I need to gear my bike down for trail riding. I am running a 44 tooth set up chain and rear sprocket right now and it needs to be changed anyway, its pretty worn.

I know they make a 52 tooth set up for mine now. But is that to much of a jump?

I'd be getting one of those *counter shaft gear, chain and sprocket deals.

The bike is only going to be used for trails and not much else.
It lugs pretty good right now but I know I am going to need it to be lower.

Any thoughts? Maybe a 49 tooth set-up?

Thanks

when you go trail riding do you like to hill climb or just stick to the trails. do you ride tight single track.

i found with my old IT that i hill climbed better with higher gearing cause i could ride in the midrange and keep the power delivery smoother for more control. i had a big monster rear sprocket for a while on it and it was fun in the tight trails but it was a handful on the hills. it kept breaking traction. i.e. going sideways while going up hill or it would try to loop on me.

i think your riding style is going to dictate the gearing.
i think what i ran was a 44 rear stock front(i think 15)

I wouldn't make a big jump at once, start with 3-4 tooth changes on the rear sprocket. It will make a big difference. If you want to save money and can't afford to experiment with multiple rear sprockets, try changing the front sprocket. Fronts are cheaper and make a bigger difference. General rule of thumb 1 tooth change on front sprocket equals about a 3-4 tooth of rear sprocket change. Also don't go any smaller than 11 or 12 on the front. Front sprocket changes will never require purchasing a longer chain or additional links.

I have a 01 CR125 that I use for trail riding, I dropped the front sprocket from 13 to 12 and it made a big difference. First is plenty low now, all gears are a little tighter, 5th is a little too low for fast fire roads but oh well. It is not too often that I'm pinned in 5th thinking to myself "man I wish this thing would go faster". But before I made the gearing change there were plenty o times when I would be doing a technical hill climb and say to myself "man I wish this wasn't a 125 or I wish it was geared a little lower!"

I have a 14 tooth on the front of my 1990 CR250 and have no problem trail riding or hill climbs. Only problem I run into sometimes is too much power, wants to do wheelies from the start, then calms down.

On my KTM440 I run a 13/50 but it like revs more so than 500's so 14/50 night be a better choice if that is what you ride.

I have a klx650r, and I have it geared 12/51 stock was 14/49 :eek: talk about a tractor, the low end torque is ridiculous. The plan is to get the motor breathing better and more power, and then I will probably put a 14 or so back on the front and hopefully it will pull it, as for right now, third gear wheelies on a 300pound bike with no clutching are pretty fun :flipoff2:

On my KX 250 i run 14/46 and sometimes 15/46 and have run 15/42 at the really fast stuff like vegas to reno. I cant even imagine gearing a bike down no matter where i ride.

You don't mention which bigbore 2stroke you have, that makes a difference, they're not all created equal of course. I've had 3 cr500's in the past, I left em all geared stock for woods riding & climbing hills. They've got the low end power for this, just have the right jetting and use steel clutch plates so you can clutch it a little. Oh ya I've also owned xr 500's, a 600 & now a 650R, I left the gearing stock on all those too (I hate to lose any topspeed);)

Its a It 490 cc.

I trail rode it today. To tap into the tourqe I needed to be in second at a quik pace to use it. Anything lower and I am pulling to hard on the guy in front of me.

Few teeth more is all I need.

I am hardly even in 5th to matter anyway.

i agree with 333, lots cheaper and simplier to switch out front sprockets, takes a couple minutes instead of taking the whole back tire off disconnecting brakes etc etc...