so it will be developing even more torque. The performance increase is very noticeable when riding. HD v-twins get their maximum torque around 3200 rpm. Our v-4s get theirs around 4600 rpm. So when a v-twin is happy at 2800 rpm it takes about 3800 for our v-4 to get that same warm and fuzzy feeling. I am now cruising at around 3600 at 70 mph, 4100 at 80 and 5200 at 100 mph. 6200 rpm would still net me 120 mph. Which is faster than I care to ride. And with the torque increase I might actually be able to achieve that speed. Even though I haven't tried...yet. Since both gear sets use a 33 tooth ring gear the speed sensor is not adversely affected. Buying the deferential already assembled greatly simplifies installation. And Freebirds instructions in the tech section are pretty straight foreword. The problem with trying to confirm all of this on a bike dyno is finding one that actually gives the readings at the rear wheels. Most are computerized and use a formula to deduce engine output. That means they will give you similar readings even though the bike may be run in different gears. There is good and bad to that. But I prefer to know what is hitting the ground. I can backward calculate the engine power by gear ratio myself. For those unaware of this - you don't think 78 (or less) foot pounds of torque is going to send one of these monsters screaming from a stop do you? The gear ratio, transmission and rear end combined, increases torque on the ground by several hundred percent. So for now I will just have to use my pillow seat torque meter. In other words it just feels good. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmicko Posted November 27, 2011 Share #4 Posted November 27, 2011 Very interesting. How much would I need to plan on spending to do this mod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted November 27, 2011 Share #5 Posted November 27, 2011 About $300.00 is the easiest way to get it done. http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=3371&title=-2a-2a-2a-vmax-gearing-for-royal-star-2frs-venture-2f86-93-vrs2a-2a-2a&cat=32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE50 Posted November 28, 2011 Share #6 Posted November 28, 2011 Venture riders using VMAX gears and VMAX riders using Venture gears. What's with that! Did Yamaha get them mixed up on the assy line? :shock3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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