Is 5th gear useless to anyone else?

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by tommygun

Whats the going distance before a complete engine overhaul?

Depends on what you mean by "riding it wide open".

Wide open in 5th is quite different than wide open in the other gears.

We've had a couple of guys on here that liked to red-line it in all the gears, all the time and they lasted less than 30,000 miles.

OTOH, there are quite a few approaching 50K miles and still going strong but I suspect that they never have it wound out all the way.......because it won't do that in 5th !!