SuzukiSavage.com - Changing gear ratio

ericson25 YaBB Newbies Offline LS650 My Half-A -Harley Posts: 15 Toledo, Ohio Gender:	Changing gear ratio 04/13/13 at 11:57:41 I find myself looking for the next higher gear when on the highway. My LS 650 is a belt drive has anyone changed either pulley to get more top end ?
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paulmarshall Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 1268 Carterton,New Zealand Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #1 - 04/13/13 at 12:01:34 Try swapping belt for a chain conversion. http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1174239333
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ericson25 YaBB Newbies Offline LS650 My Half-A -Harley Posts: 15 Toledo, Ohio Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #2 - 04/13/13 at 12:15:49 That is great info and best of all not to expensive. Are you able to put all the guards back on?
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Charon Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 1811 Harvard, NE Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #3 - 04/13/13 at 13:08:55 Do not forget that when you change the overall ratio you will change every gear. Low will become higher, which might make it trickier maneuvering around at low speed. And you will not gain anything in top speed, since the stock engine can't redline even in fourth, let alone fifth.
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ericson25 YaBB Newbies Offline LS650 My Half-A -Harley Posts: 15 Toledo, Ohio Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #4 - 04/13/13 at 13:13:30 From what I understand it will run at lower RPM at the same speed.
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Re: Changing gear ratio
Reply #5 - 04/13/13 at 13:30:32

That is correct. The engine will turn lower rpm at any given road speed, in any gear, than it did before. But that does not give the engine more power to push the motorcycle through the air any faster. As the S40 is presently geared the engine cannot reach top rpm (redline) in either fourth or fifth gear, because it doesn't have the power. If it cannot reach redline in the existing gears it won't in a higher gear, either. So it is extremely unlikely you will get a higher top speed. If you really want higher speed, you need to be looking either at engine modifications or a different bike.

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ericson25 YaBB Newbies Offline LS650 My Half-A -Harley Posts: 15 Toledo, Ohio Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #6 - 04/13/13 at 13:36:23 Top speed is not the issue. It's just when at highway speed like around 70 MPH it sounds and feels like it's screaming its little lungs out. LOL
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apache snow-FSO Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 509 Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #7 - 04/13/13 at 13:44:47 What he may be saying is if you get the gear ratio high enough (lower numerically) the bike may not pull 70 mph in fifth gear, especially two up.
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ericson25 YaBB Newbies Offline LS650 My Half-A -Harley Posts: 15 Toledo, Ohio Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #8 - 04/13/13 at 13:49:49 So are you saying that instead of changing the ratio maybe I should just get a tach ?
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SALB Serious Thumper Offline FSO Posts: 668 Whittier, AK Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #9 - 04/13/13 at 14:06:37 A cheap way to raise the gear ratio is to upgrade from a 140/80 to a 140/90 rear tire when it's time for replacement. You'll also get the added benefit of correcting the speedometer.
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ericson25 YaBB Newbies Offline LS650 My Half-A -Harley Posts: 15 Toledo, Ohio Gender:	Re: Changing gear ratio Reply #10 - 04/13/13 at 14:12:16 I already have the 140-90.
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Dave

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Re: Changing gear ratio
Reply #11 - 04/13/13 at 18:42:51

You can also use a Kawasaki EN 25 tooth front pulley (stock is 23). The hub needs to be cut narrower and it is really hard material. Acces to a machine shop with carbide cutting tools is necessary. You also need to take a small amount of material off the outer cover and the support for the back screw needs to be trimmed. I will post pictures tomorrow.

This is not a cheap fix unless you get a pulley cheap...new ones are over $ 80 and my machine shop friend said at a normal labor rate it would have been about $ 90 to trim the pulley.

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Charon

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Re: Changing gear ratio
Reply #12 - 04/13/13 at 19:52:04

The stock S40 has the engine turning roughly 4000 at 60 mph. So, at 70 it is turning about 4600. Note that these are not exact numbers, but approximations. Once upon a time I made a table of engine rpm at 65 mph for a number of bikes, as reported by Motorcycle Consumer News. Interestingly enough, the S40 was just about the average of about a hundred reported bikes. I posted that data somewhere on this site, but don't particularly feel like searching for it.

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rfw2003

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Re: Changing gear ratio
Reply #13 - 04/13/13 at 20:25:40

Dave wrote on 04/13/13 at 18:42:51:

You can also use a Kawasaki EN 25 tooth front pulley (stock is 23). The hub needs to be cut narrower and it is really hard material. Acces to a machine shop with carbide cutting tools is necessary. You also need to take a small amount of material off the outer cover and the support for the back screw needs to be trimmed. I will post pictures tomorrow.

This is not a cheap fix unless you get a pulley cheap...new ones are over $ 80 and my machine shop friend said at a normal labor rate it would have been about $ 90 to trim the pulley.

That's something I might be able to do if the inside of the pulley is smooth enough to get it running true on the lathe. But is it really worth while on only a 2 tooth increase?

R.F.

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Re: Changing gear ratio
Reply #14 - 04/13/13 at 22:18:32

rfw2003 wrote on 04/13/13 at 20:25:40:

Dave wrote on 04/13/13 at 18:42:51:

You can also use a Kawasaki EN 25 tooth front pulley (stock is 23). The hub needs to be cut narrower and it is really hard material. Acces to a machine shop with carbide cutting tools is necessary. You also need to take a small amount of material off the outer cover and the support for the back screw needs to be trimmed. I will post pictures tomorrow.

This is not a cheap fix unless you get a pulley cheap...new ones are over $ 80 and my machine shop friend said at a normal labor rate it would have been about $ 90 to trim the pulley.

That's something I might be able to do if the inside of the pulley is smooth enough to get it running true on the lathe. But is it really worth while on only a 2 tooth increase?

R.F.

Probably not. A minor fuel savings, and a slight reduction in internal wear, resulting in a slight increase of engine component life and therefore bike life.

Anybody remember off hand who it was on Bert's forum that got almost 200K miles out of his Savage before it blew up?

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