14 x 49 gearing - HOT...!!

[Sharc]

You want a wild ride, swap to 14x49 gearing and you'll have a monster bike like the open class 2-strokes from the 80's....! Maybe not right for everyone's taste, and I've got a 10oz flywheel weight, but I did the low gearing for woods and made a desert trip and loved it in the open too. Still does an honest 80+ mph, but just RIPS through the 20-50 mph stuff. Great for hills too...Scream it in third and it'll go straight up a wall...Nice....Love this bike. Makes my buddy's KTM 300 feel like a pea shooter...

Sharc

[demographic]

I am currently using 16/42 on mine but with a 17" rear wheel which gives a top end of just over a hundred MPH.

I was out yesterday and hardly used first,second and third apart fron pulling away from junctions so might just put a smaller rear sprocket on it......

Maybe I was on straighter roads than usual though

[Rick]

I've been trying to ride the taller ratios (well, before I tried to ride my helmet in the rocks), and find I really like the 14/47 or 14/48 gearing.  I think I'm going to leave these gears in place, and pull off the flywheel weight just for giggles.  Afterall, do we really need to be going 100 when we hit the ground??  AFterall, I can always go back to the high speed gears.

Rick

[Sharc]

14x49 uses a 116 link chain, you can swap to 15x49 with the same chain. Circlip pliers and a chain adjustment and your good for 90+....That was the original plan, but the low gearing is so much fun I think I'll leave it there for a while...

[Fookeneh]

whats the ultimate gearing for the dunes?

[Twist-a-grip]

That is the ratio I run and I love it. I tend to ride a lot of tight stuff.  I use the clutch a lot less that way which extends component life.  Steep hills are a lot easier because you can maintain a lower speed for control and stay right on the pipe.  I don't need a 100mph bike. Even with the lower gearing, I still run out of real estate before I run out of gear.  You also gain slightly quicker acceleration. (Like this bike needs it!)

John

[toddwunsch]

I'm going for the 14/49.  Ordering my 49 rear sprocket from Sidewinder today.  Will try it out on Thursday.

[sdkx500]

My bike came with 14/53 and i didnt it like it much.  I went to 14/47 and am much happier

[bigborefan]

What do you guys do with your bikes, pull tree stumps? I run 15/48 in pretty tight eastern stuff, 14/47 is the absolute lowest I would go. 14/53...that's gotta be brutual.

[KXcam22]

14/47 was stock on my '92.  I like the 14/48 I am running better for my conditions (woods, trails and the occasional MX).  Tempted to try the 14/49 so I can use 2nd & 3rd more in the gnarly stuff. Cam.

[Ramski]

14/47 is fine for me out here in SoCal. I have tried 15/47, but makes first tuff on nasty climbs. When I was in Arizona, 13/47 was good in the tight stuff, but had absolutely no top end in the sand washes.

[kawdude]

I'm running 14/50 and like it.  I'm tempted to try 13/50.  Yeah I know thats low but I ride with my kid on a xr70.  His high gear is too slow for my 1st gear so I'm constanly riding the clutch.

[beastrider500]

I like even numbers so I use 14/50. When I told my 125 riding buddy what I was switching to he asked me if I was nuts. My response was, "Probably".  

[Rick]

Actaully, with a flywheel weight, running a ratio more like a 125/250 isn't that bad, as the weight helps control wheel spin.  

As a test, I pulled the flywheel weight off last weekend without changing from the 14/47 sprockets, and just hated the change.  The bike spent more time trying to swap ends than running straight.  While I use the power to steer the bike with the rear wheel, it must be controllable to have the desired effect.  We returned to the van where I reinstalled the flywheel weight, and then rode the same 20 mile loop.   Much improved, so the weight stays.

Rick

[KXcam22]

Rick,
   I had a 14oz stealy on a 1987 CR500.  Made the power nicely controllable but also seemed to make the bike handle slower when swapping (leaning) the bike from side to side in tight corners.  Did you notice this (or any other handling effects) at all in your back-to-back tests?  I have often thought that something like a 4 or 6 oz flywheel weight would be about right.   Cam.