Torque and Max Speed
 

While cruising through this forum I've seen a lot of folks talking and doing changes to the front and rear gearing on the bike by replacing the 14T with a 13T and sometimes changing the rear of the bike to a 45T or 46 from the stock 44T. I found a website that shows the impact to speed and torque by making these changes along with what you will have to do with a chain. Pretty nice!
http://sprocketcalculator.com/

Cool topic; thanks for the link.


It makes sense, since theoretically, you have more torque-carrying ability with lower gears. Old drag racers will tell you that a change to a car that increases trap speed is an increase in HP, while a decrease in ET is an increase in torque.

I believe that there have been posts that state that when they put a 13t on their RX3 that they got a higher top speed (which is counter intuitive).

This can happen because the RX3's relatively low power vs. the air resistance/drag does not allow max rpm before the drag exceeds the power available. By replacing the 14t with a 13t the engine is higher on the power curve when it reaches the 14t max speed and can go a few more mph before maxing out.

us kawasaki ke100 owneres see the same thing... drop your front from astock 15 down to a 13 and you gain 4-5 mph due to the engine actually being able to pull the gear instead of lugging it...

That would be really cool and maybe would offset the fact that I'm also doing a 45 on the rear. Can't wait to try it out but I'm waiting to change the cogs until I pull the wheels to change from the OEM rubber to the Shinko 244's I have for more offroad rides.