16/41 Sprocket Review

[JMcDonald]

Other than the longer 1st and longer 6th, everything else is just a matter of being in the right gear. But, for you, it probably wouldn't be worth it. For me, I very much enjoy it.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by JMcDonald

Other than the longer 1st and longer 6th, everything else is just a matter of being in the right gear. But, for you, it probably wouldn't be worth it. For me, I very much enjoy it.

Yeah, and that also goes for my current 15:41 vs. stock 14:45. I'm closer to your gearing than stock.

[JMcDonald]

I just wanted to follow up that it is been around 1500 miles probably, and I don't notice any negatives about the long ratio anymore. Pulling off from a stop when I had the carbs tuned well was about as easy as when stock without the carbs tuned. However, I do still occasionally notice the (subjective) benefits! I love doing almost 85mph by the top of third. First gear is enough to get me all the way through an intersection, and I also have been enjoying being able to do less shifting when doing spirited rides on winding roads with drastically varying speeds. Like, if I pull off from a stopsign to an immediate hard turn that exits at 40+mph (several of those around here, I notice, especially with highway onramps), I can do it all in 1st and then shift as normal afterword, rather than having to rush a shift to 2nd.

Overall, especially having tuned the carbs for a peppier low-end and midrange, I'd have much less of a problem recommending this setup to someone who would like longer gears but isn't sure how far they want to go. At least, I don't feel dishonest in saying even this little quarter-liter, when tuned decently, can pull just fine with just about any of the setups to even the more extreme 16/41 and 15/38 (slightly taller) combos.

Ultimately, I made this change because I found myself constantly wishing I was in a higher gear. I would leave it in 2nd at stoplights and stopsigns, and I would always find myself upshifting before turns out of fear of running out of gear mid-turn. Now I very very rarely have this feeling, and even when I do (like going between stopsigns in a neighborhood), leaving it in second is actually refreshing now for how far it goes, rather than simply relieving when I had it stock. So yeah, it made me enjoy the bike that much more, which is really the point of all the stuff we do.

[JMcDonald]

Lately, now that I have gotten used to having a usable 1st gear, I find myself occasionally hitting the limiter in 1st gear when passing traffic. Especially after feeling how well she ran in the low-end with the well-tuned carb, I am actually considering going taller :P .

To go as tall as I would want would take a ~16/37 combo. Anything less than that, and I would find myself in between gears as I approach a potential top speed of say 108 or 110mph. 4th would hit 110mph at about 12700rpm with the above combo, if it could get there. 108mph would be about 12500, and redline (13k) would be at a theoretical ~113mph. This would allow 1st to go 50mph at the stock redline. Of course, with the TIS raising the redline there is a bit of fudge factor, but I'd like to avoid the habit of using those high revs, which is why I am talking about going taller in the first place.

The 16/37 combo is about 10% longer than current. Looking at various dynographs, it is plausible I'd pick up an average of ~10% of torque across the board with the exhaust and timing upgrades. This would then directly offset the reduced instantaneous thrust from the taller sprocket ratios, and I'd be able to enjoy the same pep while reaching higher speeds over the same time frames and RPM ranges. But, I wouldn't change the sprocket any until I got it running well with the upgrades, so I'll have to see how it feels then.

6th Gear would definitely limited calmer cruising in lower traffic areas. 80mph would be about 7100rpm, and I don't think it would be able to pull much faster than that at such a low RPM, and pretty much any acceleration would require a downshift. But, 80mph in 5th would still be about 8000rpm, which I know will run just fine since that is how my current 6th is (can hit about 90mph pretty well, at like 8900rpm). A 16/37 setup would basically take my current 6 gears and spread them across the first 5 while adding an "overdrive."

Here are the low-count rear sprockets:
http://www.kneedraggers.com/product/...aki-Ninja-250R

All listed speeds are actual, according to gearing commander (www.gearingcommander.com).

[JMcDonald]

Yesterday I was riding around and had to quickly pull off the road to turn around. I accidentally left it in 2nd gear (stock 3rd). When I pulled back out into traffic, at first I thought my bike was broken because obviously it pulled noticably slower with the same throttle input. However, it didn't bog or even really require any more clutch work than normal, and still pulled smoothly. Just pointing out that carb tuning seems to play a huge role in how well it runs down low, which is a big factor in enjoying the longer gears.