My French Run report (longish)

ginge took a blunt brush and painted...

Cheers. What actual diference does that change make? At what speed would the
1st gear redline be?

Well I already remember and use the difference between the indicated speed
and the real GPS speed, so it'll just be adjusting that "map" in my head a
bit. (although sadly I don't use the bike enough to remember it off by heart)

 

One front is usually roughly equivalent to three rear.

It's basic maths if you know the rear sprocket size. There are gear
ratio calculators out there in webland too.

 

Well, here are some figures. You do know that the ratios of gears in
series multiply, don't you?

Three extra teeth on a TL1000RW back sprocket is about a 7.7%
difference in gearing (39/17 teeth). The only bike I've got figures
for readily to hand apart from the Guzzis, which you wouldn't normally
bother messing around with.

The difference between top and fifth on the TL is the difference
between 24/24 and 25/23 teeth, which is 1.087, so OK, three sporcket
teeth is slightly less than the differencce between those two gears.
The gap between gear ratios does get bigger the lower you go in the
gearbox, but on a litre road bike at least, unless you've got a
seriously peaky engine or a seriously wide ratio'd box, you might just
as well use a different gear and save fucking up the speedo. As a
bonus you get a less buzzy motorway cruise and maybe an extra mpg, if
that matters to you. As I said before though, I'm talking about road
bikes: racing's a whole different ball game with different
requirements.

 

Dunno, I've not done it. But I'm sure you can find the final drive
ratios from the manual and od the sums if you really want to.

 

I have this vision of your bike sporting front and rear derailleurs
and a couple of extra levers on the bars.

 

You're late.

 

And your figures help how exactly when you're in first & want to change
down? If you're happy to never use max power without either slipping
the clutch or getting well into license losing territory, that's fine.
I (& many others) prefer to have more power on tap at lower speeds.

 

17/16ths of what it is now, at a guess.

 

First gear I'll happily accept your point.

 

Heh. Nothing that extreme, just a quick change rear carrier.

 

the mk1 is, the mk2 they put higher gearing on by default.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to start an argument!

 

Ah, good idea. The previous owner has said he'll sell me a standard
sprocket that he has surplus to requirements (ha!), but I guess if I
can get a sprocket & rear carrier off of eBay, it will make things
easier.

And now I'll definitely need to get a stand...

Although of course, I can't really see me wanting to change it very
often, if at all, after putting it back to standard.

 

I don't change mine that often. Sennas came with a more racing bias
than standard F4s, so I usually use 15/43 rather than the standard
15/37-38-39 (they come with three rears). If I'm doing a long autoroute
blast across France, I'll stick a 39 on the back then change it back to
43 when I get there.

Note that changing them's a lot quicker with a single sided swingarm as
adjusting the chain takes a few seconds. So whilst it may sound like a
lot of hassle, it really isn't, & well worth it with a somewhat peaky
750. E.g. if I'd left it on standard gearing, there's no way I would've
stuck to Champ's arse on the Alps run.

 

<ingests mind bleach>

 

What can I say, we got very hot & sticky in our leathers.

 

We'll still have to charge you for the full half hour.