[SnipSnopSnoop]

Sup guys?! Been riding my 2019 for a month now - what a beautiful bike - and I'm coming to realise that first gear is basically embarassing to stay in for any length of time.

I'm almost completely new to bikes, but I've been researching topics when they come up/become relevant to me over the past half-year I've been riding, and I understand that there are things I can do to alleviate this.

Basically, might I find any meaningful difference in low-end torque if I start messing with different sprockets? I've just spent basically all my money on crash protection for the bike, and I don't want to have to replace all the sprockets and chain just to get what I want - so is there anything I can do? If not, assuming my budget was much higher, what could I do which would achieve my goals?

Cheers guys

 

[KevinW 2017R3]

1st gear on any motorcycle is for acceleration only, not intended to be cruised in for any length of time. 4th thru 6th are the gears you use for cruising from 35mph to 100mph. Goofing with sprockets to change engine speeds in 1st thru 3rd is a waste of time, and irrelevant. Stretch 1st and you rob acceleration by killing torque. On race tracks, where you spend most of your time in 4h up and are not concerned with low end acceleration, changing gearing will increase top speed, and you can always drop to 3rd to recover revs lost in the process, for acceleration off very slow corners. On the street, obsessing about revs in 1st through 3rd are a good way to waste money on a mod that will likely see a drop in acceleration and lower top end speed, since the motor can't pull a too tall top gear setup.

 

[kj7687]

It's not so much any actual difference in low-end torque: the engine's output characteristics do not change with gearing alterations. But yes, you will certainly notice distinct differences in first and sixth gear if you change your sprockets more than one or two teeth in the back (even just one in the front). I personally wouldn't advise changing your gearing just to make yourself feel more comfortable shifting to second later than you do now, but to each his own.

If you do want to do this (and on a low budget), you could try going one tooth up on your front sprocket. You don't need to buy a new chain to do that, and it's easy and cheap, and you can easily change back to stock gearing if you want.

Don't forget a good torque wrench and some blue Loctite, and make sure the new sprocket goes on the same way the old one was on.

 

[GoFaster]

First gear is for starting off from a stop. The shift to second almost right away after starting off is just how it is, and it's the same way on every other vehicle that has a manual transmission and which doesn't have gobs of horsepower on tap.

 

[SnipSnopSnoop]

It's not so much any actual difference in low-end torque: the engine's output characteristics do not change with gearing alterations. But yes, you will certainly notice distinct differences in first and sixth gear if you change your sprockets more than one or two teeth in the back (even just one in the front). I personally wouldn't advise changing your gearing just to make yourself feel more comfortable shifting to second later than you do now, but to each his own.

If you do want to do this (and on a low budget), you could try going one tooth up on your front sprocket. You don't need to buy a new chain to do that, and it's easy and cheap, and you can easily change back to stock gearing if you want.

Don't forget a good torque wrench and some blue Loctite, and make sure the new sprocket goes on the same way the old one was on.

Cheers for the replies, friends.

So, adding a tooth to the front would draw out the higher gears a bit?

At this stage I've been starting in 2nd gear more and more, barely have to burn the clutch at all to do it, so I'm not so interested in my original idea x)

 

[raize]

Cheers for the replies, friends.

So, adding a tooth to the front would draw out the higher gears a bit?

At this stage I've been starting in 2nd gear more and more, barely have to burn the clutch at all to do it, so I'm not so interested in my original idea x)

Barely have to burn the clutch? Sounds like some parking lot, low-speed starts in first might make sense. Ease first out just enough to get rolling so you can feel where the engagement point is. It should be the same spot/effort in 2nd gear. I routinely start out in 2nd gear and, as long as I'm doing it with any semblance of finesse, it's no different than starting out in first, just roll on a tiny bit of throttle as you clutch out to keep it from stalling. No burning necessary.

 

[KevinW 2017R3]

Go to: Gearing Commander - Motorcycle Speed and Drive Train Calculator v7

 

[kj7687]

Adding a tooth to the front would make starting in first gear a little closer to what starting in second gear feels like now, and it would make sixth gear feel closer to "7th gear" compared to how sixth gear feels now.