Opinions on V-Stroms

[TheIglu]

I had the Ricor's in my KLR and I'm putting them in the Vmax this weekend, but I opted to go with the Racetech's for the Wee. Why?

I think there is a bit more support for tuning than the Ricors. For starters I'm going with the silver springs, 4 holes instead of two, 10w oil, 2 turns preload on the spring. Ricors are just kinda "put them in, they will work". Yeah....but with different springs? What if I want to tune them?

Racetech seems to offer a bit more support after the fact. Ricor is fine and all, but they really don't get into any tuning. More of a plug and play helper vs customizable product.

[nhbubba]

I am not sure the support you will see will be from Racetech.
But there is GOBS of info on the 'net from the usual suspects. Of course that info is somewhat scattered and YMMV using it, as always.

That said, I put the emulators in using the RT suggested base/initial settings, RT suggested spring rates (although using Sonic springs), and cut spacers using the procedure from Sonic.. and I am one very happy camper.

[Garandman]

I had the Ricor's in my KLR and I'm putting them in the Vmax this weekend, but I opted to go with the Racetech's for the Wee. .

I have the Ricors and there is little rebound damping. Used Racetech for the SV and Tiger.

[nhbubba]

[nhbubba]

Anybody swapped ratios on a V-Strom 650?

Bike is about to turn 26k miles. The chain is starting to get noisy and I'm thinking of throwing a replacement at it. Trying not to be a cheapskate and replace the sprockets while I am at it. (My sprockets look fine to my eye.) I am thinking of making a gearing change while at it.

Now that I have a dedicated track toy, I am thinking of going up in gearing; make this even more of a tourer. Thinking +1 in the front to drop the highway RPMs while not completely decimating the off-the line grunt.

Thoughts?

[DaveZX6r]

Anybody swapped ratios on a V-Strom 650?

Bike is about to turn 26k miles. The chain is starting to get noisy and I'm thinking of throwing a replacement at it. Trying not to be a cheapskate and replace the sprockets while I am at it. (My sprockets look fine to my eye.) I am thinking of making a gearing change while at it.

Now that I have a dedicated track toy, I am thinking of going up in gearing; make this even more of a tourer. Thinking +1 in the front to drop the highway RPMs while not completely decimating the off-the line grunt.

Thoughts?

First thought. Why?

[TheIglu]

Anybody swapped ratios on a V-Strom 650?

Bike is about to turn 26k miles. The chain is starting to get noisy and I'm thinking of throwing a replacement at it. Trying not to be a cheapskate and replace the sprockets while I am at it. (My sprockets look fine to my eye.) I am thinking of making a gearing change while at it.

Now that I have a dedicated track toy, I am thinking of going up in gearing; make this even more of a tourer. Thinking +1 in the front to drop the highway RPMs while not completely decimating the off-the line grunt.

Thoughts?

I have a +1 front sprocket waiting to go on. Go for it.

[RandyO]

I am thinking of going up in gearing; make this even more of a tourer. Thinking +1 in the front to drop the highway RPMs while not completely decimating the off-the line grunt.

Thoughts?

you may find that it will not only make the Wee a better tourer, but maybe a better twisty toy as well

whaaaa is that I say! yes, I mean a better twisty toy, you may loose a bit in ¼ but who cares, 0-100 is not your average speed or ride, I'd almost be willing to bet, with 16t you will have BETTER acceleration, why do I say that, cause on the back roads, you'll still be in 4th gear instead of 5th or 3rd instead of 4th, you will find that you have less shifting and get more out of each gear

do you really loose grunt, NO

[nhbubba]

Yeah, I was thinking about that too. I don't mind shifting and I can read a tach.

About the only place I'd be at a disadvantage from where I am now is leaving the line in 1st. Something tells me I'd learn to live with it.

16t front it is, me thinks.

First thought. Why?

Why not? I do more highway than I'd like to admit. Lower cruising RPM's in top gear would not offend me.

[Garandman]

I did it on my first DL650 and logged all mpg before and after though I didn't do any performance tests. Used a Suzuki OEM sprocket that has the rubber damper because when I tried an aftermarket sprocket on a KLR650 it was noisy.

MPG was identical. RPM's on the highway are a little lower but not really noticeable.

The biggest difference might by that you find the rpm range to be more suitable when in lower gears on back roads. I found the difference so minor that even though I have the part I've never installed it.

[DaveZX6r]

Hmm. All valid points. I sometes forget that not everyone's bike comes with retarded long track gearing from the factory.

[nhbubba]

Yeah, but what it lacks in gearing it makes up for in wimpy HP figures!

[RandyO]

The biggest difference might by that you find the rpm range to be more suitable when in lower gears on back roads. I found the difference so minor that even though I have the part I've never installed it.

that's what I found to be the benefit on my SV w 16t

6th is a gear that I would never see except 75+ on the highway. pretty much the only time I did that was on IBA rides.

Never found any benefit in fuel economy, I did approx 200 tankfuls with stock gearing and another 800 or so with the 16t, iirc, I did get 2 maybe 3 miles per tankful better

[nhbubba]

The bike is good 'nuf on fuel as is. All I want is to relax the RPMs a bit on the super slab. Dropping ~500 RPM at cruising speed in top gear is probably barely going to be noticeable. But I do not think I'm willing to go +2 teeth.

[RandyO]

you could relax the highway rpm 1500 by going to a 1000

[nhbubba]

Ha. I like the 650 just fine thanks. Bike is paid for. Engine is not worn out. Chain is.

[Garandman]

Hmm. All valid points. I sometes forget that not everyone's bike comes with retarded long track gearing from the factory.

The DL1000 gearing is routinely changed.

DL650, not so much and the debate on benefits of the additional tooth in the countershaft sprocket runs the way of "AK47 vs. M16", "M1911 vs. M9", "Mustang vs. Camaro", "North Face vs. Patagonia" and other internet worms.

BTW, some people have also gone down a tooth on the countershaft sprocket as well, for trail use.

[gregp]

On the new 650 - I read that going up one tooth makes the speedometer read pretty much dead on (>8% optimistic stock), but the MPG readout calculation (not the actual MPG!), and the odometers (Total, Trip 1, Trip 2) will all be ~8% low, if that matters to you.

[nhbubba]

Gearing should have no effect on the speedo. IIRC the pickup is on the front wheel.
My GPS suggests the speedo is off by almost a full 10% across the board. However I think the odo/trip are pretty close to accurate.

[Garandman]

On the new 650 - I read that going up one tooth makes the speedometer read pretty much dead on (>8% optimistic stock), but the MPG readout calculation (not the actual MPG!), and the odometers (Total, Trip 1, Trip 2) will all be ~8% low, if that matters to you.

Where did you read that? Makes no sense.

On my DL650 80 indicated is 73mph actual. on a marked 10.0 mile course the odometer read 10.0 miles.

[gregp]

Makes no sense? Stromtroopers - but it's pretty much all over the place. The new ('12-'14) DL650 has its speedo/odo sensor on the CS, under the sprocket cover - No longer on the front wheel. Gearing up 1 tooth essentially corrects the speedometer to +/- 1%, but screws up the odo math to approximately -8%.

[RandyO]

Gearing should have no effect on the speedo. IIRC the pickup is on the front wheel.
My GPS suggests the speedo is off by almost a full 10% across the board. However I think the odo/trip are pretty close to accurate.

'12 and newer wees have speedo pickup on countershaft like the Vee


8%, 10% same thing, there is probably more then 2% change in speedo reading over life of a tire

[nhbubba]

On the new 650...

The new ('12-'14) DL650 has...

'12 and newer wees...

Doh! I did not catch that we were talking about the '12+. I thought we were talking about my bike. Pardon my self centeredness.

I agree. 8%, 10%, whatever. I bank on close to 10% pending any LEO encounter. Based on traffic flow, that feels right.

[RandyO]

back when I had my SV, I routinely measured my tire circumference as my front tire wore, and recalibrated my Sigma speedo I found error changed over the life of the front tire from 7% to almost 12%, but a mm of tire wear is a larger % of a 17" tire than it is a 19" tire

[markbvt]

My Wee-Strom's speedo was nearly 10% optimistic as well. I got so used to it that even now, with almost 45,000 miles on my Tiger, I still find myself subtracting 10% from the speedo readout, then having to remind myself that the Tiger is only about 5% optimistic.

--mark