Actually, I live out east and use the upper gears of my '01 400sx all the time. I geared the bike down one in front and up two in the back for two reasons. The first is to make it easier in the really tight and nasty eastern woods stuff. The second is because the bike wouldn't pull 6th or even 5th really well. When I ride in the mountains there are some snowmobile trails that are wide open and allow me to run the bike to the rev limiter in 6th (with the lower gearing). BTW, I'm only a VET B off-roader! One down side of the lower gearing is that it doesn't seem to pull as far in the lower gears as it did with stock gearing. I may have to look at the various transmission combinations to see if I can put together my own custom gearbox!