Is 5th gear useless to anyone else?

[CMS]

I'm in Southen Ohio and we do have hills. My 08 will touch 70 [no windshild ,flat land ] I recently took my first extended ride to the South. On Rt 68 South from the Dayton area to Riply Oh. [believe it or not] I maintained 60 /63 on most of the trip ,on the hills, I did lose speed [5th gear] but I only downshifted once to 4th. This was on one long climb and I down shifted about half way up the incline, on the others I increased my speed at the bottom of the hill as much as possible. This helped on the smaller and shorter climbs, although I would still lose some speed. I'm 170 and the bike had Cortech side and top bags installed. Over all I'm still pleased with the speed of th GZ, it is a 250 and there are limitations, but I really enjoy my trips more so than on my larger bike.The larger bikes are for getting from point A to point B, my 250 is more of an adventure trip, it allows me to see the sights, but I digress. :rawk: CMS