Gearing suggestions

[cycletech565]

Its me again with another question I found out that my front sprocket is worn out so im thinking i might gear for better highway use on my 650e any suggestions on sprocket sizes

[Nessism]

If you want lower rpm on the highway go to a larger front sprocket - one tooth will make a noticable difference.

[Clone]

I went from a 43 to a 38 on the rear, huge difference onthe highway

[cycletech565]

So with that being said witch is better front sprocket or rear as far as strain on the output shaft i heard somewhere that it was easier on the output to increase the size of the front sprocket

[Steve]

The tighter the radius on a sprocket, the more the chain has to turn to follow it, so adding a tooth will ease the radius just a bit and help.

Most bikes have about a 3:1 ratio, so adding 1 tooth to the front would be about the same as removing 3 from the rear. Either one will affect the ratio about 6% and will lower your engine rpm by that amount.

Although is sounds appealing to really slow down the engine for highway cruising, remember that these engines have a powerband that starts in the middle of their range, typically above 4,000 rpm. If you get your cruising rpm below this, you may find that you are down shifting a lot more to get enough power to make it up the same hill that you used to just cruise over.


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[cycletech565]

Thanks for the explanation Steve that sums it up real nice.

[Mark whiz]

On a couple of sprocket/chain replacements, I wanted to regear for a little better mileage so I went up 1 tooth on both the front and the rear - this cut my cruising rpm about 500rpm.
I also did this to improve chain wear as Steve mentioned - however both times I did this, the chain and sprockets actually gave up sooner than I expected. Go figure.:?