Posted by Richard fssnoc#4368(Ks) on July 15, 2003 at 22:27:20:
In Reply to: Re: 5th Gear? posted by David K on July 14, 2003 at 23:52:49:
Jeff - just some food for thought here. I don't have a tach which is of no surprize to you guys but my manual for my "96" 5 speed shows the motor is turning 4000rpm for 60mph, 5000rpm for 75mph and 6500rpm for 100mph. Various speed rpms could quite easily be extrapolated from these figures provided by Suzuki and compared to what they calculate for your 4 speed to get a definitive answer to your question. I personally consider 5th as an overdrive. On several different occasions I felt as though it had just run out of steam only to find that I had failed to count gears and still had one left. So judging from the feel factor I would say that David must be right in that it both lowers the rpm and increases the speed. Past threads suggest the extra gear might be worth 300 or so rpm.