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12-07-2023, 05:15 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2023
Location: DFW
Posts: 64
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Gearing: real world experience
Okay, I have read everything I can and have been hypnotized by all the numbers concerning gear ratios. I understand the ratios and what they do, but…
What is the REAL difference between my stock 0.35556 and 0.40 for street; or 0.308 for off roading? The numbers don’t mean anything to me. I want to know what y’all have experienced. And I have seen the “Good ol boys” video with speeds at different gearing. Didn’t really answer my questions. Thanks in advance—this is a GREAT forum!
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12-07-2023, 06:04 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Sep 2022
Location: Ohio Valley
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12-07-2023, 06:13 PM | #3 | |
Join Date: Oct 2023
Location: DFW
Posts: 64
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Quote:
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12-07-2023, 08:51 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 2,616
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The only way to stop being hypnotized by all the numbers is to determine your own motorcycle's speed at rpm. Just two things to note: 1) indicated, and 2) actual.
Do you have a highway that has mile markers? Or maybe you can find an ap for that. The bottom line is that every motorcycle is different. Personally, I like to see REAL mile marker times. You want to KNOW how fast you are goin, NOT how fast someone else is going on the "same" bike. Drive 60 indicated on the highway and time your interval to the next mile marker. Real world...There you go...
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-NOS 2020 KTM 250SX (2-stroke motocross) |
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12-08-2023, 10:29 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Oct 2023
Location: DFW
Posts: 64
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Great answer!
That’s a huge change! 17/45 would be 15/39! I wouldn’t have thought the bike would pull that. Therefore, 16/40 is doable!
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12-08-2023, 05:39 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 8,100
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There are people that have run a 17 front 39 rear on the Hawks in pure road use. I personally find the 17/45 the best road use sprocket that can still manage light trail use. It is the best compromise of top speed vs. rpm vs. engine power.
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12-08-2023, 09:33 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Oct 2023
Location: north east missouri
Posts: 34
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I live in North East Missouri so it's flat with small hills for the most part. My bike will be mostly for commuting for work . I'm about 200 pounds and all the roads here are 60 mph or less besides the interstate. Mine seems to handle it fine. I only have 170 miles on it just got it in Oct. I can't wait for spring lol
Last edited by sburk; 12-08-2023 at 09:34 PM. Reason: Typo |
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12-07-2023, 11:14 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Big Piney, WY
Posts: 572
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The crazy thing is how much bearing rider weight and position have on speed. In 5th gear my bike struggles to hit 60 with a 16/47 set up, but if I lean over the tank and make myself more aerodynamic, 65 no problem.
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12-08-2023, 07:20 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Oct 2021
Location: odessa MO; donna TX
Posts: 152
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Why not buy a 1 tooth larger and smaller front sprocket, install one of them, and try it out? Then try the other one. You'll see very quickly the difference made with either one and have a more direct reference to the numbers. Good luck.
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12-08-2023, 08:19 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,403
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If you're doing mostly off road then you want the torque of a lower gear ratio.
For general road speed limits and taller gear ratios that accommodate the transmission spread. However you need to factor in what the engine is actually capable of. The Good ole boy test basically expressed that a 42 rear is too small when paired with a 17t front because the engine power band cant transmit the energy effectively. If you live on flat roads 17/45 seems feasible...but as soon as you hit a hill with enough gradient you will find yourself dropping gears to find the power band... I'm running 16/44 which has me dropping back to 4th gear on steep hills. But i still have the option of stepping up to a 17t front if I want to cover distance travel... 17t being the largest front sprocket that will fit 428 chain. I wouldn't bother with trying to pin 65pmh as a metric....the engines are happier at 55mph. |
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12-08-2023, 08:26 AM | #12 |
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 2,616
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BriN
You can get a pretty accurate mph by timing yourself the through a measured mile. Get up to speed, 60 is a good choice, and maintain that indicated speed when you cross the mile marker. Time the mile. It should be exactly one minute. If it is more, say 66 seconds for instance, then you are going a mile per 1.1 minute, or 60 miles per 1.1 hour. 60/1.1 is 54.4 mph. And you have about a 10% speedometer error. So if it indicates 70 you are actually going a out 10% less, 70-7 about 63. The error should be linear, 10% at any speed. One last thing. You can check the odometer the same way. Note the odometer reading as you pass a mile marker, drive ten miles and stop at the tenth mile marker. How many miles did the odometer roll up? 11? Then you also have about a 10% odometer error. You can calculate whatever you get. I just used 10% because the math is easy.
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12-08-2023, 10:18 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Oct 2023
Location: DFW
Posts: 64
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Thanks for the replies! You guys are awesome!
I’ve got GPS and phone speedo, I know they lag a little. The best answers tell me what it feels like, especially off road. How much the engine will actually handle. All the calculators are ‘theoretical’. “I'm running 16/44 which has me dropping back to 4th gear on steep hills.”—thank you XLsior. My stock is 16/45. I could buy all the sprockets and do days worth of swaps and rides (not counting chain mods), but I’d rather hear from y’all and spend way less $$. And what length chains are you finding fit with your set-ups? I have two sets of tires and wheels. One for on road (with stock tires), the other with 10/90 tires for off road. I just want to put one sprocket on each rear wheel and be good.
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12-09-2023, 02:32 AM | #14 |
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,403
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If you already have 16/45 stock then getting a 17 and 15 front to experiment wont break the bank and will likely not require any links taken out of the chain...
Rear sprockets are the more costly to change. I'd say for most user applications 45 rear is fine. |
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12-08-2023, 11:47 AM | #15 |
Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 994
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I don't know what bike you have,but assuming it's a Hawk, then I will tell you my experience, and opinion. I weigh 250, live in the Mid Ohio Valley of West Virginia, which is not mountainous, but has it's share of hills. I have no need for my bike to run much faster than 55mph + a little more to basically go with the flow of the other vehicles. I already had an extra 46 rear, so I tried it with a 17 front, and it was geared a little higher than what I need, but it was livable. It did require me to down shift on hills that I knew that with just a little more power I would top in high, because on a 4th gear down shift, it would often wind itself back out, and be running nearly as fast as I would normally want to run, but at a higher rpm, and sometimes with a lot of hill left. If I was a lighter rider, and under 200 pounds, I think I would like something a step higher than a 17/46, like a 17/44, because when it did run out of steam in 5th, then 4th gear would often build the speed back up to normal, without winding the motor out past it's optimal power curve. I am now running the same 46, but with a 16 front, and it pleases me fine. The bike is not sluggish ( for an internally stock CG), and gets to 55+ pretty quickly, and is not under undue stress running that at a steady speed. I often run it in the low 60s out on the main roads when the rest of the traffic is flowing at that, but it's usually just for a couple miles. I honestly think that if a person was under 200 lbs, and didn't live in mountainous terrain, then you could gear it according to how much low speed power you need, because once you go high enough in gearing, you are going to be having a 4th that's as high as 5th was with lower gears. As long as you have enough grunt in 1st to EASILY take off from any situation, and to handle any low speed "off road" situation, and enough 5th to unstressfully handle your foreseeable substained top speed then your good.
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