I'm still trying to figure out how you "gearing techs" figure that any bike that goes just as fast in 4th gear as it does in 5th, sometimes even faster, can possibly gain from a taller gear.
As it is now, even 5th gear is worthless on any kind of a grade, or any head wind at all. But I'd guess you know something the factory engineers don't.
A taller gear would be fine w/ a tailwind, or on a down grade.

I know that you're all wanting to get those rpms down, but you'll pay a price somewhere to do it w/ limited horsepower.

Congrats, it's the easiest bike I ever had to work on and mod.

Most bikes are geared to carry 2 people with one person it could easily be geared 500 rpm less,Look at all the cars today they are geared way higher than they were years ago,I'm not talking about a higher top speed just a more nicer rpm to cruise at.

Boofer wrote on 04/13/11 at 18:36:49:

+1 on this statement. This is kinda how I ride. I'm a little bit of a speed demon. I can't just do 75mph on the superslab. It always itches. I can do it for a while, and then I just get restless. When I ride with my buddy, which is most of the miles I put on the bike, we both get antsy every now and then and we just gotta let it out. There's often WOT bursts and then just going back to 75 for a while. He has a C50 and both bikes pull about the same. Then I do my occasional test runs to try out a different setting on the carb and such. I put a 150 main jet in and tested it yesterday. There is a stretch of highway with little traffic, dead flat and smooth. And almost never cop infested. 17 miles at 90+, and same on the way back. She runs like new with 15,000 miles. What a blast, that little bike  

I ride the freeway every day about 30 minutes each way, usually at about 70mph. On a bike this light the crosswinds are an issue, but you learn to ride it. Hell, the light weight is part of what makes this little bike so much fun.
Bottom line here is that the bike will hold up long after your butt and back have had enough!

I picked up a 2007 S40, with 2,400 miles on it.  My primary goal was to get a good starter bike, as I had not ridden seriously since 1989.

I have a 70 mile round trip commute daily, most on a nice divided road with a 65 mph speed limit.

The bike does very well at 60 - 65 mph, but is close to my comfort level as far as max. rpm.  I have done short bursts of 70 mph, but that is definitely more rpm than what I would want to sustain.

(Edit: BTW, took the white spacer down to 2mm, and put in a 150 main jet, so getting plenty of fuel.)

I am averaging 46 mpg for the 600 miles that I have run so far commuting.  I would like more, but can live with that, as our spring weather has been fairly windy, and have had to buck a lot of wind.  Also, I installed a Plexifairing 3, which catches a bunch of wind.

On May 11th, I'll be riding home to Montana.  I have chosen a route that is mostly secondary roads, which will be 60 - 65 mph limit.  It is 970 miles one way.  I'll sure as hell have a lot more to share when that little adventure is over.

I'll be passing through Sturgis.....hope to see the ghosts of knuckleheads past  

i went to a local suzuki shop today and the salesman was trying to upsale me to a m50.

im very ignorant to motorcycles and he was very convincing but then again he is a salesman.

any thoughts?

P.S. yall have pretty much sold me on a s40 but im still trying to have an open mind on other bikes.