lame 6th gear

Hey all. My bike is really being a dog in sixth gear and I am having a hard time figuring why. After breaking it in (has about 1200 miles) I have been letting it all out on the road and it was getting up to 75-80 and fell to about 60 on inclines and now it dogs to about 50-55 even on slight inclines and really, there is no thrust at all when rolling the throttle in 6th. It will slowly climb in MPH but no oomph at all. Lower gears seem fine and I can wheelie in 1st. I have followed all the maintenance and put a new plug in it etc.
My rear brake has a squeak in it and I am tempted to think that maybe the brake is not releasing and the bike reacts to it in 6th because of the lower torque.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Jim

the xt's power band is tuned for low to mid torque. yes 6th gear does dog on hills. it almost seems to be too large of a gap from 5th to 6th. all you can do is down shift. the xt will get to 60 really fast, but it takes a while to get topped out.

I had the same issue with my XT, seemed like it lost power and was bogging down on hills in gears 5&6. I didn't know if it was just me or the bike was really riding differently. It could be that you are over oiling the filter or something, the filter is restrictive.
In any case I made 3 changes to the bike. #1- I did the carburetor modification suggested on the XT225 UK site. #2- I installed a K&N Filter (drop in replacement). #3- I changed the front sprocket to a 14 tooth. I did all of these at one time so I can't vouch for what these changes will do individually. I would start with the sprocket ratio first. If you do a filter you may need to check the plug for proper color. If you do the filter I would suggest doing the UK carb adjustment to fatten it up a bit, I ended up with about two turns out with the pilot screw. Personally I would do all three mods, the bike runs so much better now, no bogging, easy starting and much stronger, all can be undone if needed. These bikes are highly restricted by EPA regulations.

About the sixth gear issues. After going through the gears, I find it difficult to tell whether or not I ever get it into sixth gear. Is there a certain speed you have to attain before it will pop into sixth gear?
I've been cruising in what I thought was fifth gear and tried to up shift, but it doesn't seem to go into a noticeable change of gears. Has anyone else experienced this? JoeXT225

Count the gears as you go, there is a big difference from 5th to 6th gear. The shift pattern is one down and 5 up. You should be able to shift into 6th gear at any speed but it is unusable below 40 mph or so.

Mark you are from Atlanta? I live west of ATL.
I cleaned the air filter and it seems to be doing a little better. I suppose I need to be realistic with higher gears unless I go ahead with the mods.
I am still very happy with the bike!

Ready2ride - I am in Forsyth how about you? Probably most people keep their bike stock, I did have the same experience you did and never figured out why it seemed to lose power. Maybe the bike just runs stronger when it is tight and new. Any good offroad riding spots out your way?

Ready2ride - When you cleaned your filter did you re-oil it? The filter requires filter oil.

Hi mark. Sorry so long for reply.
Yes I used the Honda "no toil" biodegradible" oil on the filter and it seems fine. I get all kinds of pings and noise from the engine that I hope is normal, but I have nothing to compare it to.
I am in the Dallas area and I mostly mess around in construction sites and around power lines these days because I have no way of trailoring it around to a decent place to ride. What about you?
Jim

I have found very few places to ride, used to be a great place in Cumming but most entrances are closed down. Not even any good power lines around. Yeah my bike makes a lot of noises which I don't think it should too, it has started running poorly also and I am trying to figure it out.

I have found very few places to ride, used to be a great place in Cumming but most entrances are closed down. Not even any good power lines around. Yeah my bike makes a lot of noises which I don't think it should too, it has started running poorly also and I am trying to figure it out.

Sometimes, especially if you're pretty heavy (I'm 225) then gearing gets kinda' tricky. You would think that to go faster you would need to gear the sprockets up (like a 16 tooth drive.) In reality, maybe the engine won't pull the stock 6th gear because of lack of torque. Try a 14 tooth drive sprocket and see if the bike doesn't pull 6th gear better. You can always go back to stock. Had this experience on a Bridgestone 175 dual sport in 1968. (But the top gear was 5th, not 6th.)
Van

a couple of georgia boys!! got a third here. I live in dallas texas now, but was born and raised just outside of atlanta in stockbridge-conyers area.

I sure miss the scenery there. it may seem like old hat to you guys, but out here all we have are fields, FLAT FIELDS. you never miss the trees and hills and red dirt until you leave and have none of it.

There are some good places around here, but you really have to go look for them.

Do me a favor and take some pics whenever yall go ride and post 'em for me to remind me of home!!

Have fun!!!