bigger front sprocket

[Tapped Out]

I have been thinking about switching my front spocket to a tooth bigger. from a stock 15 to a 16 I believe... I was hoping to get lower RPM at higher cruising speeds and perhaps increase gas millage a bit. Has anyone tried this or know of any major drawbacks?

 

[Mattberkshire]

I'll be interested to hear what people think as I've been thinking the same thing

 

[Hollow]

Just to reply I have no idea what it would do if you changed the sprocket. Sry.

 

[vokal389]

2007 fz6's come with a 16 tooth in the front (mine did at least) so you would convert to 17. As for if saves gas and such, i'm not too sure. I believe you would have to change your gearing as it might feel thqat you are trying to take off in second gear. (correct me if i am wrong). I am interest in knowing myself.

 

[tolgatt]

yea you probably meant from 16 to 17 cause not only the 07's but as far as i know all the FZ6's have 16T counter sprocket...

it made a big difference when i went -1 to 15T,,,,i would say 17T should be helping a lot at highway speeds,,,if you dont have any problems accelerating not as quicker as stock,it would be great for highway riding thats for sure...

 

[Tapped Out]

hmm, well, maybe I'll just have to try it and let everyone know what happens...

 

[Tapped Out]

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy Sprockets and chains? I have heard that its a good idea to change them all together as the chain and both sprockets tend to wear together.

 

[DefyInertia]

TourGuide runs a 17T up front and swears by it....he does some highway and a lot of twisty mountain road by himself and with his wife.

Unless your current set is showing noticeable signs of wear, I'd just swap the front sprocket for ~$30 and be done with it. If your entire set is well on it's way to being replaced, then yes, perhaps a full replacement is in order.

One other thing, your speedo will probably be MORE accurate than stock but your ODO will be off.

Just do a google search, they are for sale all over. From what I understand, the pre07 countershaft nut was 32mm and the post06 nut is 30mm...I'm not sure if they take the same size sprocket or not so pay attention when you're buying.

 

[Tour Guide]

yeah i've run the 17 for @ 10,000 miles. i prefer it cause it drops you back @ 300 rpm ( i think ). and yeah it makes the speedo closer to correct. i just ordered mine from a local dealer. the stocker has the rubber insert which makes it a little quiter. the replacement will be solid and you will hear a little more chain whine. you can run the cahin a little looser than normal and that helps. and no it don't make me any slower!

 

[a_sick1]

I put a bigger sprocket on my dual sport...
It is a lot smoother and you aren't pulling so many RPMs at cruising speed.:thumbup:
Different bike but will cause same effect on gearing.
Went down a tooth on the fz6 to have better take-off.

 

[Tapped Out]

SWEET! well, I think I'm sold. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Tapped Out]

WOOT! well, I dun it! and I liked it! it definatly makes cruising between 60-70 much more comfortable. also makes shifting very smoothe. Still PLEANTY of power in the first three gears to get me as fast as I am ever sainly going to go in a very short time. I only started to notice a major tourque loss in 5th and 6th. overall, veryy happy with the switch!

 

[Bryan]

NICE!! I bought a Vortex (17) at the begining of summer but was afraid to change it because one day while waxing my chain, I noticed that the speedo was reading speed with the front wheel not moving.

So how far off is the stock speedo?

 

[lattin25]

NICE!! I bought a Vortex (17) at the begining of summer but was afraid to change it because one day while waxing my chain, I noticed that the speedo was reading speed with the front wheel not moving.

So how far off is the stock speedo?

?? Do you mean the rear wheel? The speedometer runs off the rear wheel spinning.

BTW, my speedo was reading about +6%. Got the speedohealer and its all better!! I'm thinking about getting a tooth up in the front also, so it might just put the speedohealer to no use! Going a gear up should put the stock speedo rating pretty close.

 

[Tapped Out]

well, I need to do some more checking to determine exactly how much it changed my speedo reading, maybe I'll go find a cop and compare what he says I was doing to what my speedo says.... what I do know so far is that I went on a ride with a buddy this weekend, riding a v-star 1850, all stock and when his speedo was reading a steady 60 I was reading 55, we also set our trips at the same place and compared at the end of the day, his read 96 and mine was at 90. as far as the functioon of the speedomiter/odomiter goes, I believe the reading is taken from inside the transmition, between the gears and the front sprocket and is calibrated to the final drive in its stock configuration, which is why changing sprockets will change a variable and effect the reading.

 

[Bri]

An old thread, but a good one.

I ran the numbers for the reduction ratios. My speedometer is 6.7% off. It reads 60mph when my actual speed is 56mph. This is with new tires (<500mi). At the end of tire life the speedo error will be 10% due to the reduction in the tires rolling radius. Note that I also checked the odometer accuracy and my measurement was 5% error but that was only based on a 4 mile test. So based on that short test I believe my speedo and odometer have the same ~7% error.

Yamaha's tolerance for the speedo and tach are +/-10%. The don't have any tolerance spec at all for the odometer. Nor do they care to be any more accurate because as I was told by a Yamaha representative today, Honda and Kawasaki have speedo error as well. She also told me that accurate speedometers aren't really important to bike riders (which seems to be true for most but not for me).

So, I have 3 options to have an accurate speedo...
1. 17 tooth front 46 tooth rear sprocket. Speedo error will be just under 1% (-.92%) with new tires and just under 4% (-3.87%) when tires are at end of life. Note that there will be some variation also between tires.

2. 16 tooth front 43 tooth rear. A little less error (-0.24 and -3.21% respectively). One would probably have to remove a chain link as well.

3. An aftermarket electronic signal gain to correct for Yamaha's lack of desire to accurately convert trans output speed (or engine speed-I'm not sure if they have two speed sensors or not) to ground speed.

I'll probably go with option 1 as it is the lowest cost and quickest method of obtaining decent accuracy. As already mentioned this should also provide slightly better fuel economy. I'm not worried about slow acceleration in 6th since I can shift down if I want quicker acceleration. The difference in first gear at low idle is less than 1/2 mph so that should not be much of an issue for clutch life.

I put together a spreadsheet with all the ratios in it that allows you to pick an engine speed and a gear. It will then show you the OEM speedo reported (accurate for mine anyway) and actual speeds and you can also change front and rear sprocket sizes and tire rolling radius to see how that affects speed in each gear. PM me if interested and I'll send you a copy.

 

[Kazza]

An old thread, but a good one.

I ran the numbers for the reduction ratios. My speedometer is 6.7% off. It reads 60mph when my actual speed is 56mph. This is with new tires (

 

[Gcontroller]

Just a little about my Speedo Healer experience. I don't remember the exact setting I used but I based it on my Garmin 60CSX. I noticed the higher speed I traveled the more off my stock speedo was before I installed the speedo healer.

The end result is against my GPS my speedo is right there. But my accumulated mileage is about 7% lower. So for every hundred miles I clock against my GPS my bike is only clocking 93. For the most part most of my riding is commuting so I am doing 70-80 mph. Not sure if the reads would be the same say if I averaged 35 mph. Just my experience.

 

[kambrose88]

I did the 17t switch and yes its awesome. For me anyway. As far as the usefulness of the rubber on the 16t, well its more like a punchline to a joke. The 17t cuts back the r's at highway speeds noticeably. Just multiplY .94 times your r's now n thats what you'll have. Its such an easy swap too. didnt have to remove the shift lever, i cleaned and used plenty of locktite on the nut for the gear, and adjusted my chain to 1.8 inches.
The loss in acceleration is there, but cured quickly as the rpm's go up. I was surprised that i had less vibes at my normal highway speeds. And oh yes... the speedo is now accurate.
To each his own though. for a 20 dollar JT gear it's worth tryin..AND DON'T OVER TIGHTEN YOUR CHAIN!!!! cAUSE THEN IT'LL BE THE WORST MOD YOU EVR TRIED.

 

[kambrose88]

It's a "to each his own decision", but for me I'll never go back to a 16 tooth. I like the slight RPM drop at cruising speeds. Just multiply .94 times your rpms to get the reduction. (figure it out) Probably better mileage, but the FZ6 gets pretty good mileage anyway. (lol, and full throttle a few times solves that )