rear sprocket 49t vs 45t vs 43t on my ftr s 2020

holli

holli

Member
hello,

maybe i can get some feedback / opinions - i have to swap my wheels soon to the rsd wheels and bought the esjot 45t and 43t rear sprocket and a new 114 chain.
should i start with the 45t or 43t - what is to expect and what is the difference on this 18'' wheels.
i looked around the forum but most of them are for the new 22 and 17'' wheels - are there any 18'' riders using the 43t or 45t?
maybe someone has tried them already and has some information what improved or did not work out.

thanks for your time and feedback's.
 
Charliemurphay

Charliemurphay

Well-known member
I have the 45t rear. Gears it up just enough for me to lower the cruising RPM’s in 6th a bit and 1st doesn’t feel so short (will still lift the front end). Personally I think 43 would be too far as 49 to 45 is already a decent difference. I’d vote for the 45 and don’t look back.
 
D

Deleted member 706

Guest
I too thought 43 was a bit extreme but I was told it wasn't, and I now have one on the bike. I have even accidentally done a second gear roll off on the 43, not recommended but doable.
I'm currently at work on a night shift so I can't quote facts and figures but 4000 RPM in top is something 108 KMH to 120 KMH and 100 KMH drops by about 300 RPM. This has got to improve fuel economy and tank range.
So unless you want to drag race a 43 tooth rear sprocket is definitely an option.
 
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Blue1

Active member
I think first gear is way too low for this motorcycle...maybe Indian thought people would actually ride a lot on dirt?

I am leaning towards a change to a 45 tooth rear sprocket. Need to do the math, I don't want to handicap the FTR's top speed potential. I would like to shoot for a rear sprocket that would give 140 mph @ around 8300 rpm in fifth gear.

That gearing would make first gear actually usable on the street (and the drag strip) and make sixth an overdrive, over 50 mph cruising gear. Gas mileage should improve, as well as general rideability.
 
holli

holli

Member
nailbeater

nailbeater

Member
I went from 49 tooth rear sprocket to a 45 Tooth sprocket And that's exactly what happens, you get a longer first gear and six gear becomes like Overdrive I haven't decided whether I like it yet I need more seat time but you can definitely feel a difference.
 
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cupcake_mike

Active member
Blue1 said:
I think first gear is way too low for this motorcycle...maybe Indian thought people would actually ride a lot on dirt?

I am leaning towards a change to a 45 tooth rear sprocket. Need to do the math, I don't want to handicap the FTR's top speed potential. I would like to shoot for a rear sprocket that would give 140 mph @ around 8300 rpm in fifth gear.

That gearing would make first gear actually usable on the street (and the drag strip) and make sixth an overdrive, over 50 mph cruising gear. Gas mileage should improve, as well as general rideability.
Click to expand...

I stay in 1st, in town, til 40 (very comfortable, engine isn't screaming or near redline)...not sure how much more you'd want out of it...

Your ratio will have to be much smaller to hit 140 in 5th at 8300...aerodynamics won't allow that, anyway. 140 in 6th is about 8300, lol. Since 5th to 6th is about an 20% drop, you are asking for 175 in 6th at 8300 (or thereabouts). Definitely not going to happen without a turbo, nitrous, supercharger or all 3, lol.
 
Max Kool

Max Kool

Well-known member
cupcake_mike said:
Since 5th to 6th is about an 20% drop
Click to expand...
5th gear ratio: 1.125
6th gear ratio: 1.036

That's 8.6 % difference

45 rear sprocket vs 49 makes the gearing 8.9% taller.

All in all gearing up from 49 to 45 teeth makes your 5th gear about the same as 6th gear was, and 6th will be about 8.9% taller than before. a 9% rpm drop at any speed in 6th gear.
 
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cupcake_mike

Active member
Max Kool said:
5th gear ratio: 1.125
6th gear ratio: 1.036

That's 8.6 % difference

45 rear sprocket vs 49 makes the gearing 8.9% taller.

All in all gearing up from 49 to 45 teeth makes your 5th gear about the same as 6th gear was, and 6th will be about 8.9% taller than before. a 9% rpm drop at any speed in 6th gear.
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't clearly establish my point, that from 5-6 WITH the sprocket size reduction is around 20% drop...my final numbers work, though...

Nitpicking over math I did off the top of my head really serves no purpose, anyway. The point of my comment was that 140 in 5th (or 175 in 6th) isn't going to be possible just using gearing, lol
 
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Blue1

Active member
cupcake_mike said:
I stay in 1st, in town, til 40 (very comfortable, engine isn't screaming or near redline)...not sure how much more you'd want out of it...

Your ratio will have to be much smaller to hit 140 in 5th at 8300...aerodynamics won't allow that, anyway. 140 in 6th is about 8300, lol. Since 5th to 6th is about an 20% drop, you are asking for 175 in 6th at 8300 (or thereabouts). Definitely not going to happen without a turbo, nitrous, supercharger or all 3, lol.
Click to expand...
I don't know what year FTR you have (if it makes any difference), but my 2019 is at 6800 rpm in first gear at 40 mph according to the gearing calculator site in this thread....lol
 
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cupcake_mike

Active member
Blue1 said:
I don't know what year FTR you have (if it makes any difference), but my 2019 is at 6800 rpm in first gear at 40 mph according to the gearing calculator site in this thread....lol
Click to expand...

It's a 19, it's not 6800, but is around 5.5 or so... who cares, that's right in the middle of the range...Redline is 9k. The ftr is happiest from 4-8k, doesn't feel like you are even working the engine hard until above 8.

All my bikes, even the ones that redline at 6.5 get ridden to 5.5 before they are shifted, you have gears use them.
 
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cupcake_mike

Active member
edgelett said:
You ride in 1st gear at 40 miles an hour????
we have very different riding styles lol
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Yep, shift to 2nd at 40ish, 3rd at 60ish, 4th at 75, 5th at 85, 6th at 110...if I'm cruising, I'll kick up into the next gear for fuel efficiency (lol, like the FTR is known for that).

I hear it a lot from people. If I shift into 2nd at 35, the bike is only pulling like 3.5k and feels dodgy. Guess I'm just used to using the whole rev range. Some people sure seem to dog bikes around and are free to ride however it is they like... many of these same people never ride their bikes in the zone where the torque really kicks in, I don't understand how it could be any fun.
 
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Blue1

Active member
cupcake_mike said:
Yep, shift to 2nd at 40ish, 3rd at 60ish, 4th at 75, 5th at 85, 6th at 110...if I'm cruising, I'll kick up into the next gear for fuel efficiency (lol, like the FTR is known for that).

I hear it a lot from people.
Click to expand...
It is quite the mystery why you hear it from a lot of people.
 
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cupcake_mike

Active member
As opposed to what, being in 3rd lugging the hell out of the motor like it's a 900lb bagger? Pretty sure if they didn't want you go above 3k they would've made the redline much lower.

How about you worry about how you ride and I'll ride how I want?

Please, just don't bring up your badass ZRX that you (apparently) never rode above 4k 🤣
 
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Blue1

Active member
Thank you, the ZRX was badass!

BTW, good luck getting more than 20K miles out of your 25 MPG FTR.
 
C

cupcake_mike

Active member
Blue1 said:
Thank you, the ZRX was badass!

BTW, good luck getting more than 20K miles out of your 25 MPG FTR.
Click to expand...

Well, I've got 15k and I just checked the valve train and all was in spec, so I think I'll be alright. And mine gets 33-35mpg, thank you (surprisingly about the same whether I'm beating it or Sunday cruising).

Then there's the fact that I've put over 100k on 4 bikes, all ridden the same way. Also the couple dozen bikes that I've owned that I've put (on avg) 25k on before sending them on to the next owner. I've only had one engine failure out of the 30 or 40 bikes I've owned and it was due to a manufacturer error with a piston's metallurgy.

But whatever, you're right, I'm tearing stuff up. That's probably what I'd say to someone if I didn't know how to ride, either.
 
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