Dirt Rider Magazine

ktmchris

firstimer here,
i have a 14 tooth sprocket in the front and a 49 in the back,
i want more power getting out of a curve(sand,dirt,trail)
should i lower the front or go bigger in the back??
what is the difference also in lowering a front one and going bigger on the back sprocket?(1 tooth front= ? back )

thank you much ! :D

aldirtbikeguru

Here is the short course on sprockets.
To calculate your gearing, No. of teeth on back sprocket/No. of teeth on the front sprocket. your example present gearing is 49/14 = 3.5
take one tooth off front 49/13 = 3.77
to get the same by changing rear 14 X 3.77 = 53 teeth rounded up.
also remember when you change the front sprocket to a smaller unit you accelerate chain wear chain has to bend more to get around a smaller circle (basically)
rear sprockets costs more you be the judge
remember change one tooth on back small change
change one tooth on front BIG change

pojp58

So which one will give him more power out of a curve?

PaulB14

in your situation I would go with the 13 tooth on front. I did that to my 300 and had noticable response, but had to keep out of 1st gear in most turns or I lost too much momentum dropping into 1st gear. It helped on the 2nd gear starts as well.

The downside to the 13/49 setup was on the long hillclimbs. I was too low geared and found myself losing momentum and not making the hills. I changed to a 14/50 combination and find this works best for me in all-around riding situations.

yo_marc

I'm a big advocate of running a 14 up front, and going up in the back sprocket. I mentioned in another post, but I want to say it was a 13 tooth front that I had swapped on my RM250 -- it wore and the teeth got knurled over pretty quick. I ended up replacing my chain too.

A smaller front exerts more force on the chain - a 1 tooth difference on the countershaft is a pretty noticeable difference in sprocket size.

Stock I had 14/48. After a few gearing changes, I'm now running 14/53 for woods. The difference - it shifted the gearing down so that the stock 1st gear now feels like a proper lower gear, while 2nd now feels like it was something between 1st and 2nd stock. (1st at 14/48 was tallll). I hope that makes sense.

I'm not sure if the EXC's have a wide ratio or close ratio tranny. If it's a MX style close ratio, I wouldn't go much beyond 14/53 personally - or else each gear will feel too short and you'll likely be blowing through them quick. If I were to regear my bike for good all around use (not just woods), it'd be 14/51.

ktmchris

thanks to you all !

i've notice that a lot of bikes MX comes with 13 in front, so i think i will go for the cheap one since its a popular sprocket.
each gear is kinda long, so hitting most jumps a my buddys track on 2nd, the bike is reving to high, so no control and got me a dislocated shoulder and few other crashes aha i also learned to SQUEEZ THEM KNEES !!! and 3rd was to low that i couldnt shift into it.

Should i keep a lower 2nd out of curves or have to change from 2nd to 3rd all the time???

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