gearing change

I read on another forum that 42Teeth on the back make a world of a difference. Especially at low speeds.

update . . .

just thought I post a quick update on gearing change. Did end up with a 525 conversion & 42T in the back and I'm happy to report bike has been transformed! Absolutely amazing what a difference it is!

You could have dropped 1 tooth in the front and got the same results without having to change the chain, I did it to mine few years back.

considered that but the chain was beyond shot with about 30,000 miles on it

sixfive said:

just thought I post a quick update on gearing change. Did end up with a 525 conversion & 42T in the back and I'm happy to report bike has been transformed! Absolutely amazing what a difference it is!

Click to expand...

Any particular reason changing to a lighter chain? The reason I ask is a couple of years ago I did the opposite. The bike I have just replaced with the Multi, a Suzuki VStrom dl1000, as standard had a 525 chain and at 18k miles was completely shot. After a bit of research I changed to steel sprockets (-2 rear) and a 530 chain. Long story short - changed to the Ducati last month, sold the Suzuki privately with 40k miles, the chain was less than half worn (as per the adjusters) I fully understand the change in gearing but the chain has me flummoxed - baring in mind the Suzuki was "only" 100 bhp as opposed to the Ducati's 150 bhp.
I will be interested in your long term observations.

After hearing feedback from a few others on the forum and reading many posts on the same topic I thought it would be nice to just drop a little bit of unsprung weight on the back but the main reason was that by using the slightly lighter chain, everything should be worn fairly even and replaced at the same time as opposed to needing to replace just the sprockets while the chain still has a lot of life left . . . I'll be curious to find out myself whether thats the case or not . . .