Why gear down or up?

[DEATH_INC.]

Ahh, to save money on tires?

Of course

[GrayWolf]

I went -1 on the front because the bike needs the shit revved out of it to go anywhere fast and has a big torque hole below about 4,000RPM due to the jetting.

I went -1 on the front because the bike needs the shit revved out of it to go anywhere fast and has a big torque hole below about 14,000RPM due to the jetting. there, fixed it for you

Redline is at 13,500RPM

Yup, kinda just proved my point?

[Eddieb]

Yup, kinda just proved my point?

+2 teeth on the rear of my DR650. The standard gearing is a bit high for rough inclines when adventure riding, the change in gearing makes things much more managable in slow rough stuff.

[pritch]

I notice a few people change the rear sprocket and gearing on their bikes. How common is it? And why?

For road use it shouldn't be too common, the basic advice is "don't". Most bikes are fine as is.

As always though there are the exceptions, Ducati f'rinstance. Many people drop a tooth on the front sprocket of some models as it makes them easier to ride in town and in tight twisties.

Of all the bikes I've owned, the Ducati was the one time I bothered.

If you want to drop more than one tooth on the front sprocket it can cause the chain to be at too acute an angle so in most cases it is preferable to go up the appropriate number of teeth on the back sprocket instead.

[DEATH_INC.]

I know quite a few that have done it for the road. Most bikes are geared for stoopid speeds, so a bit of down-gearing improves acceleration, which you use way more than top speed.

[tigertim20]

DM on here regeared his NC30, he used it as a commuter, but his commute was along my favourite windy piece of coastal road, he reckoned it made it much better through town, and liked the extra punch out of corners.

I know alot of people on litre bikes regear it for the extra torque - some reckon its the most cost effective way to increase performance. i guess that depends how you define performance and how you like to ride.

[Gremlin]

Went -1 on the front of the KTM 990 SM. Couldn't use 6th unless you were doing 130kph+, which was ridiculous, and 6th was very economical. After the change in gearing and some re-tuning I could manage 120kph in 6th, a bit better.

Sadly, it meant power wheelies in 3rd as well as 1st and 2nd... what a shame

[DrunkenMistake]

DM on here regeared his NC30, he used it as a commuter, but his commute was along my favourite windy piece of coastal road, he reckoned it made it much better through town, and liked the extra punch out of corners.

I know alot of people on litre bikes regear it for the extra torque - some reckon its the most cost effective way to increase performance. i guess that depends how you define performance and how you like to ride.

The standard NC30 set up made first gear super tall, I think off my head you could do close to 80km? I think Im wrong there, but for some reason it seems right
Either way having such a tall gear in traffic was rough as nails, and having a top speed of 180 - 200 is pretty pointless when doing a 15km commute daily and the occasional balls to the wall ride, so gearing it to top out at about 160 - 175 seemed to be the sweet spot, heaps of bunch and utilised almost all the gears.

[98tls]

Have had +2 on the TL for years,makes a lazy V-twin do some work.

[koba]

The standard NC30 set up made first gear super tall, I think off my head you could do close to 80km? I think Im wrong there, but for some reason it seems right
Either way having such a tall gear in traffic was rough as nails, and having a top speed of 180 - 200 is pretty pointless when doing a 15km commute daily and the occasional balls to the wall ride, so gearing it to top out at about 160 - 175 seemed to be the sweet spot, heaps of bunch and utilised almost all the gears.

Lots of bikes like that actually run faster top speed times with LOWER gearing too... 'scoz they can't quite pull top hard enough.