+2 rear sprocket?

[pilninggas]

My feeling exactly! Although a lot of people do buy motorcycles for commuting to save on gas money, so for those of you, more power to you. I for one, bought it for fun. The fact that it gets better gas mileage then my Buick is a plus. Just can't lug the hockey equipment to the rink on the bike haha.

also for those of us that do touring mpg can be significant. I plan to take my xj6 down to the alps soon (maybe/hopefully easter) and last year on my FZR1000, there were days when i did 750miles, which cost £160 (US$250) in fuel. To maximise my trip economy, getting good mpg is really important. actually one reason why i bought the XJ6.

 

[kevcoop]

Just got my Driven -1/+2 combo today, can't wait to put it on and see the difference.

1 question though, what type of speedo healer should I get?

 

[cbzdel]

you still have plenty of power with a +1 front, but I learned this.. Unless you plan on doing distance riding it will actually hurt you MPG.. My work moved to a new office right down the street from my house and all of a sudden my awesome MPG dropped to the low 30's/high 2-0's which SUCKED!! I just switched back to the stock sprocket and and its back to like 150ish a tank. With the +1 front and when I was doing distant commuting, I was getting in the high 170's before needing gas :thumbup:

I did buy my bike for commuting, I dont even have a car so I have to respect the bike, I cant ride it as hard as I would like because I want this bike to last as long as possible.

 

[porky45]

-1/+2 set up is awesome man. You will need this one.

SH V4 Yamaha I - SH-Y01

 

[kevcoop]

I installed -1/+2 Driven sprocket that I picked up from OFD Racing.com . And all I can say is WOW!!
The performance level is thru the roof.
When I traded my Kawasaki 650R in for the Yamaha the only thing I didn't like was the take off speed. But I was told that is do to the 2 cylinder "top end" versus the 4 cylinder "bottom end" when I bought it. I love the feel of the Yamaha over the Kawi, just missed the get up and go.
Until now.
I just fell in love with this bike all over again. The Fluid changing of the gears with the sprocket set up just makes you laugh while riding it.

I recommend this set up to anybody looking for something extra from their bike.
Thanks to all who posted this tid bit of info.

 

[porky45]

glad you like it man. it's fun to fly through the gears isn't it!?!.

 

[toddjcruz]

I did a +1/-3, 17 up front, 43 in back. The big issue was that although you 'may' show good mpg, it's not accurate mpg. Same with the speed. It's off by quite a bit. 7 mph on average. Using the 17 (+1) up front made it 100% on target. If you find you are getting less mpg with this change, you really are just getting 'correct' mph and thus logging less miles on the odo.

As for the -3 on the back, I did this because I do a lot of touring. Now I turn 4800 rpm at 60 mph, 5900 at 75. As the going speed limit is 70-75, and lets face it, we all do about 10 over that, extended times at 80-90 is not out of line on a regular ride. Now stock, with a properly calibrated speedometer, you would be turning 8500-9000 as you are buzzing down the back roads in that mph range. Not something I want to do for an hour.

When we are on the curves, most of them are 50-80 mph corners. All I require now is one or two extra downshifts to be in the same gear/rpm as I was before. The change in teeth will only sightly lengthen each gear and not a tragic amount to cause a significant performance change once you get in the upper gears.

Of course, if you are looking to pop wheelies and such, then yes, you would go the other direction. But for some reason, I cant see turning 9,000 rpm doing 70! (remember, your speedo is WAY off from the factory, although this may save you some tickets)!

Try this with your bike. Drive around town at 20-30 miles per hour, but keep the bike in 1st or 2nd, turing 8k the whole time. See how you feel about that. When I did that, it really made me think what I was putting my bike through on longer rides. You cant really hear the engine on the freeway, you can just see it on the tach and it doesnt really hit you that way. But do it at 20 where you can hear it and you get the picture of what an hour of that must be like.

Plus, stock top end is really only 110 (acurate speed) and once you get out of the city where nobody lives, ya need to open it up and do way more than that!

 

[porky45]

if i ever commuted I would definitely think about doing a +1 in the front, but since my rides to work are 8 miles on city streets... -1/+2 was the way to go...

While my riding skills are probably between beginner and intermediate I was starting to feel a bit of regret after about 6 months. I regretted not getting an r6, i felt i could handle more power. That's when I swapped and i've been happy ever since.

Next on the list will be an exhaust and Juicebox.

 

[toddjcruz]

I used to ride an FJ1100. Lots of power. But when I picked the FZ6R, it wasnt for power. If you want power, you go with the FZ6, becasue its almost 20 HP more that the FZ6R. I picked the FZ6R for specific reasons:

Full Fairing: Having just sold my V-Star 1100 Cruiser, with LOTS off custom chrome, I looked forward to just washing smooth plastic again. Cleaning a naked bike and all that just wasnt something I wanted to do.

Under bike Exhaust: Too many scars on my legs from buring them on exhausts and a hot passenger seat wasnt an option.

Upright: I wanted something I could ride for a long time and not end up with a hurtin back! That ruled out the R6 or anything else with clipons.

And most importantly, if you look at the dyno charts, the FZ6R is tuned VERY well at 5-7k rpm. No major drop (like the Fz6) or up/down throughout the band. This is a very good power delivery for a 600.

I rode my friends FJR and another ST1300. Both were beasts at 700lbs. Just took the fun out of riding it. They can keep up with me in the corners, sure, but moving around the garage, fliping it throug the parking lots and just having fun, they don't do that. Too much mass.

The problem with wanting more power, is you never get enough. Ever. Just seems to be the way it is. LOL.

 

[Spunky99]

you still have plenty of power with a +1 front, but I learned this.. Unless you plan on doing distance riding it will actually hurt you MPG.. My work moved to a new office right down the street from my house and all of a sudden my awesome MPG dropped to the low 30's/high 2-0's which SUCKED!! I just switched back to the stock sprocket and and its back to like 150ish a tank. With the +1 front and when I was doing distant commuting, I was getting in the high 170's before needing gas :thumbup:

I did buy my bike for commuting, I dont even have a car so I have to respect the bike, I cant ride it as hard as I would like because I want this bike to last as long as possible.

I came back and re-read your post after watching my mileage fall off. I do mid to high 40's on the freeway but about 36 + mpg on the street. Since my odometer is now correct, I would expect a 10% negative change in mileage. That's what I have on the street since the gear change. On the freeway, I gained a 15% to 18% advantage due to the reduced RPM.
Since your ODO is ticking faster than mine a 170 mile tank vs 150 mile tank is about right.
I hit it hard on the street and my office is 4.2 miles from home. The worst mileage with an all street riding tank with a +1 primary sprocket is 36.0 mpg.
If I nurse it on the freeway, I get almost 50 mpg. That is with a correct speedo and ODO.....you have a 8.5% to 10% off setup.

So that 170 mile tank is really still only 150 miles.....

 

[toddjcruz]

MPG is a funny thing with gearing changes. 1st, when you change, you are throwing off the number of miles that get registered, so thus showing more or showing less. That's the one main thing that will change your MPG reading when you do it.

The other is efficiency. Lower gearing 'usually' provides better MPG, but then each engine and bike have different efficiencies, some bikes are more efficient at 4k and others at 6k (examples) based on their setups and tuning. I havent had a chance to really see what my MPG is now. Going on a 800 mile run this weekend, so I'll get a good idea of what I get. As I'm turning 6k rather than 8k when I'm crusing, it will be interesting to see what I get, as the FZ6R is most efficient around 7500. Running lower RPM may not prove to better for MPG while crusing.

 

[Spunky99]

MPG is a funny thing with gearing changes. 1st, when you change, you are throwing off the number of miles that get registered, so thus showing more or showing less. That's the one main thing that will change your MPG reading when you do it.

The other is efficiency. Lower gearing 'usually' provides better MPG, but then each engine and bike have different efficiencies, some bikes are more efficient at 4k and others at 6k (examples) based on their setups and tuning. I havent had a chance to really see what my MPG is now. Going on a 800 mile run this weekend, so I'll get a good idea of what I get. As I'm turning 6k rather than 8k when I'm crusing, it will be interesting to see what I get, as the FZ6R is most efficient around 7500. Running lower RPM may not prove to better for MPG while crusing.

You will still have to calculate the ODO error when comparing the mileage or you won't get the real numbers.

 

[toddjcruz]

Just finished 800 miles over the past 3 days. With the new 17 front nd 43 rear, correctly adjusted speedo, I pulled 57-59 mpg vs the 45-47 I was getting before. Of course, I really wasnt getting 45-47 as the speedo back then was registering WAY high, thus inflating the MPG of the bike.

So, I went from getting 160 before the reserve kicked on to going 200-210 before it flashed! Filling at that point it would take 3.5 gallons.

I must admit, I am very surprised at the improvement. As i do lots of long distance touring, this 200 mile range is a plus, less planning and topping off!

Wonderful. As I look back now, my current 5th gear is the same as the old 6 was, so I've added another gear basically. I pulled 120 in 5th, 125 in 6th before I had to pull back. Spent most of the trip turing 4500-5500 rpm rather than the old 6500-7500.

 

[bubbadodge07]

where did your order your sprocket kit from?

 

[Marthy]

where did your order your sprocket kit from?

Driven has a front sprocket. Your steelership should be able to get the 43T rear sprocket also if I can remember well...

 

[UselessPickles]

the FZ6R is most efficient around 7500[rpm]

Where did you get this info from?

From what I understand, the way to get the more efficiency from a 4-cycle engine is to gear it (or make other tweaks) such that it requires more throttle to cruise at speed.

Larger throttle openings reduces the amount of energy consumed by the engine just to jeep itself spinning and sucking air through the throttle bodies. Some cars run the hot radiator fluid through a pipe right through the air box to increase efficiency. This warms the air in the intake, making it less dense, causing you to open the throttle more to get the same amount of air in the engine as you would get at a smaller throttle opening with ambient air temperature.

(side-note: full-throttle acceleration with early shifts - but not early enough to bog down the engine - should theoretically be the most efficient way to get up to speed, rather than gentle acceleration like a grandma)

Part of why the small 250cc bikes are so efficient is because you're running them at nearly full throttle just to cruise on the freeway. My wife used to routinely get 80mpg on her Honda Rebel 250.

Like everything else in life, there's certain bounds and limits, but taller gearing will generally give better gas mileage, because you'll have to open the throttle more to accelerate and maintain speed. Basically, if you want to maximize fuel mileage, then always be in the highest possible gear at any time (i.e., lowest possible RPMs) that does not overload the engine.

For example, on stock gearing, you can cruise at about 73mph in 4th gear at 7500rpm, or you can do the same speed in 6th gear at 6000rpm. I bet you'll find that you get better gas mileage in 6th gear.

I find that the FZ6R is perfectly happy cruising at 4000rpm, so I'm usually in 6th gear any time I'm cruising around 50mph or faster. Just don't try to accelerate hard at 50mph in 6th gear, or you'll feel and hear the engine complain!

 

[Chevyfazer]

Where did you get this info from?

From what I understand, the way to get the more efficiency from a 4-cycle engine is to gear it (or make other tweaks) such that it requires more throttle to cruise at speed.

Larger throttle openings reduces the amount of energy consumed by the engine just to jeep itself spinning and sucking air through the throttle bodies. Some cars run the hot radiator fluid through a pipe right through the air box to increase efficiency. This warms the air in the intake, making it less dense, causing you to open the throttle more to get the same amount of air in the engine as you would get at a smaller throttle opening with ambient air temperature.

(side-note: full-throttle acceleration with early shifts - but not early enough to bog down the engine - should theoretically be the most efficient way to get up to speed, rather than gentle acceleration like a grandma)

Part of why the small 250cc bikes are so efficient is because you're running them at nearly full throttle just to cruise on the freeway. My wife used to routinely get 80mpg on her Honda Rebel 250.

Like everything else in life, there's certain bounds and limits, but taller gearing will generally give better gas mileage, because you'll have to open the throttle more to accelerate and maintain speed. Basically, if you want to maximize fuel mileage, then always be in the highest possible gear at

I'm sorry but you couldn't be more wrong...

1st those hot water lines are for carb'd bikes to keep the carbs from icing in cooler weather, there isn't a engine on the planet that runs better with hot air

2nd the rebel got good mileage because it was a 250, try riding your bike WOT in 2nd for a tank of gas and see how far it gets you

3rd you are onto something about the shift points but going about it wrong, to maximize the mileage out of any vehicle you don't need to me WOT or even open the throttle more to accel, you need to keep the engine in the "sweet spot" so it works less, in other words use the same amount of throttle just let the motor work it's way up in the rpm band before you shift, at a little higher rpms the motor isn't working nearly as hard to accel as it would be in lower, as long as you maintain the same throttle opening, you open it more it squirts more gas, and works a little harder

 

[UselessPickles]

there isn't a engine on the planet that runs better with hot air

"better" is a very subjective term.

The particular example I've seen was a fuel injected car with the coolant line going through the air box. Removing that line would give you more power ("better" to many people), but cost you in fuel mileage.

All I said is that you would get better gas mileage with hot air ("better" to people that want economy more than power), because you would need to open the throttle more to get the enough air to make enough power to maintain speed. At that throttle opening with hotter air, there will be less power lost to pumping forces, and less fuel will be used. We're talking fuel injection, where amount of fuel is determined essentially based on how much air is entering the engine; not a carbed bike where amount of fuel is determined essentially by throttle opening.

try riding your bike WOT in 2nd for a tank of gas and see how far it gets you

Not at all a valid comparison. Top speed in 2nd isn't limited by drag. If you could change the gearing on the FZ6R so that top speed in 6th gear was limited by drag at 80mph (like the rebel), you would see some awesome gas mileage.

you need to keep the engine in the "sweet spot" so it works less, in other words use the same amount of throttle just let the motor work it's way up in the rpm band before you shift, at a little higher rpms the motor isn't working nearly as hard to accel as it would be in lower, as long as you maintain the same throttle opening, you open it more it squirts more gas, and works a little harder

Too many ambiguous/subjective terms in there for me to really try to argue against, but I will agree with you that the goal is for the engine to perform less work over a fixed distance.

The difference is that I actually described exactly how it's possible that this would happen at full throttle. At full throttle, pumping losses are at a minimum, so the engine is more efficient at converting fuel into torque.

There's a lot of different rates involved that make it difficult to clearly see whether it would be more efficient to shift early, or shift at optimum max acceleration points until you get up to speed. There's also the problem that engine efficiency is not the same at all RPMs (think peak efficiency is generally somewhere in the middle of the RPM range), so at some point, my generalization of "lower RPMs and larger throttle opening for most efficiency" will be incorrect, because it would actually be more efficient overall to be in a lower gear to put the engine back at a more efficient RPM. The problem is that it's not intuitive when you should change gears to maximize usage of the engine's characteristics.


I'll end this all with a more explicit disclaimer than I had in my first post: I was discussing a generalization that is only true within certain limits. I know enough about how engines work to know that efficiency changes throughout the RPM range, you need to avoid lugging the engine, etc. My generalization will fail at some point. I admit that I do not understand engines well enough to tell you where those limits are. I was really just bringing up points about why a statement like "the FZ6R is most efficient at 7500rpm" does not actually mean that you'll get better MPG by riding at 7500rpm in a low gear compared to shifting up a couple gears and cruising at a lower rpm. To a certain limit, lower RPMs will give you better MPG, so don't go cruising around town in 1st gear at 7500rpm thinking that you're saving gas.

 

[Marthy]

Technical Info

 

[Chevyfazer]

You have the right idea but still trying to get there the wrong way, read what marthy just posted, very informative