So I geared my GS down 2 teeth in the front which was cool.  I'm wondering how much bigger I can go on the back sprocket to get my gearing way down with the factory chain.  I do not care about top speed at all.  I never go over 65-70.... Way too many tickets.  Whatcha guys think???  Anyone have experience gearing their GS down signifigantly?

Why do you want to?

You don't just get tickets for going too fast. You can also get them for "racing" even if you're by yourself - if the cops think you take off too fast.

Michael

Ha ha ya.  I just want it to be a bit quicker off the line thats all...

I went down 2 in the front and up 7 in the back. Had to replace the chain though. I'd say if you went down 2 in the front you could probably go up 2 in the back. I know it's not even math like that, but still.



Heather picked out the sprocket because it was purple, but the bike tops out at about 95 now, indicated, it's probably 90mph in real life. The other thing to keep in mind though, is even if you only go 65mph, gearing the bike down is going to raise the RPMs when you're at a normal speed and it might get too buzzy. I don't go on the highway anymore so it really doesn't matter to me

Buzzy doesn't bother me.  Is it way more fun to ride down 2 and up 7? I mean is it a huge difference?

It's not as big of a difference as I thought it would be, but it's still fun. I can make it wheelie now but I have to dump the clutch is hard as I can and it still doesn't come up high enough to really be ridden out for any length of time. I think half of that is because the suspension is so soft though. At this point I'm fine with leaving the front wheel on the ground, so I can just enjoy it for being a bit faster. It does pull pretty decent once you hit 4k rpm or so.

Quote from: Bridger on March 01, 2010, 08:36:34 PM
Buzzy doesn't bother me.  Is it way more fun to ride down 2 and up 7? I mean is it a huge difference?

once you release the clutch, the rpms are higher at cruising speeds. just ride in 4th instead of 6th. popping wheelies will kill youe bike.

Quote from: ohgood on March 02, 2010, 07:27:27 AM

once you release the clutch, the rpms are higher at cruising speeds. just ride in 4th instead of 6th. popping wheelies will kill youe bike.

It's like removing you're 6th gear, and replacing it with another gear that's even lower than your first gear. If I rode on the highway for any reasons I'd probably put the old chainring and chain back on. I kept them both and will probably try them out again at some point this summer to see how they feel, but since I'll be spending all my time on city streets and back roads I don't spend much time in 6th gear anyway.

Wheelies will definitely kill your bike too, that's not what the GS was made for, I was just throwing that in there for reference incase that was part of the motivation for gearing down. If you want to do some and not kill your bike as fast try standing on the passenger pegs and bouncing them up nicely, or find a nice hump back on a back road and just lean back and give it some gas when you go over it. Both are dangerous though, so don't hurt yourself because I'll feel bad.

Ya, "ohgood".  I have a perfect understanding of how gearing works.  Gearing lower would make my bike faster, to a certain point of course.  My deal is I don't ride over 70 so why not kill some of the top speed in exchange for a quicker bike.  It would be waaay more fun to pin the bike hard and have to actually shift quickly.  I want my bike to feel more sporty between 0-60 is the goal.

It was hard to say before when Heather actually rode it, because I had my 600 at the same time, but after being off of a bike for 3 years, and then trying hers out up and down the street a couple times last fall, I was surprised how hard the bike pulled once I got to about 3k rpm with the gearing I had. Like I said the front wheel was firmly planted on the ground the whole time, but it still had a good bit of go to it.

if you really want crazy gearing there is a guy on youtube that had a 60tooth rear sprocket on a gs and it wheelied quite nicely but thats not what you seem to be going for...im considering a 14t in the front just not sure if i should go 14 or 15 because i ride a lot at about 80-100 kph which is around 55-60mph would a 14t still be ok at these speeds?

GS500 with oe size tires and stock gearing turns about 4730 rpm @ 60 mph.  In 5th gear it would turn 4730 x 961/851= 5341 rpm.  With a 14T front sprocket and oe size tires it would turn 4730 x 16/14= 5406 rpm 6th.  Close enough, just run it in 5th gear at your 80-100 kph speeds and see how you like it.

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=25312.msg583762#msg583762

Quote from: Bridger on March 01, 2010, 08:02:43 PM
So I geared my GS down 2 teeth in the front which was cool.  I'm wondering how much bigger I can go on the back sprocket to get my gearing way down with the factory chain.  I do not care about top speed at all.  I never go over 65-70.... Way too many tickets.  Whatcha guys think???  Anyone have experience gearing their GS down signifigantly?

Should be able to run 14/42T sprockets with a standard 110 link chain.

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=44849.msg502495#msg502495