I had a ruby for a drive for my first time and was very unhappy with the way the tank mounted shifter worked.The bike was at a local dealer,and had only 360km[21h]. It was their demo,so i realize it's subject to lots of abuse.In reverse the revlimiter would sometimes work and sometimes not. It didn't matter what mode the bike was in [d1,d2,esp],i'm not sure if that is an issue or not.The revlimiter would quit working if i used a little force to put it in reverse.I also found when the tank leaver was in [R,L,D] ther was about 2inc's of play front to back without pressing the button.I'm thinking maby when someone else test drove it,they forsed it into [R,D,L] without pressing the button while selecting a gear.Does anyone no if maby there is an adjustment on that lever somewhere?I've had a ruby on order for about 5mts, and it is supposed to be in next week. Hopefully it will shift better than that one did.I now own a 450es, and i was very impressed by the new ruby [other than the shifter]. It has much more power,ground clearance and i couldn't believe how much better the ride is. The traney is smoth as butter,and the bike feels like it can haul a truck.

To the ruby owners.
How does your bike shift and perform??

Thanks for looking and responding if you do!!

SWAMPDONKY
450es for one more week.

 

I am sure the bike has had some abuse since they dont make people read how to do things before they test it out. I am not sure about the revelimiter. Can you give us more detail on this? There will be "some" play in the lever while in gear but not an excessive amount. If I remember correctly there are some modes you can shift in and out of without pressing the button. Some cars are like this. For instance going from in gear to neutral shoud not require pushing the button in some vehicles. I am pretty sure it tell you in the manual what you can and cant do. I have NEVER had it slip out of gear so I wouldnt be worried. There is a adjustment on the linkage for this lever.

I have been very happy with my Ruibicon. No complaints about performance of shifting.

BTW, be sure to take the slack out of your throttle cable.

 

TEXMUD
The only thing that i can tell you is that the
revelimiter would not work if i forced it into reverse.Could it be a safety feature not to reve out in reverse if it's not fully in gear?My other question is,does your bike have a revlimiter in reverse?If so can you over-ride it? I think polaris and kawasaki auto's have revlimiter's in reverse also, and can over-ride it by pushing and giving it gas at the same time.
I also want to tell you your site is excellent!!
If you don't mind i've got a couple more questions.
What is a pelican 1450 case?
Will i need a fender kit from highlifter to fit my 27x12x12 vampires?

Thanks for the response!

SWAMPDONKY
450es 27x12x12 all arround, for one more week

 

Thanks for the complements on the site!

I would only assume it has a revlimiter in reverse....I dont use it that often and I havent had the need to gun it in reverse yet. It does not have an override.

A Pelican 1450 case is a watertight/airtight case typically used for scuba diving. It is waterproof to something like 100 meters. It also has a "indesructable" warrenty. They can be run over by cars and not break! Now they are expensive but they come in all shapes and sizes. Your local scuba shop will have them. I use mine to carry a first aid kit and my digital camera. Since I ride in deep water I needed something that I can trust 100% to keep that camera dry.

I do think you will need the fender kit to run them. Are you going to run 27x12 all the way around or 9.5s up front?

 

My Rubi slipped out of gear once just the other day. It was a very weird thing and I believe that I might not have put the lever fully into the D position.

It was really a bizarre thing. I was doing a "K" turn on a trail and after I had backed up to the edge of the trail and started to go forward it seemed to slip out of gear and grind. The strangest part was that it went forward and then slipped out and stopped. I assumed that I was hurrying to put it back into gear and didn't get it in all the way.

Once I took my time and put it back into gear properly, I had no problems for the rest of the ride. I will keep an eye on it and let you know what I see. I'll tell you one thing, that extended warranty is starting to look like a better deal.

I know this sounds negative and I really don't want to give that impression of this machine. It has treated me great so far. It always starts first crank even up here and in the deep snow. I have not had a single problem to report except for this weird thing that I believe I caused and a small rattle from an exhaust heat shield.

 

TEXMUD
The pelican case realy sounds very useful for lots of things that you want to keep mud and water out of.Thanks for the info!
The revlimiter on the ruby i test drove came on only in reverse in any mode [d1,d2,esp] It came on without mashing the gas,i was barely moving.Is it possible that the revlimiter should only come on in [d1,d2] for the automatic mode, and not while in [esp]? That is why i earlier asked if there was an adjustment.

The tires that i will use are the ones i now have on my 450es,27x12x12 all the way arround.

Thanks

SWAMPDONKY
450es27x12x12 for one mkore week!!

 

The Pelican case is great. I had searched high and low for something I could trust underwater. I would not think that the revlimiter would not work in one mode, but like I said I have never really tried.

 

TEXMUD
Thanks for sheding some light on the problem i encountered. The only reason that i can think of that the ruby's revelimiter would work only in thoso two mod's,and not in esp,is because i thought maby that while in esp you have 5 forward gears,so maby you should only have one reverse.While in d1,d2,you could go allot faster in reverse,so maby honda put a revlimiter on those two modes.Thats why i thought the shifter may have been out of adjustment.I may not be on the right track in my theroy,am i??The ruby's only been in my area for about 3weeks,so none of the dealers realy seam to know much about them.I find it a little bit frusterating that they don't know more about their product,but i expect that a little bit because its a new modle.I rely on alot of people like you with credability,in this form and that answers alot of questions from everyone!

Thanks!!

SWAMPDONKY
450es for one more week

 

I THINK the shifter may be fine and TexMud is right. You only need to press the button for certain modes - otherwise it slides back and forth with just a little effort, no button. Check the manual for the specifics (of course I read it and can't remember exactly now) but when you have been on it awhile you get a feel and know when the button needs to be pressed. I have had no issues with the Ruby overall and the shifter has performed perfectly. You will really learn to like the tankshifter when you no longer need to fight the foot shifter and that little red button to get in reverse.

 

I haven't noticed any sloppiness in the tank shifter of mine but, it does seem to me that it shifts a little harder if the engine speed is up.
Make sure you're stopped before shifting or you're asking for trouble.