Chains & Gears & things

For a 15 stone, 210 lbs chap, what would be good starting point for gearing for a first generation SV to be used on the track? 15/44 15/45 14/47 15/50 ....

Depends on what you want: faster acceleration or more top end, which will obviously depend on the sort of track you are at. Can't remember what the standard figures are, but normally people go for up to one lower on the front and three higher on the back for faster acceleration, which will easily pick up the front wheel. I dunno about going for more top end at the cost of acceleration because for road use I never had to go faster than 130 without wanting to get there quickly! If you drop a tooth on the front it's equivalent to adding 3 to the back I think.

Someone did a table a while back with figures for the different settings I think, but I can't be bothered to look for it. Search under gearing, sprocket size or summat like that and you may strike gold.

Thanks Hovis, but how does this answer the question?

[jambo]

Bear's right, 3 teeth up on the rear is worth about 1 down on the front. Either way you're gearing the bike down, meaning each gear will run out of revs at a lower speed than normal. You get a bit more thrust, and the engine will be in a higher rpm for a given road speed in a given gear, so should pick up a bit quicker. I'd say leave the thing bog standard or maybe change a little till you've done a bit on track and then work out what you need.

There would be no point gearing the standard SV higher than normal for top speed as it won't hit the limiter in 6th as it is, due to power / aerodynamics.

Bear and Jambo, thank you for the info. AND, even though I can't figure out the context, Hovis' message wins the response award in the visual category for refreshing us with pictures of Katherine Von Drachenberg, the Mexican-American tattoo artist.