Gearing on the fastest superbikes?
Discussion
Several 1,000cc sports bikes will now do 90 mph in first gear, indeed, apparently one of them, i forget which, recently did 96 mph at the rev limiter in cog number 1. (ZX10RR?)
Why do they fit these bikes with such a high first gear? No mass-produced car maker does it, after all. Is it to keep the wheel somewhere near the ground, now that the bikes are so powerful? Is it that they have one eye on the various race competitions involving the bikes and then they are far better suited to a track with 6 close gears? Also why is there no 8 speed sports bike yet? My son has a new-version RHD Mustang and it has ten gears as standard.
The bikes seem to handle the tall first gear well, in fairness, whereas my old Honda 750 (RC30) was a pig in town due to the 75 mph first gear, heavy clutch and lack of low down power.
Why do they fit these bikes with such a high first gear? No mass-produced car maker does it, after all. Is it to keep the wheel somewhere near the ground, now that the bikes are so powerful? Is it that they have one eye on the various race competitions involving the bikes and then they are far better suited to a track with 6 close gears? Also why is there no 8 speed sports bike yet? My son has a new-version RHD Mustang and it has ten gears as standard.
The bikes seem to handle the tall first gear well, in fairness, whereas my old Honda 750 (RC30) was a pig in town due to the 75 mph first gear, heavy clutch and lack of low down power.
Because they are track based machines, where very little time is spent at road speeds. First gear gets you up to where the bike is supposed to spend most of its time (on track at least), then the other 5 gears are closely stacked.
Makes riding a litre bike in 20-30 mph city traffic needing some clutch slip.
Also means using more than 2/3 of the revs in any gear is illegal on the road.
Having said all that, i miss my 2014 blade terribly because it was just so over-the-top
Makes riding a litre bike in 20-30 mph city traffic needing some clutch slip.
Also means using more than 2/3 of the revs in any gear is illegal on the road.
Having said all that, i miss my 2014 blade terribly because it was just so over-the-top
SAS Tom said:
To be honest I find most bikes geared too long. I’ve shortened the gearing on most of my bikes as I don’t find myself doing over 150mph often if ever.
Interestingly, I find most bikes geared too short. They have so much grunt and rev so quickly that I struggle to use full throttle in first before the bike revs out. Even in top, there’s so much torque that they accelerate pretty damn quickly. I’d rather lower the revs for a given speed (by increasing the gearing) to make things more relaxed in top and accept I may need to use the gears a little more.PTF said:
I've ridden my year 2000 R1 quite a bit this year and the difference between it and more modern litre bikes was quite marked. You can actually use the power waaaay more because the gearing isn't quite as silly long
Yep - I've a 4XV 1999 and a 2017 - the old bike is so much more sensibly set up for road use. Progress, eh?The first thing i did with my 1299 Ducati and the 999S i had a while before that was lower the gearing. The bikes felt livelier, i could use more gears more of the time and top gear roll-ons were faster, 5th gear was almost never needed on the open road.
I know of a B King for sale with 225 bhp, modified heavily with 1441cc and all sorts of other stuff from Holeshot Racing. The owner has fitted smaller front and larger rear sprockets to lower the gearing over 15%. I bet that's lively in 1st and 2nd!
I know of a B King for sale with 225 bhp, modified heavily with 1441cc and all sorts of other stuff from Holeshot Racing. The owner has fitted smaller front and larger rear sprockets to lower the gearing over 15%. I bet that's lively in 1st and 2nd!
moanthebairns said:
1st gear scares me.....
^^^^^^^ I get out of 1st as soon as possible, I have no desire whatsoever to wind a bike up in 1st or 2nd on WOT, give me 3rd onwards, 6th is a bit of Russian roulette as your going down if you get your picture taken.Honestly the most affective rider aid for me over the last few years is anti wheelie on a modern litre plus bike if you trust it
Grindle said:
Also why is there no 8 speed sports bike yet? My son has a new-version RHD Mustang and it has ten gears as standard.
I think bike racing rules dictate a maximum of 6 gears. Also the high gearing on production bikes is often to sidestep noise emissions as one of the homologation test is full throttle in 2nd gear at a certain speed not from a specific rpm.All this 8, 9 & 10 (!) speed boxes in the latest cars is about emissions and doing everything possible to keep the engine at 1600rpm.
Careful what you wish for - one of the things that spoil modern cars is these horrible gearboxes.
Wasn’t aware that changing sprocket sizes wasn’t possible on some recent bikes due to be detected by the IMU. Err, no thanks!!
moto_traxport said:
Grindle said:
Also why is there no 8 speed sports bike yet? My son has a new-version RHD Mustang and it has ten gears as standard.
I think bike racing rules dictate a maximum of 6 gears. Also the high gearing on production bikes is often to sidestep noise emissions as one of the homologation test is full throttle in 2nd gear at a certain speed not from a specific rpm.All this 8, 9 & 10 (!) speed boxes in the latest cars is about emissions and doing everything possible to keep the engine at 1600rpm.
Careful what you wish for - one of the things that spoil modern cars is these horrible gearboxes.
Wasn’t aware that changing sprocket sizes wasn’t possible on some recent bikes due to be detected by the IMU. Err, no thanks!!
And with the rpm range bike engines have, additional gears would be worthless.
Back in the day however before racing dictated the maximum gears, 50cc racers weren't unknown to have 17 or more gears to enable the engine to operate in an incredibly narrow power band.
Steve Bass said:
...Back in the day however before racing dictated the maximum gears, 50cc racers weren't unknown to have 17 or more gears to enable the engine to operate in an incredibly narrow power band.
Suzuki RK6750cc disc valve 2-stroke twin
17.5bhp @17,250 rpm (350bhp/litre)
109mph
14 speed gearbox
moto_traxport said:
Grindle said:
Also why is there no 8 speed sports bike yet? My son has a new-version RHD Mustang and it has ten gears as standard.
I think bike racing rules dictate a maximum of 6 gears. Also the high gearing on production bikes is often to sidestep noise emissions as one of the homologation test is full throttle in 2nd gear at a certain speed not from a specific rpm.All this 8, 9 & 10 (!) speed boxes in the latest cars is about emissions and doing everything possible to keep the engine at 1600rpm.
Careful what you wish for - one of the things that spoil modern cars is these horrible gearboxes.
Wasn’t aware that changing sprocket sizes wasn’t possible on some recent bikes due to be detected by the IMU. Err, no thanks!!
gareth_r said:
Steve Bass said:
...Back in the day however before racing dictated the maximum gears, 50cc racers weren't unknown to have 17 or more gears to enable the engine to operate in an incredibly narrow power band.
Suzuki RK6750cc disc valve 2-stroke twin
17.5bhp @17,250 rpm (350bhp/litre)
109mph
14 speed gearbox
HughiusMaximus said:
Out of curiosity when you guys change the gearing do you do something to adjust the speedo too or just do some mental arithmetic to correct?
Most speedos are "optimistic" anyway so increasing the gearing often makes them more accurate (as measured against a sat. nav.Newer bikes with ABS will often take the speedo feed from the ABS wheel sensors so a change of gearing has no impact.
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