imagineer Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 Anyone change their sprocket ratio to make their sport bike a little more touring friendly? I'm thinking of swapping the stock 15/45 sprockets on the Bandit for a new chain and a smaller rear sprocket (and maybe a larger primary) to make the bike buzz less when at highway speeds. I recently made an 80 mile errand run on the highway and although being able to accelerate from 60 to 80 in a blink of an eye is nice, I'm wondering of a more touring friendly ratio would suit my riding style. It might also help me stop trying to find 6th gear (that doesn't exist). Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 (edited) Easily doable. However, gearing is only one of the issues with trying to use a sport bike as a tourer, tho. Seat comfort, cramped riding position, and wind protection are all a compromise. Only real issue with re-gearing is that most modern bikes drive the speedo off the transmission, so your speedometer will be inaccurate (if you gear down, indicated MPH will be lower than actual MPH) by whatever percentage you change the final ratio, i.e., going from a 15/45 (r=0.333) to a 16/44 (r=0.3636) results in a about 9% overdrive. Prolly not QUITE as bad as it sounds because a typical factory speedo calibration is usually about 2-3% high. To add to the above, you need to keep the total number of teeth on the final drive pretty close to the stock number of teeth or you'll need to cut or add chain links to alter the length. +/- one or two teeth shouldn't be a problem, but three or more is not likely to work without mods. Edited August 22, 2015 by Bubba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 I popped an 18 tooth up front on my xx, made first gear more functional, and had the added benefit of making my speedo more accurate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 The bandit is already geared quite long and most 1200 riders suggest against adding a tooth up front as it makes much more of an impact than dropping a couple out back. Mine has stock gearing and turns 4k rpm at 70 mph. That's really not bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustinsn3485 Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 I'm in the go up one tooth on the front sprocket club as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReconRat Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 One of my bikes has a 17tooth front instead of the 16 stock. I find it doggy off the start. And increased vibration on the road. It changed to road ratio, but pushed 6th gear cruise rpm down into a vibration range. Will change it back. A stock Honda front sprocket has a rubber dampener to kill vibration. Aftermarket sprockets will not have that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jschaf Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 Both my bikes are +1 in front. I like the lower revs. Niether of them are noticeably slower either as I can hold a lower gear longer. Initially I went -1 in front on the cbr which was cheap entertainment but sort of pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motocat12 Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 I bought my bike -1F and went back to stock much happier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strictly Street Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Play with the ratios before buying the parts.http://www.gearingcommander.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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