root Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 ok. First off, I am talking transmission gear, not the gear you wear or strap to the bike. So it may sound strange as I've never really been partial to a gear on a vehicle before, but I love 3rd gear on this bike. 3rd gear gives you a good amount of power from 25 mph all the way up over 100 mph. While it is certainly possible to pass on a 2 lane road in 6th gear with adequate power, I tend to want to spend as little time in the lane designated for oncoming traffic as possible. I will shift all the way down to 3rd and nail the throttle, both because it's fun and the bike just rockets around the vehicle I'm passing. I spend very little time in the oncoming lane that way. I get back down to the speed limit as quickly as is safe once I'm past the vehicle and I'm back in my lane though. 3rd gear is also excellent in the curvy roads too (what few we have in northern Indiana). Good throttle response at most corner entrance speeds keeping the bike well behaved but allows you to smoothly exit the corner significantly faster than you entered it at. Maybe I'm just a little crazy. It's been a stressful day and it's super late, so it's quite possible I'm crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member ULEWZ Posted June 5, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted June 5, 2015 ok. First off, I am talking transmission gear, not the gear you wear or strap to the bike. So it may sound strange as I've never really been partial to a gear on a vehicle before, but I love 3rd gear on this bike. 3rd gear gives you a good amount of power from 25 mph all the way up over 100 mph. While it is certainly possible to pass on a 2 lane road in 6th gear with adequate power, I tend to want to spend as little time in the lane designated for oncoming traffic as possible. I will shift all the way down to 3rd and nail the throttle, both because it's fun and the bike just rockets around the vehicle I'm passing. I spend very little time in the oncoming lane that way. I get back down to the speed limit as quickly as is safe once I'm past the vehicle and I'm back in my lane though. 3rd gear is also excellent in the curvy roads too (what few we have in northern Indiana). Good throttle response at most corner entrance speeds keeping the bike well behaved but allows you to smoothly exit the corner significantly faster than you entered it at. Maybe I'm just a little crazy. It's been a stressful day and it's super late, so it's quite possible I'm crazy.Nope, your not crazy and I agree. I tend to use 4th a lot on the high speed sweepers and am always amazed how fast you can get on the throttle exiting a corner. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Bikes: 2015 FJ-09, Seat Concepts seat cover and foam, Cal Sci medium screen, rim stripes, factory heated grips, Cortech Dryver tank bag ring, Modified stock exhaust, FlashTune with Graves fuel map, Cree driving lights, Aux power socket. 2012 Street Triple type R (Wifes) 2007 FJR1300 (Sold!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsracing Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 ... 3rd gear gives you a good amount of power from 25 mph all the way up over 100 mph. ... I will shift all the way down to 3rd and nail the throttle, both because it's fun and the bike just rockets around the vehicle I'm passing. ...So true. You have just described what keeps the massive smile on my face when riding! 2015 FJ-09, 2016 1290 Super Duke, 2017 150 XC-W (primary ride), 2012 DR650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odisspunkmuer Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 3rd gear for sure is the best gear on this bike. You can almost top it out and run it down to town speed without lugging. I'm not even entirely sure why 4th exists on this bike. The difference in revs at any speed is about 400 tops, at lower back road speeds my tac doesn't even seem to change going from 4th to 3rd, and the power difference is negligible in the high revs until you get up into 5th and get some of your torque back. I'm usually in 3rd or 5th for most driving situations and speeds Sans highway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsracing Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I got on a stretch of private, closed course, straight concrete a few minutes ago. 3rd gear hits rev limiter at an indicated 106-108 mph on my bike. That seems to align well with the calculated characteristics, shown below. 2015 FJ-09, 2016 1290 Super Duke, 2017 150 XC-W (primary ride), 2012 DR650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member wessie Posted June 6, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted June 6, 2015 that graph seems to correlate with my experience of hitting the rev limiter in 4th... This signature is left blank as the poster writes enough pretentious bollocks as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member 1moreroad Posted June 6, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted June 6, 2015 I got on a stretch of private, closed course, straight concrete a few minutes ago. 3rd gear hits rev limiter at an indicated 106-108 mph on my bike. That seems to align well with the calculated characteristics, shown below. So is it speed governed in 4th gear, too? I only know about 6th. > Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsracing Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 My ECU is fixed, by 2WheelDynoWorks, to remove the speed limiter and many other improvements. The engine still has a rev limiter, which prevents catastrophic failure from over revving. 2015 FJ-09, 2016 1290 Super Duke, 2017 150 XC-W (primary ride), 2012 DR650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxn Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Never thought about this before on any other bike and the FJ is my 10th bike. Or at least never gave serious consideration to my "favorite gear." But I must admit that 3rd seems most usable. And my favorite part is that growling intake roar as the revs climb in 3rd. Very visceral! Makes me grin like a fool every time. Plus, I can pretty much corner as easily in 3rd as in 2nd with the usable torque this bike offers. And 3rd is most usable in town. Never tried to top out 3rd, but I may have to this weekend based on this conversation. 3rd gets my vote! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ville Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Defenetely 3rd pulls hard from pretty much any speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPenguin Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 My vote is for 3rd as well. It's all I used going up a switchback mountain road on a trip a few weeks ago, even on the sharp corners it would dig itself out very nicely with no hesitation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member fanowater Posted June 23, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted June 23, 2015 I only have 661 miles on the bike, so I have had to behave...sort of. 4th is good, but 3rd is a total riot! Can't wait to start taking that puppy up to redline in 3rd. 3rd makes the FJ 'the Passin' Assassin'. Cheers 2015 FJ-09 2006 Triumph Daytona 675 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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