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Questions for the truckers here...
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I was chatting to my bike salesman (*and* enthusiast - like he has got 3
bikes and rides himself) mate last night and mentioned I didn't think
the '14' was as quick off the mark as the recent Bandit 12 I had. He
said it isn't and to fit a -1T front sprocket - like it was quick, cheap
and easy to do.
Question 1 (3 parts): Is it?
Question 2 (2 parts): Has anybody here done it and is it worthwhile??
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Easy enough if you have someone to sit on the bike, holding the brake,
while you undo the nut with a very long bar. A wood chisel is the best
tool to start removing the tab washer, followed by a big screwdriver,
as long as the woodworker of the house doesn't catch you. :-)
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(Not sure I really want to 'break the skin' on a nearly new bike though,
I hafta say....)
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This "14" doesn't have an ignition retard in the first gear or two,
does it? Snipping a wire is even simpler.
Question 3: What size front sprocket does it have now? A smaller sprocket
wears the chain more, which is one reason I always used a larger sprocket
on the Katana. A larger rear is more sensible, but costs more and may need
a longer chain. Bear in mind that your revs will be up by 6-7% everywhere
in the same gear at the same speed.
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Thanks for all that. Ivan - your suggestion of changing the rear
sprocket makes perfect sense, but I've had a bit of a think about it
this evening and I'm going to do nothing for the time being. Through the
gears is OK, but the thought of the increase in revs at 'cruising'
speeds is enough to put me off, really....
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Probably best to do nothing for now. If you find that most of your
riding is in a region where the difference between two gears is similar
to the change in ratio you can get with a rear sprocket change (i.e. you
spend most of your time out of top, say in 3rd which is a 5% change from
4th and you can go from a 42 to a 44 rear sprocket) it might make sense --
you just ride around a gear higher in the comfort zone.
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I think the problem is that I still have 'Bandit 5 gear imprinting' and
have gone from always trying to find another gear I didn't have to 'How
many more gears do I have to go down FFS??'...!! (Particularly noticable
when dropping two gears from top - on the 14 it leaves me in 4th which
certainly hasn't got the 'bite' that the Bandit had in third!!)
I think I'll just knock the miles up and *get used to it*....
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