going for fewer teeth

[oreo_n2]

quicker acceleration, lower top speed. i have also heard it will hurt your gas mileage. like we care about that.

i think i have heard something like dropping one tooth up front is like adding three teeth in the rear?!

[Grouchyass]

Dropping one tooth on your front sprocket is like adding 3 teeth to your rear sprocket and will add approx 500RPM to whatever your cruise speed is etc. just a rough gestiment.

[TLRMan]

you are better off adding to the rear, than dropping the front...

[need4speed]

Originally posted by TLRMan
you are better off adding to the rear, than dropping the front...

Mark isn't it an easier and cheaper change to do the front ?

[TLRMan]

Originally posted by need4speed
Mark isn't it an easier and cheaper change to do the front ?

By putting a smaller sprocket on the front reduces the radius the chain has to follow, thus putting more energy into swinging the chain around the sprocket....You will actually give up horsepower to do this, and will put more stress on the chain...Sure it's cheaper, but not efficient.

[NHViffer]

Also, your front sprocket will wear a lot faster being smaller. This is simply because each tooth engages more frequently. There is also an issue of wear that occurs if you have even/even or odd/odd front to rear combinations where the chain will wear more quickly because it is always that same teeth engaging the same links.... Not sure what real affect it has on the life of something like a motorcycle chain though. I think it is more true with gears, but I seem to recall learning it about chains that run continuously.

[Smoke Eater]

What he said. The smaller radius of the front sprocket will eat your chain. Go up a tooth or two in the rear and see how you like it.

Gearing is a funny thing though. A lot of squids love to change their gearing so they can do easier wheelies because they probably have no skills in the first place. Motorcycles are all about balance. Cornering, braking, power, power application, etc are all in tune with the purpose of the bike. If you lower the gearing past the bikes designed abilities then you really risk breaking the rear tire loose in the corners. I love riding on the track with the Gixxer 1000's. They can't corner worth shit because they don't put power down well even in stock form. The Gixxers would handle better by going DOWN a tooth in the rear but try telling a squid that.

If you want a wheelie bike, buy a KTM Duke and have your license ready to hand to the cop. Its a riot to ride.

[benVFR]

Not that many people go up a tooth in the back on an SV...

You will hear of lots of people going up one tooth in the back on an SVS but that's because it comes stock one tooth down from the naked SV.

You might want to ride it around for a while first. 1st gear only goes to like 50-55 as is, do you really want to lower it even more.

It will make the bike go through the lower gears faster, which will perhaps help acceleration at low speeds, but most people seem to think it's fine already. Stock the bike has plenty of power to pass on the highway in 6th gear once you're above like 60mph. It might make it easier to wheelie but the bike will do that stock fine too if you know what you're doing. (Especially right now in the cold... I had it start to come up yesterday in a relatively sandy area... oops.)

Ben