Gearing Changes?

Has anyone shortened up the stock gearing on the S3? I'm thinking about dropping a tooth up front. I don't currently (nor do I imagine I will soon) top out in 6th, so I think shortening will be more fun.

has anyone done this? What do you think?

[trypcil]

you'll sacrifice chain life for performance - you'd be better of changing the rear sprocket.
lets say your sprockets are 17/43 that gives you 2.53:1 - If you were to go 16/43 that would give you 2.69:1 and stress your chain out. By going 17/46 lets say, you would obtain the same ratio, or there abouts' 2.70:1 and save your chain! Share & Enjoy! :hammer:

[garry]

If your stock gearing is 19/43 like the Sprints are, then dropping a tooth up front is a great idea. Best $50 you can spend on the bike IMO. The bike will have more snap for sure.

[trypcil]

That's totally cool!

Stock is an 18/42 on the single swing models. Dropping one tooth up front is only about a 6% increase in ratio. I'm not worried about the life of the chain, with chains these days that's not a big deal. I'll likely throw in a nice DID in the process, but my old Kawi ran 15T stock, which I dropped to a 14T and suffered no chain issues in the process.

Changing the back does give you a little more flexibility, you can bump whatever number of teeth you need to hit your ideal ratio. For me, one up front is the way to go i believe.

[miker]

I have done the front on my S3, it does give it more 'jump' than with the stock gearing and still have plenty of 'legs' for the freeway.

At present, during daily commutes, I rarely get to 5th, with the exception of one piece of highway. Before the change, I rarely got out of 3rd.

IMO, go the front, it's a fast change and easy if you have the chain adjusting tool.

:-D

[Pipes]

Iv`e recently changed to a 16 tooth sprocket and I can report that it is a great mod as far as acceleration and fast road riding goes.I was out with a couple of mates this weekend on their 916`s and I got them to have a couple of drag races with me over long straight roads and they couldn`t get near me till 120,I raced them in the past and they used to pull away from me but not anymore,they don`t get near me through the twisties either but they couldn`t do that with standard set up.Top end my bike used to show 150 on the clock when I was tucked in the fairing and it now shows 140.I`m a bit worried about my tyres though,Iv`e had the bike for 8 years now and I still can`t get enough of the acceleration rush,and now with this mod!!............The downside is,depending on your usual cruising speed over distance,if ,like me you normally do 100-110 your`e getting into the 7500rev range and as I was used to hearing the engine doing 6k it makes me feel like I`m hurting my baby,90-100 will have to do.It won`t do the mpg`s much good either but hey who cares.

[trypcil]

my apologies - the 95 s3 is 17/43 going to 16 on the front would be riskie if not costly but with the later s3(509+) with the different ratios I would'nt imagine it would be a problem by any means . Share & Enjoy! :razz:

[rodneybrown]

I went from 19 to 18 and did feel a difference. I also felt a difference in mileage. If you are an St guy you'll love it. If you are an sT guy you might not. I put a Triumph CF can on and it gave me most of the low end I wanted (I thought it would be felt at higher rrrr's but nope low to middle really improved) That brought mpg from 50's to 48 mpg. The 18 took me down to 43 which on trips is not acceptable for me.
Rod