For the small percentage of you out there, like me, that feel the FJR could use 6th gear or at least some taller gearing, this post may interest you. I’ve had my ’05 for only about 2 mos and while I love the bike, the gearing is still my biggest issue (if I can even call it that). Honestly, this really is a non-issue; it affects nothing, the engine is very smooth and there is no shortage of high mileage FJRs happily spinning those “extra” revs with no ill-affect just the way Yamaha intended. And being a shafty, our options are essentially zero for gearing changes and I know that with time I’d simply learn to live with it. However, there IS an alternative.
Many years ago, Yamaha Royal Star Venture (RSV) owners found their gearing to be too tall. They often ride double-up, heavily loaded, even towing trailers occasionally and were having to drop to 4th and even 3rd gear to maintain their speed on the hills. The solution was to put VMax gears in their Venture Final Drive (FD) cases to gain ~500 rpms in top gear which greatly helped their acceleration and getting over those big hills. From what I could gather, the RSV, FJR and VMax FD cases are very similar but not interchangeable but the gears ARE.
Here's my '05 and the FD unit sitting on the lift has RSV gears installed. The RSV gears are 10/33 for a ratio of 3.30 whereas the FJR (and Vmax) gears are 9/33 for a ratio of 3.66, a 10% difference (the later GEN1 Vmax may also have the 3.3 gears but I’m not sure). Here are the numbers for our FJRs with the original FD gears and then the RSV gears. I used a rear tire rolling circumference of 76” giving 834 turns per mile (measured on my bike, with a slightly worn 180/55 x 17 Michelin PR2 which should be fairly typical):
With OE FD gears: Primary x 5th x Secondary Reductions (middle gear x bevel gear x FD) x 834
GEN1: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.772 (35/36 x 21/27 x 33/9) x 834= 3357 engine revs per mile.
GEN2/3: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.698 (35/37 x 21/27 x 33/9) x 834= 3267 engine revs per mile (that’s the well-known ~2.7% difference from GEN1).
With the RSV FD gears:
GEN1: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.495 (35/36 x 21/27 x 33/10) x 834 = 3021 engine RPM @60mph (336 less revs)
GEN2/3: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.427 (35/37 x 21/27 x 33/10) x 834 = 2939 engine RPM @60mph (328 less revs)
So there you have it…. A few hundred less revs by making this change. I installed my re-geared FD unit about 2 weeks ago and I love it! The change is not huge but it is noticeable as soon as you get rolling. Acceleration and roll-ons seem to have changed very little. Fuel mileage difference? I don’t know yet as I haven’t even burned through a tank. Any downsides to this? The only issue I see is that the rpm drop is not apparent on the gages. The speedo and tach read exactly the same as before (~3400@ indicated 60, ~4000@70 on my bike). And why is that? This is because the FJR’s speedometer sensor gets its signal from the transmission middle shaft and is subject to the same reduction as the engine due to the FD ratio change. I haven’t measured anything yet, but I’d guess that my speedo is now reading about 4-5 mph slower than before at the same actual speed. Example: assuming my tach is correct, at 3000 rpm my speedo indicates about 55 mph when it should be showing ~60 mph based on the above calculation with the new RSV FD unit. Time for a Speedo-healer?
I got my re-geared FD unit from Blue Ridge Mountain SportMax based in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, and their website is https://rmsportmax.com/gateway.html. I’m sure some of you have heard of them. They’re actually a Vmax specialty shop that also supports the Venture/Royal Star as well. Owner’s name is John Furbur and he’s been doing these FD gear swaps for about 15 years and provides Vmax gears for the Royal Star and Royal Star gears for the Vmax (and now the FJR). Apparently, some Vmax owners also like taller gearing. You can buy a re-geared FD unit outright with the option to send back your old unit for a core exchange credit (which is what I’m doing).
So how did I find this guy? Well, I spent a few hours searching the interwebs, including anything I could find on FDs in the two main FJR forums (FJRforum and FJRowners). What I found was a lot of posts about the GEN2 gearing change with the usual questions, speculation, misinformation, swaps etc., and at least one example of someone buying a VMax FD unit only to find it didn’t fit their FJR and it had the same gearing… lesson learned. My search eventually took me to the Venturerider.org forum where I found details on their FD changes. I figured if the Vmax and RSV gear-sets could be swapped, perhaps it could be done for the FJR? An email to John quickly confirmed that Yes, he could do the swap for the FJR and he had a few FD units already converted and ready to go. So I placed my order and it was delivered in a week. Strangely enough, John and “RMSportmax” have been mentioned in the FJR forums before but I cannot find one single example of anyone actually making this change. Could I be the first?? Nope. John say mine was the first unit he’s shipped out to a Customer but he’s already done a few installs for local customers (where are those guys?). Anyway, John says he’s “just getting started” on these FJR swaps which makes me wonder why the late start since he’s been doing the RSV/Vmax swaps for so long. Lack of interest from the FJR crowd? I don’t know.
Anyway, that’s my story. I love this change… 5th gear now feels like a 5th gear and I’ll never go back!!
Best Regards,
Mr. BR
San Jose, CA
Many years ago, Yamaha Royal Star Venture (RSV) owners found their gearing to be too tall. They often ride double-up, heavily loaded, even towing trailers occasionally and were having to drop to 4th and even 3rd gear to maintain their speed on the hills. The solution was to put VMax gears in their Venture Final Drive (FD) cases to gain ~500 rpms in top gear which greatly helped their acceleration and getting over those big hills. From what I could gather, the RSV, FJR and VMax FD cases are very similar but not interchangeable but the gears ARE.
Here's my '05 and the FD unit sitting on the lift has RSV gears installed. The RSV gears are 10/33 for a ratio of 3.30 whereas the FJR (and Vmax) gears are 9/33 for a ratio of 3.66, a 10% difference (the later GEN1 Vmax may also have the 3.3 gears but I’m not sure). Here are the numbers for our FJRs with the original FD gears and then the RSV gears. I used a rear tire rolling circumference of 76” giving 834 turns per mile (measured on my bike, with a slightly worn 180/55 x 17 Michelin PR2 which should be fairly typical):
With OE FD gears: Primary x 5th x Secondary Reductions (middle gear x bevel gear x FD) x 834
GEN1: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.772 (35/36 x 21/27 x 33/9) x 834= 3357 engine revs per mile.
GEN2/3: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.698 (35/37 x 21/27 x 33/9) x 834= 3267 engine revs per mile (that’s the well-known ~2.7% difference from GEN1).
With the RSV FD gears:
GEN1: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.495 (35/36 x 21/27 x 33/10) x 834 = 3021 engine RPM @60mph (336 less revs)
GEN2/3: 1.563 x 0.929 x 2.427 (35/37 x 21/27 x 33/10) x 834 = 2939 engine RPM @60mph (328 less revs)
So there you have it…. A few hundred less revs by making this change. I installed my re-geared FD unit about 2 weeks ago and I love it! The change is not huge but it is noticeable as soon as you get rolling. Acceleration and roll-ons seem to have changed very little. Fuel mileage difference? I don’t know yet as I haven’t even burned through a tank. Any downsides to this? The only issue I see is that the rpm drop is not apparent on the gages. The speedo and tach read exactly the same as before (~3400@ indicated 60, ~4000@70 on my bike). And why is that? This is because the FJR’s speedometer sensor gets its signal from the transmission middle shaft and is subject to the same reduction as the engine due to the FD ratio change. I haven’t measured anything yet, but I’d guess that my speedo is now reading about 4-5 mph slower than before at the same actual speed. Example: assuming my tach is correct, at 3000 rpm my speedo indicates about 55 mph when it should be showing ~60 mph based on the above calculation with the new RSV FD unit. Time for a Speedo-healer?
I got my re-geared FD unit from Blue Ridge Mountain SportMax based in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, and their website is https://rmsportmax.com/gateway.html. I’m sure some of you have heard of them. They’re actually a Vmax specialty shop that also supports the Venture/Royal Star as well. Owner’s name is John Furbur and he’s been doing these FD gear swaps for about 15 years and provides Vmax gears for the Royal Star and Royal Star gears for the Vmax (and now the FJR). Apparently, some Vmax owners also like taller gearing. You can buy a re-geared FD unit outright with the option to send back your old unit for a core exchange credit (which is what I’m doing).
So how did I find this guy? Well, I spent a few hours searching the interwebs, including anything I could find on FDs in the two main FJR forums (FJRforum and FJRowners). What I found was a lot of posts about the GEN2 gearing change with the usual questions, speculation, misinformation, swaps etc., and at least one example of someone buying a VMax FD unit only to find it didn’t fit their FJR and it had the same gearing… lesson learned. My search eventually took me to the Venturerider.org forum where I found details on their FD changes. I figured if the Vmax and RSV gear-sets could be swapped, perhaps it could be done for the FJR? An email to John quickly confirmed that Yes, he could do the swap for the FJR and he had a few FD units already converted and ready to go. So I placed my order and it was delivered in a week. Strangely enough, John and “RMSportmax” have been mentioned in the FJR forums before but I cannot find one single example of anyone actually making this change. Could I be the first?? Nope. John say mine was the first unit he’s shipped out to a Customer but he’s already done a few installs for local customers (where are those guys?). Anyway, John says he’s “just getting started” on these FJR swaps which makes me wonder why the late start since he’s been doing the RSV/Vmax swaps for so long. Lack of interest from the FJR crowd? I don’t know.
Anyway, that’s my story. I love this change… 5th gear now feels like a 5th gear and I’ll never go back!!
Best Regards,
Mr. BR
San Jose, CA
