Ok, here's my dilemma.... Pretty much our track ask for (2),3,4,&5th gear take note 2nd only if we run the short course so pretty much 3,4,5.... pretty much everyone runs 3,4,5 I really don't have the extra money to buy a bunch of sprockets to test this out.... but, would I have any advantage if I geared her up to run 4,5,6 and then for the short course 3,4,5,6 instead of 2,3,4,5? Sorry if this answer is obvious. Thanks in advance, Chuck
3,4,5,6 or 2,3,4,5, ? anyone? I know someone knows the answer and why one could be better then the other
2nd through 5th gear courses are pretty common. If you gear the bike to use 3rd through 6th, the bike may have more "acceleration" potential, but your closing the time between gear changes. You may find on a very good lap, you approach or hit the rev limiter before your corner and need to change to the next gear up.. only to then have to do two downshifts quickly when you used to only do 1.. I have no idea if there is an advantage for you or your track, find a local white plate that has been around awhile and ask what they use.
The other factor to consider is that the ratio jump between gears is smaller as you go higher. I have known guys to prefer this to keep the bike at a more precise power point (like on a 600). The down side to that (as Melk mentioned) is that there may be more shifting involved. However, i have tried both the 3 4 5 & the 4 5 6 & they both had their plusses & minuses. FWIW, at my local track, i used 3 4 5 & DuHamel (1996) was using shorter gearing & rinding with 3 4 5 6. I wound up not being able to run the 3 4 5 6 simply because i could not carry the speed he was, so for me, 3 4 5 was fine.
