Bike upgrade basics: changing gearing
Discussion
I’ve owned my CBR600RR-6 for 6 months now. It’s a lovely bike – ideal for getting me back into motorcycles. Whilst getting to know it, I’ve discovered a few areas where I feel I could change the bike to make it suit me more, rather than looking at a replacement.
One of these things is gearing. Obviously, it’s a sports 600, so it’s peaky, but my theory is by changing the final drive, I can possibly allow the bike to remain in the power band (moreso) when changing up, and thus counteract the lack of torque – if that makes sense?
From a little reading, -1 on the front and +2 on the back should change the characteristics of the bike to make it accelerate quicker when moving. I don’t need 160mph top speed, so I can afford the lowering of that. Now, I will be replacing the chain as well as seems silly not do. I’ve read a little about 525 and 520 and it seems going to a 520 won’t lose me anything, really. However, is a chain a chain? Do I need a longer one or a shorter one, or do I simply buy the correct sprockets, a chain and hand it all to someone who knows that they are doing? (I’ll do some stuff on my own bike, but fitting a chain is beyond me…)
I’ve also got the problem of the speedo being out. What is involved in fixing this? Is there a plug and play thing that’s clever enough to work out the new speed given the sprocket changes, or is it more of a faff?
Any help appreciated – bit lost.
One of these things is gearing. Obviously, it’s a sports 600, so it’s peaky, but my theory is by changing the final drive, I can possibly allow the bike to remain in the power band (moreso) when changing up, and thus counteract the lack of torque – if that makes sense?
From a little reading, -1 on the front and +2 on the back should change the characteristics of the bike to make it accelerate quicker when moving. I don’t need 160mph top speed, so I can afford the lowering of that. Now, I will be replacing the chain as well as seems silly not do. I’ve read a little about 525 and 520 and it seems going to a 520 won’t lose me anything, really. However, is a chain a chain? Do I need a longer one or a shorter one, or do I simply buy the correct sprockets, a chain and hand it all to someone who knows that they are doing? (I’ll do some stuff on my own bike, but fitting a chain is beyond me…)
I’ve also got the problem of the speedo being out. What is involved in fixing this? Is there a plug and play thing that’s clever enough to work out the new speed given the sprocket changes, or is it more of a faff?
Any help appreciated – bit lost.
bennyboysvuk said:
Also, have a play with http://www.gearingcommander.com/ to see how your suggested changes will affect road speed and revs.
That's quite interesting. Whilst I do lose some top speed, the roads I ride are usually 2-4th kinda stuff, and I'm not one for long trips in 6th, so...gotta be fun dropping the gearing a bit, right? 
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