05 R6 SS gearing for RA

[SV88]

I'm thinking either stock 16-48 or possibly 16-46 since it's a high speed track.  Never rode this bike @ RA so I'm not sure.  Suggestions???

[skiandclimb]

Hope you don't mind me taggin along in your post, but I was wondering the same for my 996....

-Ski

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Hard to go wrong starting with stock gearing (or even +1 or +2 in the back) at Road America. Unless your dealing with a ton of extra power, or your carrying some awesome cornerspeed onto the 3 fast sections, your probably not going to need to over-gear your bikes beyond stock gearing for more top speed at RA. I generally run +1 or even +2 in the back on my '02 GSXR750, but my combined (bike+rider) Power to Weight ratio is almost exactly 5 lbs per HP - the lower your lbs per HP the more top end gearing your going to need if your carrying good corner speed. 

[spymoto]

I'm thinking either stock 16-48 or possibly 16-46 since it's a high speed track.  Never rode this bike @ RA so I'm not sure.  Suggestions???

Hi,

I have an 03 R6 that I raced at Road America this weekend and my gearing was 1 down in front and up 2 in the rear... 15/50 with the 520 conversion. I thought that combo worked great!!!

[spymoto]

I may be wrong... but my thinking was that you want the gearing so when your on the fastest part of the track, you want your bike to be in the top gear just about to hit the rev limiter. I just bought a 52 rear for Blackhawk, I'll have to see how that goes =)

[SV88]

Ended up running 16-47 which I felt was a little tall.  The worst part was dropping below 7k coming out of 5.  I've got the Graves intake kit which puts a significant dip in power around there.  Guess I should have shifted down 4 times or carried much more corner speed there.  I'll probably go 16-50 @ BHF

[George_Linhart]

Guess I should have shifted down 4 times or carried much more corner speed there. 

Steve - you should have carried more corner speed.   How many times do I have to beat that into your thick scull?  Untill you feel the tires slide and force you to drift out to the paint on the exit you need to take off the skirt and carry more speed!

George

[superspud]

Hi,

I have an 03 R6 that I raced at Road America this weekend and my gearing was 1 down in front and up 2 in the rear... 15/50 with the 520 conversion. I thought that combo worked great!!!

That's how you pulled on me a little.  I only went up 1 in the rear and stock front.  Didn't you run out of top end.  That's even shorter gearing than my BHF setup. 

[superspud]

I may be wrong... but my thinking was that you want the gearing so when your on the fastest part of the track, you want your bike to be in the top gear just about to hit the rev limiter. I just bought a 52 rear for Blackhawk, I'll have to see how that goes =)

Are you going to launch in 2nd?  My very first year racing I tried a 15/51 set up, first gear was just about useless.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

I have an 03 R6 that I raced at Road America this weekend and my gearing was 1 down in front and up 2 in the rear... 15/50 with the 520 conversion. I thought that combo worked great!!!

The ratio of most sportbikes today is about 3:1 when comparing the rear and front sprocket tooth counts. That would mean you were running what would work out to be apx a +5 gear on the back (if using a stock front gear - original 16/48 gearing came on that bike new). I'm finding that gearing hard to believe for Road America, unless your corner speed was on the slower side, your letting off / braking really early, or your really heavy (or some combo of those)? With a +2 set-up on my bike I will run out of gear at the very end of the front straight, I find it hard to believe you would make it very much past the Start / Finish line with a +5 set-up before running out of gear. Could you confirm that those are actually what is still on the bike from last weekend?

I may be wrong... but my thinking was that you want the gearing so when your on the fastest part of the track, you want your bike to be in the top gear just about to hit the rev limiter.

Yes........and No.

In a perfect world It sounds good, but racetracks are designed to challenge both rider and machine. Even though Road America is a top end track it's different than Daytona because most people will only top out their bike for a few seconds at RA (if at all) - unlike Daytona where you can be topped out for some distance, depending on your bike. For that reason if you sacrifice a few seconds (at most) of ultimate top speed in exchange for better acceleration around the entire track (thru more aggressive gearing) you may find it results in faster lap times. At a comparatively slower track like Blackhawk or Barber you also need to consider shift points, you may find not using all your gears works better because you don't have to shift as much and by changing gearing you can ultimately create a compromise as to where your shift points are going to be out on the track. I saw an interview with Mat Mladin a couple years ago and he said that at Barber he generally only uses 2 gears around the entire track once the race gets up to pace (with a very brief occasional click of 1 more gear on some laps) - If I remember correctly he was only using 3rd and 4th gear around the entire track. 

[spymoto]

That's how you pulled on me a little.  I only went up 1 in the rear and stock front.  Didn't you run out of top end.  That's even shorter gearing than my BHF setup. 

Nope, never hit the rev limiter

[spymoto]

Are you going to launch in 2nd?  My very first year racing I tried a 15/51 set up, first gear was just about useless.

I never tried a 2nd gear start, other than when I raced MX. I got pretty good starts since I'm always in the last row of the grid =)