As my name says, I will try to find ways to ride more economically on this bike, while still being able to maintain nearly identical top speed, AND make the bike easier to shift through town. (This meaning, I don't have to shift through 6 gears to get to 40mph, but can do it in 4 gears to get to same rpm as stock).
It's all in my 3 years research, and 4 bikes I've had before, as well as the many nice forum users that helped me along the way with their experiences.
The procedure is simple.
I ride the bike stock, and determine how it departs in 1st gear.
If I can literally flick the clutch into gear, and be doing like 20-30mph at 10k rpm, I know I'll have plenty of free play to install taller gears.
I presume the R3 departs easily in 2nd gear, so this won't be a problem.
Second I test out the top speed of the bike.
If the bike reaches the rev-limiter in highest gear, I will know it's undergeared.
Third, I will look at the HP curve, and see where the bike makes peak HP.
peak HP is well before the rev limiter, and is the range where the bike goes fastest.
I believe on this bike that peak hp is at 10.5k rpm.
That means, if my bike accelerates to top speed, and holds at 11,5k rpm, 1k rpm below the redline, and 1k rpm above peak hp, then I know I'll have to gear the bike, to drop those 1k rpms.
That would give me the bike's true top speed, usually 1 to 3 mph faster than stock.
Usually a simple front cog swap to a +1t would do that.
I only do this for testing purposes, when the bike already has 1k miles on it, however I probably will just skip this step in this case, and base my cog on calculations in gearing commander as well as based upon the Torque/hp graph, in order to get best mpg.
I think on this bike, top speed matters less than on a 250cc, where I need every mile per hour available to keep up on the interstates! (Doing 85 mph).
I don't think I have many places, other than the tracks to test out the top speed of the bike.
On a 250 I needed this step, to know what optimal gear ratio is for the bike to get to maximum speed, and try to get that ratio in 5th or 4th gear, instead of 6th, because I would regularly ride at those top speeds. I doubt it will be the case on the R3, riding on the freeway, I probably will get it upto 90 or 95mph though!
Skipping the above step, I will determine maximum front sprocket size, and swap out the front one.
if a +2t fits, I'll install it. If a +3t fits, I'll install that. But I expect to fit a +1t in it. Anything larger would be a pleasant surprise for me!
I will calculate the numbers, and test ride the bike to verify how it handles with the new front sprocket.
Since my aim is to ride the bike economically, I will try to lower the engine revs as much as I can, when riding at the speeds I ride most often at.
My goal would be to reach almost 100mpg, more realistically I will likely be able to get it upto about 85mpg, with anything higher than 85mpg as a bonus.
In order to do that, the R3 needs to be geared heavier than the stock gearing on my Rebel250, or identical to what I have it geared right now.
If the R3 engine is as good as the specs say it is, and outdoes a Honda 234cc engine, I more than likely will gear it exactly like my Rebel, which currently gets about 30mph @2500rpm, or 40mph @3k rpm, and 95mpg at those speeds!
Looking from the specs, if the R3 has a 14t front, and a 47t rear, I'd probably have to go for a 15/37t or 16/38t setup, which is quite a drastic change.
Without their numbers inserted in gearing commander, I would not be able to determine if those gears are feasible, but guessing, I'd say that the R3 should get to top speed in 4th gear, and do 2.5k rpm at 30mph, and still have enough acceleration to leave cars behind on a red light, yet at the same time, purr through city and suburban traffic at 2500 to 4000 rpms that will keep the engine going for decades!
High rpm, and too low rpm wears an engine. The trick is to keep low rpm, without lugging, which is ok for easy riders, not for the tracks, or racing.
Doing those sprocket setups will get mpg up from 57MPG to 80MPG, which is a good start to see how the engine will take this.
I will have to feel if it lugs at lower rpm when departing, and where the lowest rpm range is that the bike cruises comfortably, without stutter or lugging.
If the engine doesn't perform as I had hoped, and that optimal cruising range is around higher than the 2.5k rpm, (at a speed of about 30mph), I'd probably have to recalculate, re-gear, and make less good mpg numbers.
But most of the time, just holding a continuous speed of 35-50mph, the engine can easily maintain at 2500+rpms, and accelerate like cars in traffic do, or faster!
My 234cc does it, with same gears.
I would presume the R3 engine has more power than the 250 Rebel engine, and should be able to do this as well!
