Topic: cb550 front and rear sprocket questions?...

[xsmooth69x]

i was reading that some riders like changing the sprocket size. i have to change the chain because its just rust. its been soaking for a week and when i get home ill check it but i think its F'ed.

so reading some people i think add or subtract a couple teeth i cant remember to gain top or low end..... i remember skimming a read like that awhile ago....

i want this bike to be quick for like a 1/8-1/2 mile. stop light to stop light. i dont really need some crazy top speed. i dont think ill ever go over 70-80mph for extended periods of time. so should i change the teeth # front or rear?

so since im replacing the chain i heard it was a good idea to change the front and rear sprocket. is there any chain size, front and rear sprocket to look for?

[number13]

To gain good torque off the line, just get a front sprocket
one tooth lower than stock, retain the original rear sprocket size.

[Gordon]

To gain good torque off the line, just get a front sprocket
one tooth lower than stock, retain the original rear sprocket size.

+1

That one simple change really livens up the 550.  It was the best thing I did to mine.

[skamagedon]

16/34?

[xsmooth69x]

16/34?

is that what im looking for?

[Gordon]

For the CB550 use 16/37 for quick off the line and engine screaming top speed.  Not much good for freeway stuff, but in town stop light grand prix, pretty nice.

Cheers,

And another +1

Although, mine feels fine on the freeways going across town or to nearby cities.  I wouldn't choose it over my 750 for longer trips, but that has more to do with the drag bars, lowering blocks and rock-hard seat foam than the engine speed. 

[xsmooth69x]

For the CB550 use 16/37 for quick off the line and engine screaming top speed.  Not much good for freeway stuff, but in town stop light grand prix, pretty nice.

Cheers,

well what is top speed on the cb550 lol. i have a good 40 miles of highway to run when i go back to my college house.....

so like 80-85mph max but i dont want to be redlining it....

[Gordon]

For the CB550 use 16/37 for quick off the line and engine screaming top speed.  Not much good for freeway stuff, but in town stop light grand prix, pretty nice.

Cheers,

well what is top speed on the cb550 lol. i have a good 40 miles of highway to run when i go back to my college house.....

so like 80-85mph max but i dont want to be redlining it....

80-85 mph will still be well below the red line in 5th gear.  Going down one tooth on the front sprocket isn't a huge change, but it's enough to make a nice difference in the torque at the low end.   

[Ringo]

I'm running an aluminum 40-tooth rear sprocket, 17 tooth front.  Great for around town, but a little much at highway speeds.   Even with this combo there is still plenty of top end though...or at least enough to be plenty illegal.  I've pushed it to an indicated 110mph at 10k rpm...for comparisons sake. 

Dropping the front sprocket one tooth is about equal to adding 2-3 at the rear.  When it comes time to replace my chain/sprocket set, I'll be going down to a 38-tooth rear/17 front, fyi.

[dave500]

if you havent ridden this bike yet id try the standard gearing,they go good,i tried a 37 rear on a 500 which should have 34 and it was like 5th gear had been removed,sure three teeth seems a lot more than one on the front,i live in a hilly area but it was still way too low for me,i didnt feel the bike ran any better.

[xsmooth69x]

I'm running an aluminum 40-tooth rear sprocket, 17 tooth front.  Great for around town, but a little much at highway speeds.   Even with this combo there is still plenty of top end though...or at least enough to be plenty illegal.  I've pushed it to an indicated 110mph at 10k rpm...for comparisons sake. 

Dropping the front sprocket one tooth is about equal to adding 2-3 at the rear.  When it comes time to replace my chain/sprocket set, I'll be going down to a 38-tooth rear/17 front, fyi.

see this is what i was thinking too. instead of dropping one in the front just adding some more teeth in the back. i have a hand full of friends that stunt and they just add more teeth to the rear of the bike. <-------- although the add a lot to stunt but still just a few more teeth could be practical

maybe 37 teeth to 40 is a lot?.... i think so maybe like 39 on the back would be good. would adding more to the rear would make the strain less on the bike then making the front sprocket smaller?

[Ringo]

Yeah, you know, I'm not really sold on it.  Like I said, I'll be doing a 38 tooth rear next time.  The real motivation for me as far as going with a larger rear sprocket was to keep the chain off the swing arm.  I'm running 14.2" rear shocks, so with stock gearing, the chain would rub if I wasn't on top of keeping it properly adjusted. 

You also have to think about how removing teeth from the front sprocket can affect chain life.  Smaller circumference=more the chain has to flex to get around it=more chain wear.

If you're set on going up a couple teeth, I'd do 39 MAX.  Hondaman recommended adding four teeth to the rear in his "Thoughts" section...but after seeing the effects of three, I'm not quite sure where he's coming from. (apart from dealing with that 550 flat spot)

And I agree with dave500, there really isn't that noticeable of a difference, apart from how easy it is to rev the nuts off of the motor.

[xsmooth69x]

if you havent ridden this bike yet id try the standard gearing,they go good,i tried a 37 rear on a 500 which should have 34 and it was like 5th gear had been removed,sure three teeth seems a lot more than one on the front,i live in a hilly area but it was still way too low for me,i didnt feel the bike ran any better.

well like i said on my first post i wanted it to be snappy around town. although i do have an hour ride once a week back and forth to my 2 houses.

what do you mean when the bike feels way to low?

[Hannibal Smith]

I also agree with Ringo here, and for quite a few reasons.
My 24,000 mile motor before the rebuild, with stock gearing was a shockingly peppy little cat, and would haul my 195 pound ass through first in seconds- until I read it mentioned on these forums, I always thought my gearing was too low!
Larger (more teeth) the contershaft sprocket has, the less wear on the chain and the sprocket, I always opt for more teeth rather than subtraction if at all possible.
I also run 14.2" rears, so I am adding to the countershaft sprocket and the rear to avoid taking the wood to my gorgeous gloss black powder...............

[skamagedon]

16/34?

my bad, ive got 17-37, i meant 16-37.......whoops

[Ringo]

I also agree with Ringo here, and for quite a few reasons.
My 24,000 mile motor before the rebuild, with stock gearing was a shockingly peppy little cat, and would haul my 195 pound ass through first in seconds- until I read it mentioned on these forums, I always thought my gearing was too low!
Larger (more teeth) the contershaft sprocket has, the less wear on the chain and the sprocket, I always opt for more teeth rather than subtraction if at all possible.
I also run 14.2" rears, so I am adding to the countershaft sprocket and the rear to avoid taking the wood to my gorgeous gloss black powder...............

I like that.  Instead of going down to a 38 in the rear, I think I'll just go up to an 18 in the front.  18 front, 40 rear...that chain will be plenty high off the swing arm.

[Bluegreen]

For the CB550 use 16/37 for quick off the line and engine screaming top speed.  Not much good for freeway stuff, but in town stop light grand prix, pretty nice.

Cheers,

well what is top speed on the cb550 lol. i have a good 40 miles of highway to run when i go back to my college house.....

so like 80-85mph max but i dont want to be redlining it....

I have a 550 with a 16t front sprocket and it will do 106 mph. And 85mph all day long.

[isred09]

OK had to chime in. I have a 16 rear wheel not a 18. And I'm running 17/43 an it

has real nice pull with minimal flat spot. I always go up. Also good luck finding a 16
tooth sprocket if u did want to run one.

[dave500]

if you havent ridden this bike yet id try the standard gearing,they go good,i tried a 37 rear on a 500 which should have 34 and it was like 5th gear had been removed,sure three teeth seems a lot more than one on the front,i live in a hilly area but it was still way too low for me,i didnt feel the bike ran any better.

well like i said on my first post i wanted it to be snappy around town. although i do have an hour ride once a week back and forth to my 2 houses.

what do you mean when the bike feels way to low?

low geared,,1st went down,and 5th was removed,it seemed to run the same inbetween,id recomend keeping the stock gearing untill its well sorted and ridden,i think you wont like the lack of top end,i didnt and ive had these bikes for years.

[xsmooth69x]

wow so many numbers...... 

soo when you all say 17/37 you mean 17 teeth in the front and 37 teeth in the back (this is the stock teeth for the front rear of the cb550 right?)

and when you say im running a 14.2 rear you mean the tire??....

but anyways thanks you everyone for sorting this out with me i much apreciate it. i will run the stock gearing for a bit and if i get bored i might start tinkering and buying different sprockets.

does anyone know whats a good place to get a front and rear with chain set so i can replace everything?

also do they make light weight sprockets as an option?

[dave500]

google  jt sprockets  youll find complete chain and sprocket sets,charts etc,dont let the numbers buzz your head,,race bikes will gear down or up for certain race tracks,,so more or less at the end of the longest straight is when top gear runs out,,sort of,,youll be happier with the standard gearing i think,dont get too ahead of what your building yet and go for performance only,youll want to enjoy the ride aswell,,a cheap late model could be bought for fanging around if you really wanted to,having said that ive always geared my dirt bikes right down as the riding we would do always encounted some really slow stuff and the two strokes i had like to be kept on the boil,,i didnt care for top speed as we rarely got flat out in top(castlemaine victoria)

[xsmooth69x]

google  jt sprockets  youll find complete chain and sprocket sets,charts etc,dont let the numbers buzz your head,,race bikes will gear down or up for certain race tracks,,so more or less at the end of the longest straight is when top gear runs out,,sort of,,youll be happier with the standard gearing i think,dont get too ahead of what your building yet and go for performance only,youll want to enjoy the ride aswell,,a cheap late model could be bought for fanging around if you really wanted to,having said that ive always geared my dirt bikes right down as the riding we would do always encounted some really slow stuff and the two strokes i had like to be kept on the boil,,i didnt care for top speed as we rarely got flat out in top(castlemaine victoria)

dave your the man!!

also regarding chains i was told not to use o ring or x ring/type... i that true?

[Ringo]

Right xsmooth69x, no o-ring chain.  sprocketspecialists.com can also make any size sprocket you want, in aluminum.  Much lighter than the stock steel.  I think I paid about $60 for mine.

[retrorabbit]

the standard gearing change has always been one down on the countershaft, two up on the rear. fuel economy, and top speed will be sacrificed.

in very relative terms, dropping one tooth off the front is the equivalent of a few ft/lbs of torque. if you know the bike and have a good grasp of what the machine is doing, you will notice a difference in drive coming out of a turn or leaving a stoplight. roll on power doesn't really change too awful much when going in a straight line.

one down one up is great for a sporty ride that is still civil on the interstate. one down two up can become a bother after a hundred miles of expressway riding (that being said, it really isn't 'that' bad).

using a racer's logic, gear the bike to drive out of the fast turns. that's where you will make up the most time and pick up speed.

also, for a decent boost in performance, consider swapping to a 520 pitch chain and sprockets. it will drop a noticeable amount of weight (free hp) and often is cheaper to buy. also, x-ring is the new o-ring and worth the extra money.

the concern of excess wear due to smaller sprockets is pretty bogus. sprockets will last 20k miles or more of fast paced street riding when the chain is properly adjusted and lubricated (i run 15-50 on my r6 streetbike. my driven steel 520 sprocket an ek chain had 29k miles on them when i replaced them last winter. no broken teeth, no knife points, no stiff spots in the chain. the countershaft sprocket looked almost new). the more you wheelie a bike, or put an abrupt load on the sprocket, the faster it will wear. power wheelies are fine, clutch dropping is bad. having the rear axle alignment slightly off will also cost you in terms of sprocket and chain life.

i would also strongly caution you on purchasing an aluminum countershaft sprocket. i highly doubt the longevity and safety.

hope this helps.

[xsmooth69x]

Right xsmooth69x, no o-ring chain.  sprocketspecialists.com can also make any size sprocket you want, in aluminum.  Much lighter than the stock steel.  I think I paid about $60 for mine.

wow you got a custom sprocket made for 60  way to rich for me man. also your avatar bike is F'in gorgeous