Gearing changes?

Vintage Veloce

Vintage Veloce

pro rider
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
Messages
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Location
San Diego
rfa-905-45-blk_1.jpg
How have you changed your gearing? How did it work out?
I'm actually considering going down a tooth on the rear to make highway travel a bit lower RPM...
 
Supersprox makes good stuff. That looks like the steel one. I run a custom stealth from them (color).

The general consensus is that a stock bike runs better with the 15/46.

Do you have air/fuel stuff equipped?


I would definately recommend checking out the gearing commander to anyone who's interested in gearing.

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Motorcycle speed and sprocket calculator with bike database for gearing, sprockets, tires and chains of over 1900 bikes. Request yours to be added as well.
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My engine, intake and exhaust is completely stock. And will likely stay that way. This is supposed to be a mostly city bike for me, so I want to keep the noise down.
The 220 401 stock is 15/45.
Are you at 15/46 yourself? That really is a small change. And I'm considering going the other way, maybe, to 15/44
 
I’m now running a 16/46. After trying the stock front (15T) with a 46T out back. Which was fun, acceleration wise, but more wound up at highway speeds. I’m happy with the current combo, but will eventually replace the rear tire with a taller 150/70/17 which I think will be Goldilocks gearing for my intended use.
 
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I run 15/46. The Steel/Aluminium Stealth Supersprox (Husqvarna upgrade part). One of the best things I did to the bike. I use it for city commuting, and the stock 45 tooth rear sprocket was too tall. Now the bike is in the sweet spot at 30mph in 3rd,and 40mph in 4th. For long highway jaunts I take my Harley. My SP401 is my city slicer, and it's awesome.
 
I have a Monkey 125 for city commuting so my 401 is more for longer commutes. 16t up front and stock 45t in the rear provide excellent performance. I no longer have it ringed out all the time and feel overall less vibration. Also, I only use 6th gear for highway speeds. 6th gear is meant to be a overdrive gear to allow you to cruise without a lot of vibration. I now have taller rear tire than stock and might try a 46t to make gearing not as high but I will not be going back to 15t up front.
 
Excessively small front sprockets can increase chain wear and noise. The chain experiences a higher rate of change in acceleration as it navigates the small sprocket.
 
Yes. One tooth less though
When I attempt to use maths it may reduce chain life by about 12%.

Wouldnt a smaller diameter improve transmission life due to the reduced something or other?
 
I'm not sure, I know transmission life is affected by chain tension, but I don't think that changes with sprocket diameter? The larger the sprocket, the less unsupported mass there is in the chain, so maybe that would help transmission life too? I'm talking about the front sprocket here. Making the gearing taller does reduce engine and hence transmission rpm and hence wear, but at the cost of blunting acceleration.
 
The idea is, with a 46 you have 2% more revs with a 15 and could go with a 16 to put it at 4% less revs vs stock.
16 is not available everywhere.
So, the other option would be to have a 43 for the 4% less with the 15 and a 14 for the 2% more.

Because changing from a front to a front is easier than changing a rear and the chain length.

Either way you would be using front sprocket size to enable 2 different "quick change" gearing setups which are still within an acceptable range.
 
Why a 14/43 on the race bike vs the 15/46 when its only barely shorter?

That's chart is interesting, I have a picture somewhere that show how much a 112 too short is for the 15/46... maybe related to the silent front sprocket, but it was almost 1 whole link too short.
 
the 46t just wasn't available at the time and vendor suggested to go 14/43 was also changing the chain at the same time so it was ok.
 
From what I've read, the ktm 125s use a 14 42, with is essentially the same as a 15 45.

I wonder what the engineers engineered there, obviously the benefits to have the smaller sprockets on the smaller bike and the bigger sprockets on the bigger bike must have outweighed the costs for additional parts, so I wonder what the benefits are...

Maybe less weight is better and the additional chain wear can be disregarded in a 125,
Or maybe the 125 came first and the 390 needed bigger sprockets to compensate for the additional torques?
 
it maybe its just reliability issue, just like how the RC390 Cup track only bike uses 415 Chains but those chains are really not recommended for the the bike because they can break, so 520 is much safer for the road.
 
I was just googling through ktm drawings and guess what,
You can get from ktm a 14t and a 15t for use in combination with a 46 rear from the factory on a 250 duke.

Which means they will also fit on a 401.

So, yes the chain will probably last less long, but when you use a vx3 it will probably outlast most of the other wear items anyway.
 
I will voice my opinion now:

15/46 & 14/43 are the best if you want to ride the bike.

I personally prefer not to use the 15/46 & 14/43 because:

It's bad, as in good... wheelying any time you want, quick shifting through the gears while wheelying, power sliding while wheelying, wheelying while wheelying, and the part I still dont get, its always at the best place in the rev range, always, even while wheelying.

Again, more of a personal problem, and for that reason I would recommend it to anyone with a mental age above 13, because it's probably the best ratio for the baby bike.
 
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