OK Seen a lot of posts about this lately.  What gives with the 15 tooth sprockets?  What difference does it have?

think about a bicycle with gears.  smaller sprocket in front means more turns of the pedals per revolution of the rear wheel.  This means more torque, less wheel speed.

Same for the GS.  Dropping a tooth in the front means increased torque with a reduction in redline speed in all gears (you will be going slower at X number of rpm's with the smaller sprocket).  Increased torque means that the accelleration will improve.

You sacrifice some fuel economy, but it'll still get 45+ mpg.

sorry, that only makes sense if you know that the stock front sprocket has a larger diameter, and thus more teeth...I think it's 16

better acceleration and low speed handling
at the expense of more gear changes and
in theory lower top speed.
However some have claimed that with a 16t front sprocket the GS cannot reach max revs in 6th gear but with a 15 tooth you can.
This gave them no loss or even claimed increases in top speed.

shoot I can only get up to like 8k in 5th, and a max of like 7k in 6th.

A) What's wrong with my bike in the top end
B) a sprocket change would undoubtedly not be what I'm looking for since I have a tough time hitting 85 mph as it is

Quote from: JCHshoot I can only get up to like 8k in 5th, and a max of like 7k in 6th.

A) What's wrong with my bike in the top end
B) a sprocket change would undoubtedly not be what I'm looking for since I have a tough time hitting 85 mph as it is

No wonder you don't think the GS is "dangerously fast!"  What maintenance have you done on your bike?  What do you know about it?

I've done a valve adjustment and the minor maintenance stuff.  I had some carb work done at the shop to try and iron out some issues.  I'm thinking of sending them to srinath though if its a carb issue.

What top speeds to the rest of you get?

maybe you didn't fully read my other post, but I was at 11,000 rpms and 105mph in 5th gear yesterday (okay, I admit that the "friend of a friend" was me).  I don't see any reason not to clean the carbs yourself so long as you don't do anything dumb like shove a needle into a random hole and then break it off (inside joke).  Two quik things you should do before you do anything else, just because they are the quickest and the easiest: 1. change the spark plugs- this takes about one minute and they are cheap.  Do this even if your dealer or mechanic said he changed them or that "they looked fine."  I can't count how many times I've heard that when they wanted to do a 500+ repair, when changing the plugs fixed the problem.
2. Clean the air filter.  This also only takes a few minutes of labor.  Just take it out, swish it around in a bucket of gas about 3-4 rotations of the wrist, let it dry out for a few hours and then put it back in.

If that doesn't aleve the problem, you should then move on to more involve things like cleaning the carbs.

Pfft.   You're right.  105 mph aint bad.   So ok... my bike is slow. AND it gets crappy gas mileage.  Hrmm

Spark plugs I can do, no problem.   As for carbs, its not cleaning them.  Theyre clean. They were rejetted.  So I'm thinking they may be the bottle neck.   Air filter is brand new, only a month or so old.

Also, bike doesnt like 1st gear.  In fact when I twist throttle with some authority in 1st gear, it lot bogs and coughs.   This used to be worse, but the mechanic stuck this thing that looks like a cut piece of a garden hose in the middle of the filter cone, doesnt do it as bad.

The more the type the more I'm like wtf.... this is some janky stuff.

I'm no mechanic, but I'd say your first problem is that you have a mechanic working on your bike.  As a GS owner, you should make it your business to be intimate with your bike.  You should constantly listen to it, take care of its needs, bath it, undress it, know it inside and out, and know what it takes to make that baby purr.  Nothing beats the confidence you get from knowing that you are the one that lubed it up and then took the bike to places it has never been.
You need to get a repair manual, preferably through the link above.  But other than that you don't need more than a ratchet set, a few screwdrivers, and the loads of info on this site.  Now, Srinath can fix the carbs for you, but you should definitely try and figure it out yourself first, with the online guidance of the guru himself if you need it.

Yeah, I've decided I want nothing to do with Carbs.  Ever again.  My next bike is FI, no question.


I don't mind getting intimate, i have a manual, i was elbow deep in valve shims last weekend.  But carbs  *shiver* I don't think I'm willing to tackle that.

I hear you.  I'll do just about anything to the bike, but I've taken apart car carbs befoe only to figure out that they had so many pieces it was easy to mke a mistake when reassembling.  I'm not going after those carbs untill I can get together with some local "experts" to assist.

Quote from: conflicttheoristmaybe you didn't fully read my other post, but I was at 11,000 rpms and 105mph in 5th gear yesterday (okay, I admit that the "friend of a friend" was me).  I don't see any reason not to clean the carbs yourself so long as you don't do anything dumb like shove a needle into a random hole and then break it off (inside joke).  Two quik things you should do before you do anything else, just because they are the quickest and the easiest: 1. change the spark plugs- this takes about one minute and they are cheap.  Do this even if your dealer or mechanic said he changed them or that "they looked fine."  I can't count how many times I've heard that when they wanted to do a 500+ repair, when changing the plugs fixed the problem.
2. Clean the air filter.  This also only takes a few minutes of labor.  Just take it out, swish it around in a bucket of gas about 3-4 rotations of the wrist, let it dry out for a few hours and then put it back in.

If that doesn't aleve the problem, you should then move on to more involve things like cleaning the carbs.

I agree I had my bike at 11k 105mph the other day aswell testing out the limits of the 15t, although my clutch likes so slightly slip I still got there.


just wait till I try out my 45t rear , but i will tell you right now I will only be doing some fun city driving with that . and then its coming back off. as it is on the freeway the bike hits 8k at 90.


stock front is 16t.
stock rear is 39t

if you go smaller in the front you get higher rpms and quicker shifts (more top end)
if you go with a bigger rear you get the same thing.


I love the way the bike feels with the 15t. alot smoother and gets you to the speed you want alot quicker. also I dont think anyone has mentions the weight advantage these new aluminium sprockets have over the steel stock ones , there is a big weight DIfference!!.

the 15t sprockets are on ebay for like 14$ and you get JT ones for like 10$ i beleive on www.bikebandit.com