Altering the sprockets for relaxed riding

Did my first commute of the year on my bike today (a few pleasure rides before this). The 37 tooth sprocket works perfectly for my purposes. I am about 230# (6'3") and I have no problem taking off from a dead stop and accelerating just fine. Before, I would end up in 6th pretty quickly. Now, I eventually get there, but I use the intermediate gears more. The bike cruises along at 60+ mph without revving as high and I would not hesitate to run it at 65mph or above if necessary. It's less than a 500 rpm drop at 60, but it is noticeable. I highly doubt I'll be going back to the 39....but to anticipate any questions, I'll hold onto it for now.

I have always gotten 53-55 mpg. We'll see if it makes any difference after I have a chance to run a tank on the 37 only.

55mph- around 4900 rpm now, was 5400 rpm before.
 
Good report, thanks! I will check my RPMs at 55 in a couple days. Still have not removed cover to verify front sprocket tooth count but think it is prob 16 as my memory of performance seems to match your results. My mpg checks last year were right about 55 mpg also. Never having ridden it with a 39 tooth rear sprocket I can't comment on any difference.
 
Stupid me. When I installed the sprocket, I assumed that because I was going down 2 teeth, I should just go ahead and remove a link from the chain....I did....I shouldn't have. Had to put it back on. The axle adjustment provided more than enough adjustment to take up the slack.

Then, I tried to thread the chain without removing the sprocket cover....lazy. My big, hammy hands couldn't get it done. Had to remove the sprocket cover...no biggy, but I did not adjust the clutch after I put it back on....until this morning when I couldn't get the thing to move in gear. Lucky for me I can adjust the clutch in about 5 minutes....if I was smarter, wouldn't need luck.

Oh well, all's well that ends well.
 
I get about 65-70mpg with mine. I also have oem pipes and at 5'9 and 165#'s it's not a lot of work on the bike. People still say i look to big for the bike, oh well.
 
After work, I road the 15 miles from my office to the local university to teach a law school class. 13 of that on a 4 lane highway. Ran at 65mph pretty much the whole way without straining...even under my weight.

After class, road it the 8 miles home that included a mid-sized town's downtown where I had to start from red lights uphill a couple of times. Didn't stall and didn't not have the feather the clutch any more than with the 39. Stop and go were no problem with the taller gearing. I was right before. First gear was just too darned low with 39 sprocket.
 
how bad do you guys think 17/43 is going to be? Ill have to run that on my bike for a while untill I can find a sprocket for this honda swingarm thats a lower toothcount.

think they offer some 40t sprockets but I need to find one with the correct offset grouve like this one.

would 17/40 be high still?
 
It's also going to depend on the outside diameter of your rear wheel. If it's about the same, the engine will be revving pretty high, but a 17/40 probably will be fine. That's about the same as a 16/37 to 38.
 
The comment about diameter of rear wheel is right on. I have seen a considerable difference in diameter between different brands of tires even though all are the same size. The Chinese tires now on my bike (Cheng Shin & Duro) have taller side walls than the new IRC Touring tires I ordered a while ago. Just switching out to the new tires will probably bump up rpms a little.

The 18" rear wheel ('79 XS400) I bought to switch out to a rear disc brake has a 39 tooth sprocket - I suppose to accommodate for the 2" increase in diameter over my 16"/37 tooth wheel/sprocket setup.
 
it will be a 190/50/17 rear... im hoping that and the 17/40 will net me 65-70mph (cruising)...ill be commuting the bike 30 miles a day mostly highway
 
Just as a heads up ahale, a 190/50/17 is a "heavy" tire compared to what comes on the bike and the bike will have to work a lot harder to move, fight traction, roll, brake, bla bla bla. you will probably be working the motor pretty hard at 70 for a 30 mile commute. you will really want to look in to the lightest tire you can find. in my opinion!
 
Rotational mass is worth more than static mass, but so far he's replaced the stock parts with super light components. I am interested in how it will perform. I bet the sport bike wheels are probably on par or lighter than the stockers too.
 
yeah, you both have a good point, I did remove the old heavy drum brake rim, and the honda rim is titanium anodized aluminum...whatever that means (though it was all titanium)

but the tire will definitly be heavier, I will weight them and see wich one is heavier, I know my rear tire/rim/drum brake hub weighed 37lbs
 
It won't matter; granted, concentrating mass of the outside of a circle produces greater rotational inertia. Once the bike gets up to speed you'll just have more rolling resistance. I think with all of the mass you have removed it will be about the same or maybe even slightly better than stock. One could only really criticize you, as in cars, if you increased the size of the wheel and tire significantly, but did not increase the size of your brakes. Since you've upgraded to a much more powerful disc brake setup you'll be able to stop like you're supposed to. Be careful when you start out; that thing may be very capable of pulling stoppies!
 
yeah im sure it will want to flip, the bike will hopefully weight 50lbs lighter than stock, and that will be about half what a 93' GSXR weighs...its gona stop on a dime :)

ill have to get used to the big fronts, im used to braking hard with the fronts coming from dirtbikes, rear brakes have always been more of a convienience than something I use often, I almost dumped the bike first time I rode it because I braked hard with the fronts on a turn and hit a patch of sand ...that opens your eyes up
 
I did the same thing, but I actually laid mine down. I am going to recommend not learning to ride down hill on a frost-heave-ridden street covered in sand. Fortunately my bike is essentially naked right now and my stock alien probe turn signals are the only thing that suffered :laugh: They say everyone dumps a bike at least once. Well, I got my first time out of the way haha.
 

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