6th Generation Sprocket Guide

I whipped up this little spread sheet last night so you can actually see what effects the changes in either the front and/or rear sprocket make. I included the final gear ratios for each gear so you can see how one set-up compares to another. For example, going to a 15/45 set-up makes your 6th gear pretty close to being equal to 5th gear with the stock sprockets. The columns are arranged in descending order from left to right.

[image: VFRGEARS.jpg]

Great!

While we're pinning sprocket change info, how about the effects of the various combinations on wheelbase and ride height? I would appreciate some anecdotal data on rear hub position after the sprocket change (for example, if you go 15/43 with a new chain, tensioning the rear hub puts it at the bottom, thus increasing ride height. Or something like that; I have no idea what it actually does).

Anyone else have an interest? Or more importantly, the experience and data?

Lacy

VFR800R....

Raising the rear will Quicken turn in some, Effects of doing this too much will induce Instability/Head Shake/ Tank slappers. The little bit that the Adjuster for the chain would raise the bike will not raise it to the pint of being unstable, Other factors would have to be added to this..

So what is the final ration of a 17 tooth front ?

Nice write up Pete... thanks...

marid2apterbilt

So what is the final ration of a 17 tooth front ?

Not so sure a 17 toother'll fit in there... Bueller??

I recently changed out the sprockets on my badboy, I went 15 in front and 45 in rear. I did not notice anything different in the ride height. It did however make a very dramatic difference in acceleration. I don't really care about top end I don't drive that fast anyway. However if you are not careful the bike now rolls on wheelies in 1st gear, came around a corner the other day and for some stupid reason thought I was in second and got on the throttle and the bike stood up like I was the lone ranger on silver. Great mod if your looking for the acceleration.

VFR800R

Great!

While we're pinning sprocket change info, how about the effects of the various combinations on wheelbase and ride height? I would appreciate some anecdotal data on rear hub position after the sprocket change (for example, if you go 15/43 with a new chain, tensioning the rear hub puts it at the bottom, thus increasing ride height. Or something like that; I have no idea what it actually does).

Anyone else have an interest? Or more importantly, the experience and data?

Lacy

Hi, I am new to this Forum stuff.

I am sure the answer has been asked several times and I could find the answer if I didn't hate reading so much. BUT:

I want more speed.

2009 VFR800 Interceptor (Canada)

Anybody have experience with gearing taller? I don't catwalk or anything but I have places to be.

Schuh

Hi, I am new to this Forum stuff.

I am sure the answer has been asked several times and I could find the answer if I didn't hate reading so much. BUT:

I want more speed.

2009 VFR800 Interceptor (Canada)

Anybody have experience with gearing taller? I don't catwalk or anything but I have places to be.

Not to rain on your parade here, but I don't think taller gearing is going to help top speed much, and will likely hurt. There is an excellent web page for learning the effect of gearing changes, Gearing Commander . They have what looks to be a correct preset for a stock VFR. According to this chart, the speed would be 154 MPH at the 10,500 RPM horsepower peak. This corresponds nicely with the 150 to 155 MPH top speed generally reported. Taller gearing would just LOWER the available power. To be blunt it looks like Honda got the gearing exactly right for a stock engine. Given the expense of large horsepower gains for this engine using a supercharger, you best bet is just to trade the VFR for a good used Hayabusa. The VFR is not meant to be a top speed bike, it is a Sport Touring bike with an emphasis IMHO more on Sport than Touring, but you can only pull so much HP from an 781cc engine without killing low RPM performance. My $00.02

-VFRGeek

Awesome ! thanks for you .02$ . I love the bike so I think I will sacrifice the urge for more top end.

VFRGeek

Schuh

Hi, I am new to this Forum stuff.

I am sure the answer has been asked several times and I could find the answer if I didn't hate reading so much. BUT:

I want more speed.

2009 VFR800 Interceptor (Canada)

Anybody have experience with gearing taller? I don't catwalk or anything but I have places to be.

Not to rain on your parade here, but I don't think taller gearing is going to help top speed much, and will likely hurt. There is an excellent web page for learning the effect of gearing changes, Gearing Commander . They have what looks to be a correct preset for a stock VFR. According to this chart, the speed would be 154 MPH at the 10,500 RPM horsepower peak. This corresponds nicely with the 150 to 155 MPH top speed generally reported. Taller gearing would just LOWER the available power. To be blunt it looks like Honda got the gearing exactly right for a stock engine. Given the expense of large horsepower gains for this using a supercharger, you best bet is just to trade the VFR for a good used Hayabusa. The VFR is not meant to be a top speed bike, it is a Sport Touring bike with an emphasis IMHO more on Sport than Touring, but you can only pull so much HP from an 781cc engine without killing low RPM performance. My $00.02

-VFRGeek

These bikes have v4 800cc engine and over 200HP

http://www.highrevs.net/motogp-bikes/suzuki/suzuki-gsv-r-2008.php

http://www.highrevs.net/motogp-bikes/ducati/ducati-desmosedici-gp8-specification.php

hootiehoo

VFRGeek

Schuh

Hi, I am new to this Forum stuff.

I am sure the answer has been asked several times and I could find the answer if I didn't hate reading so much. BUT:

I want more speed.

2009 VFR800 Interceptor (Canada)

Anybody have experience with gearing taller? I don't catwalk or anything but I have places to be.

Not to rain on your parade here, but I don't think taller gearing is going to help top speed much, and will likely hurt. There is an excellent web page for learning the effect of gearing changes, Gearing Commander . They have what looks to be a correct preset for a stock VFR. According to this chart, the speed would be 154 MPH at the 10,500 RPM horsepower peak. This corresponds nicely with the 150 to 155 MPH top speed generally reported. Taller gearing would just LOWER the available power. To be blunt it looks like Honda got the gearing exactly right for a stock engine. Given the expense of large horsepower gains for this using a supercharger, you best bet is just to trade the VFR for a good used Hayabusa. The VFR is not meant to be a top speed bike, it is a Sport Touring bike with an emphasis IMHO more on Sport than Touring, but you can only pull so much HP from an 781cc engine without killing low RPM performance. My $00.02

-VFRGeek

These bikes have v4 800cc engine and over 200HP

http://www.highrevs.net/motogp-bikes/suzuki/suzuki-gsv-r-2008.php

http://www.highrevs.net/motogp-bikes/ducati/ducati-desmosedici-gp8-specification.php

Thats also a race bike thats designed to get one season of riding out of the engine before a rebuild. Its not the fact that Honda couldn't have built the VFR into a 200hp monster, its all about the demographic. Why build their strop touring bike into something faster than their R class Sport bike?

NakedViffer

Thats also a race bike thats designed to get one season of riding out of the engine before a rebuild. Its not the fact that Honda couldn't have built the VFR into a 200hp monster, its all about the demographic. Why build their strop touring bike into something faster than their R class Sport bike?

Actually, the MotoGP teams are allotted SIX engines for one season, so they generally don't even last that long. They are not allowed to open the engine up during the season. A few years ago, there was no engine limit or restrictions, so they were rebuilt for every race. But that proved to be too expensive for the smaller teams.

The VFR engine lasts for 100s of thousands of miles, apparently, from what I've seen on this forum! Parts and specifications are much more relaxed in order to build in the durability needed.

Derek

stewby0331

I recently changed out the sprockets on my badboy, I went 15 in front and 45 in rear. I did not notice anything different in the ride height. It did however make a very dramatic difference in acceleration. I don't really care about top end I don't drive that fast anyway. However if you are not careful the bike now rolls on wheelies in 1st gear, came around a corner the other day and for some stupid reason thought I was in second and got on the throttle and the bike stood up like I was the lone ranger on silver. Great mod if your looking for the acceleration.

Stewby - with your gearing, is the VTEC 'hit' more pronounced than it was before? I am wondering if the gearing will make the hit 'chirp' the rear even more than it occasionally does now at WOT.

Derek

ohlarikd

stewby0331

I recently changed out the sprockets on my badboy, I went 15 in front and 45 in rear. I did not notice anything different in the ride height. It did however make a very dramatic difference in acceleration. I don't really care about top end I don't drive that fast anyway. However if you are not careful the bike now rolls on wheelies in 1st gear, came around a corner the other day and for some stupid reason thought I was in second and got on the throttle and the bike stood up like I was the lone ranger on silver. Great mod if your looking for the acceleration.

Stewby - with your gearing, is the VTEC 'hit' more pronounced than it was before? I am wondering if the gearing will make the hit 'chirp' the rear even more than it occasionally does now at WOT.

Derek

The change he made is roughly 10% "shorter" gearing - at any given speed/gear combination that would equate to about 10 % more torque at the back tire. I would expect that to exaggerate the effect, for sure.

-VFRGeek

Auspañol

Nice write up Pete... thanks...

marid2apterbilt

So what is the final ration of a 17 tooth front ?

Not so sure a 17 toother'll fit in there... Bueller??

They sure do. My dealer accidentally fitted a 17 tooth sprocket to my 2002 and I rode around like that for 8 months, wondering why I never used 6th gear.

I changed my gearing to -1/+1 a couple thousand miles ago and I absolutely LOVE it.

That would be 15/44 on my 05.

Do we have a spreadsheet on the differences in speed compared to stock for each of these combos??

How do I work that out on paper (or in my head, or on a calculator...)

Say for example 120 km/h stock set up = XXX km/h with -1/+2, etc...

'Nother question... is there a guide on here as to how many links if going up or down on number of teeth up front or up back or both or all cases...

16/43 = 110 links

Stock/+1 = ??

Stock/+2 = ??

-1/Stock = ??

-1/+1 = ??

-1/+2 = ??

Auspañol

'Nother question... is there a guide on here as to how many links if going up or down on number of teeth up front or up back or both or all cases...

Stock+stock/2=x

New+new/2=y

Either Y-X or X-Y=extra links to add (or subtract)

(Stock) 16+43=59/2=29.5 (x=29.5)

(New) 16+46=62/2=31(y=31)

31-29.5=1.5 extra links needed.

Since you can only have chains with even numbers of links, add 2 links to the needed chain length. Remember you can always shorten it.

Auspañol

Do we have a spreadsheet on the differences in speed compared to stock for each of these combos??

How do I work that out on paper (or in my head, or on a calculator...)

Say for example 120 km/h stock set up = XXX km/h with -1/+2, etc...

Simply percentages across the board.

Stock= 43/16= 2.6875:1 ratio

New= 45/15=3.000:1 ratio (higher number = lower gearing)

3.000/2.6875=1.116279 or 11.62% lower gearing.

SO, for a given rpm, your road speed will ALWAYS be 11.62% lower.

In your example, 120 km/hr (indicated) now - 11.6% = 106 (actual)

On this assumption will a 17T front mean lower acceleration but higher top end? sorry but I'm at work and cant multitask doing the calculation and work.....I'll -1 myself for being lazy

Plus does this mean my chain would need 1/2 a link more??? my head hurts lol

:491:

Yes, larger front sprocket decreases acceleration, and theoretically increases top speed, assuming the bike can presently reach redline in top gear and also has a surplus of existing horsepower, which would allow it to pull a higher gear and push more wind at the new higher top speed.

On a VFR, higher gearing is not likely to result in a greater top speed, unless you are going down a REALLY REALLY big hill, flat out. Not enough horsies under the bonnet.

As for your chain, theoretically chain length is +0.5 links longer, but since that is unpossible, just move the wheel forward.

Many thanks for your response, it's much appreciated. I think as far as my VFR goes it will remain on stock as Honda intended :wink:

SEBSPEED

I changed my gearing to -1/+1 a couple thousand miles ago and I absolutely LOVE it.

That would be 15/44 on my 05.

By going that route what are the benefits?

What brand 45T rear sprocket did some of you buy? my local Honda shop says they can't get a 45T from any of their vendors. They can get a 44T though, I'd rather get a 45 if I can.

I have the same question as riverlife, but I also need to know the 15t front.. My local dealer has only been able to find a 47T rear. O_o

JT