Chain and Sprocket Replacement. Upgrade?

[jackw72]

Greetings,

T'is time to replace the chain and socket on my GS500, I want to buy top of the range stuff, which brands am I looking for?

Do the chain and socket have to be the same brand?

I am going to buy a spare sprocket as well with 1 or 2 teeth less, what are the effects of this going to be?

Help appreciated.

Cheers,

Jack
____________________
08/11/2007 A2 Passed.
Suzuki GSXR 1000 K3
Rapid Training passed

[Bendy]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Sprockets and chains do not have to be the same make.

With rear sprockets you basically have a choice between the cheap and long lasting steel ones or the more expensive, shorter lived but marginally lighter alloy ones.

There are loads of different makes of chain. DID are fine as are Tsubaki. That doesn't mean others are rubbish, just that those ones can be trusted.

Smaller rear sprocket will reduce the revs for the same road speed. If it has the power to pull the higher gearing then it will likely increase the top speed. Also likely to improve fuel consumption. However unless you cannot get all the power down you already have then it will probably reduce acceleration.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[jackw72]

Thanks for the replies.

Front or rear? Whichever will have the result I desire. Whilst we are there what would be the difference between changing the front or the rear?

Keith I did not quite understand the latter part of your reply, mainly the getting the power down part.

Do you mean riding higher in the rev range rather than cruising at 4-5 rpm?

Cheers,

Jack
____________________
08/11/2007 A2 Passed.
Suzuki GSXR 1000 K3
Rapid Training passed

[Bendy]

[Kickstart]

Hi

A larger front or a smaller back sprocket will raise the gearing. Less revs for the same road speed.

A smaller front or a larger back sprocket will lower the gearing. More revs for the same road speed.

With acceleration the limiting factor might be the power, in which case lower gearing might well help. However on the other hand the limit might be that, due to the front wheel coming up or the back wheel spinning up, that you cannot use full throttle. In which case the lower gearing is not likely to help much. For example on the 1200 Bandit on a drag strip it makes remarkably little difference setting off in 2nd gear as having a short wheelbase it would just wheelie if I tried using full throttle in first.

If you run lower gearing then at a cruising speed the revs will be higher.

For example, say you have a 15 tooth front sprocket and a 50 tooth rear, and on that gearing you are doing 5000rpm at 70mph. If you swapped to a 45 tooth rear sprocket then you would now be doing 4500rpm at 70mph.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[jackw72]

So lets say I wanted to be sensible, get better fuel consumption and be more friendly to motorway speeds (higher top speed, less acceleration)

I want to raise the gearing by purchasing a smaller rear sprocket, 1 tooth be fine, 2 overkill?

Cheers,

Jack
____________________
08/11/2007 A2 Passed.
Suzuki GSXR 1000 K3
Rapid Training passed

[Kickstart]

Hi

1 tooth would barely be noticeable. 2 would probably make a noticeable difference.

I know with the Bandit that running a 1 tooth smaller front sprocket (lower gearing) increased fuel consumption by a bit more than 5%.

Remember that using a smaller rear sprocket you will probably need a slightly shorter chain. Suspect that if you used a standard length chain and when down 2 teeth on the back it would fit but would have used pretty much all the adjustment even before the chain has worn.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[jackw72]

Ok,

So to counteract this?

Take a link or two out of the chain?

Cheers,

Jack
____________________
08/11/2007 A2 Passed.
Suzuki GSXR 1000 K3
Rapid Training passed

[Kickstart]

Hi

You need a shorter chain. But chains always have an even number of links. If you use a 2 teeth smaller rear sprocket then you would be able to use a 2 teeth shorter chain.

You could possibly go up one tooth on the front, which you might get away with on the standard chain, or you might need a slightly longer chain.

Your best best with that is probably to buy from someone who has sold plenty of chains and knows what chain length you will need from experience.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[jackw72]

Ok,

Thank you very much for your assistance.


____________________
08/11/2007 A2 Passed.
Suzuki GSXR 1000 K3
Rapid Training passed

[petemell]

16/39 are the standard size sprockets for all the GS500's 89 to present. You can only get larger rear sprockets from JT sprockets (41, 45 and 49), this would improve acceleration but lower fuel consumption as others have said.
The front sprocket is available in 1 or 2 teeth bigger, this would lower the revs a bit but increase top speed. I think just changing just the front sprocket to a 17 or maybe 18 would be a good starting point. An ER5 revs lower than a GS500 on standard gearing, this would probably make it a similar ride. It is all trial and error.
https://www.jtsprockets.com/52.0.html?&L=0&sel_uid=1625&p=

[Jai466]

[Kickstart]