Motorcycles are relatively basic machines which makes them easy to upgrade for performance. I’m not doing anything nearly as cool as Rob with his Ducati 998, but just a couple basic performance upgrades on a sportbike. I finally wore out the original chain on my 2005 CBR 600RR at 23k miles, so it was a good time to upgrade the chain and sprockets for a bit more acceleration.
There are two ways to improve acceleration when doing a chain and sprockets upgrade: gearing and mass reduction. I bought this quick acceleration kit which consists of a 15-tooth front sprocket compared to the stock 16-tooth, and a thinner/lighter 520 size chain versus the stock 525. You can get aluminum sprockets for increased mass reduction, but I decided to go with steel for better longevity.
To get to the front sprocket, you need to remove the shift linkage first.
I marked the alignment of the linkage to the shaft before taking the linkage off.
There is a lot of gunk hiding under the cover.
And even more hiding after the sprocket comes off.
1 comment
Great article Khiem. These ‘quick’ acceleration kits are great for road use bikes where standard gearing is usually far too long. Not that one front tooth makes a huge difference, but the longer wheelbase that you’re afforded by using a smaller front sprocket also has some beneficial effects – mostly moving the center of mass forward toward the front wheel helping hard acceleration and cornering.
I’ve got another new to me 675 Triumph I’ll be uploading more about soon as well as finally more track time to dial in the 998 next weekend. Thanks for the link.