13/48 for offf-road?

So I have been reading through these threads and think I've narrowed it down.  I have a '13 wr250r with stock gearing. I ride 90% off-road and 10% in town (25mph speed limit). When riding slow off-road, 2nd gear lugs to the point of wanting to stall. 1st gear I'm constantly clutching and coasting. My question is: will a 13/48 be a better fit for me? I don't care about top speed, I want to be able to pick my way through the trees without the bike trying to run out from under me.

One of the threads mentioned just going with a 12t front sprocket.

Thanks, I saw that. It's a great chart. Wondering if anyone had similar problems and if they were happy with the results.

I don't know what you run for a rear tire, but with the uber tall MT43 on the back, I am running 14/50 for mixed riding and throw the 13T on the front for the real nasty hilly stuff.

14/50 gives you almost the exact same gearing as a 12/43 combo.

13/50 is nearly identical to 12/46.

The inflated circumference of the MT-43 is 84.57" stock is about 80.3, so if you are running stock size-ish tires the same gearing as mine would feel lower to you.

Check out the gearing commander site and play "what if".

Yes, 13/48 is what the bike probably would have come with if it were not for the noise regulations the bike has to first meet before production begins.
It will be much better suited for off-road.

The bike only has 315 miles on it, so I was going to order a 12t front sprocket. But I will order the 13/48 kit and save the stock parts if I end up doing more highway driving. Thanks for the input.

TKO wrote:

I don't know what you run for a rear tire, but with the uber tall MT43 on the back, I am running 14/50 for mixed riding and throw the 13T on the front for the real nasty hilly stuff.

14/50 gives you almost the exact same gearing as a 12/43 combo.

13/50 is nearly identical to 12/46.

The inflated circumference of the MT-43 is 84.57" stock is about 80.3, so if you are running stock size-ish tires the same gearing as mine would feel lower to you.

Check out the gearing commander site and play "what if".

+1 on the gearing commander site.

Two of us ran 13/47 on my bucket list trip to CO last year. Altitude really eats up what little power the WR has. 12-13k feet. Some passes were 1st gear, keep it spinning. I had a 49 tooth along for mine and should have made the switch. It might have had a chance at making some stuff in 2nd. I now have it on even for sea level as most of the time the bike is only to be ridden in the dirt, such as your situation. We were also running stock size, 120/80 MT21 tires.

Got my new TAG 13/48 sprockets installed today. Took a quick ride, definitely an improvement. Haven't been off road yet, but I'm happy so far.

orionswarrior wrote:

Got my new TAG 13/48 sprockets installed today. Took a quick ride, definitely an improvement. Haven't been off road yet, but I'm happy so far.

cool thing about that set up,it would be easy to slip on a 14t front sprocket for extended highway driving..

I run 13t X 52t gearing, use my bike mostly as a "dirt bike with a plate". Love having that tractor gear for those time when I either get in over my head, or have a severe hill climb with no room to take a run at it, or when on nasty hard ultra gnarly terrain. I ride in the mountain rainforest of Chilliwack, B.C. There are no "green rated" trails. Only thing green rated are the forest service roads which take you to the trails. The trails themselves are either hard, or so very hard that they test the limits of your skill and daring. Many times I have thought that I would need to leave my bike and walk home, except even walking this stuff in moto boots is darned near impossible. This gearing makes the bike very noisy and revvy at 100kph/60mph (by gps, speedo says 135kph!) but this gearing, plus real knobby dirt tires totally transformed my bike. It will go anywhere a ktm or beta enduro will go. True maybe not as fast (300lbs after all) but I'm always in the hunt. That torque-less feeling has gone away, and that's with a bone stock motor and pipe. All my emissions gear is in place, my airbox is unmodified. I like having an exhaust that doesn't stink, I like having an exhaust that doesn't scare horses and dogs, nor annoys people. When I first trail rode my wrr with stock tires and gearing, I was utterly crestfallen. I was already composing my Craigslist ad for it. Now however, we get along really well. Yeah he's a bit too heavy... It's not a problem at the start of the ride, but after a few hours - or after a picking it up a few times, that 300lbs starts to get exhausting. Dollar for dollar though, and considering how little the bike asks for in terms of maintenance and repairs, it's a pretty darned cool bike. A KTM exc with my hours/mileage would now be due for a new piston, cam chain, valve adjustment, and possibly more. I have needed three oil changes and one air filter cleaning. Hopefully Yammy will make a new wrr based on current yzf architecture. Be nice to have this kind of low hassle riding, but save 30-40lbs. I really don't need more power, (but I sure wouldn't mind more...) but better balance and suspension and the aforementioned weight would be really nice. Think I'll go to sleep now, and dream of beautiful forests and riding through them :-)

Pooka ... Welcome to the site. Have any trail riding pictures? i'm thinking your encountering lots of logging hill side rabbit paths that the skidders use to get "to the logging road"... would be really interesting... i would only hope to ride that way "some day".

You mention the weight of the WRR and i agree with your logic. what i find funny is that many riders that would swap out a WRR for the orange cool aid are over weight themselves and would almost get to the KTM weight difference by getting in shape . There is never much talk about rider physical  condition on the forums... but maybe its easier to loose weight by buying another bike eh..

a "few" years back there was  trail bikes with  high and low range..Suzuki trail blazer made from 71'to 77' and honda CT 90 to name a couple ,, i cant imagine how cool that would be on a bike like the WRR to switch  a high and low range lever separate from the gear shift ...

~b~

Thank You for the kind welcome!
I have lurked for a couple years, big part of why I bought the wrr.
Sadly have no GoPro, only pics my wife took at the staging area.
However, all is not lost... A talented rider/racer named Reece Tasker has
posted many ride videos on YouTube. The area is called Tamihi Creek, but
it's surrounded by mountains. Check out his video called "Perish Hill". I think
this may be a Freudian slip, as it's really known as Parrish Hill. Perish is
probably a more accurate name. I like his video of a trail called "Dashboard"
too. Please bear in mind that he makes it look easy, and rides a new TE300
two stroke with Rekluse auto clutch. Previously he rode a KTM 500exc monster.
I think this is why his new Husky has orange bark busters. Both are crazy fast
bikes. Power is not the challenge here though, it's the slippery mud. And the
drop offs. The challenges tend to "stack", where you've got a severely steep
downhill with a creek crossing at the bottom, then a steep climb with no run-up,
and at the top you need to duck beneath a half fallen tree, then do a 90 degree
bend with a sheer cliff drop-off on one side. A lot for my slow little brain to put
together all at once. Hey, but once you get it mastered, what a feeling!!

BTW, was just thinking about that high/low gearing on the Honda CT90 & 110.
Wasn't aware Suzuki had done it also. Sure would be nice to have on the wrr.
Gearing is such a tough compromise. I chose to gear for the trails, but my bike
is barely ride-able on the highway. KTM dual sport is no different in that regard,
just easier to pick up when I fall over. Their gearing stock even worse at 14t X 45t
on the 350exc and 15t X 45t on the 500exc. Absolutely useless, not "ready to race"
at all. just like our wrr's, they are useless out of the box

I went the easy 12 tooth front route on mine initially to check out gear ratio. I'll be going back to a 13 tooth front when the chain/sprockets wear out. Here's my 500 mile gearing impressions. A 3.58 rear ratio is great with the stock tire diameter, or close to stock diameter that I'm running with the TR8 rear tire. I gained a little height with the TR8, and I'd like the gear just a tad lower. For offroad, I think 13/48 would be better than what I'm running now. the 12/43 combo is like running 13/46.5. It's a decent combo for road/street, so I'll probably run 13/47 when I switch chain and sprockets depending on how much dirt/street ratio I'm running. If I'm doing more dirt riding, I think 13/48 would be where I'd rather be. For a street bias, I'd probably run 13/46 with this tire combo.

The ratio would change with a Dunlop 606, as it's even larger than what I'm running now. For sure I'd at least run 13/48.

Running 13/47 with the D606 now and I'm fairly happy with it. Also run a 12/47 and ended up switching back.

I put a 51T rear on and it was too much for off road. I never even needed 1st gear. So I put a 14T up front so now it's 14/51T which would be the same as 13/48T (well 13/47.5T) Also on the 51T only just fits.

My recommend for would be 13/48 for more off road of 13/47 for off and on road. The stock 13/43T would be great if the bike was a 350cc but for my 220Lb of weight the little 250cc need the bigger ratio!

Ok, so after a couple months of riding with the 13/48 sprockets, here's what I think: I like it a lot. All my riding is off road so this combination works great for me. Most of my riding is in 2nd and 3rd gear, I never even use first anymore. Starting out in 2nd is easy and has plenty of rev left to climb anything I need it to.

orionswarrior wrote:

Ok, so after a couple months of riding with the 13/48 sprockets, here's what I think:  I like it a lot.  All my riding is off road so this combination works great for me.  Most of my riding is in 2nd and 3rd gear, I never even use first anymore.  Starting out in 2nd is easy and has plenty of rev left to climb anything I need it to.

+1. I've used 13/48 for 15k now, all offroad except for about 100km. I use an MT43 too, but run it pretty low. Good top gear speed, good low gear slowness - compromise for sure, but for me it's a good one.

I have run 12/48 for 5 years and today put a 50 on the back.
With the 48 I maxed out at 120 km/h.
I also have a 13 and 14 for the front so with the 14/50 it will be pretty close to a 12/43.

I am going to try the 50 as there are a few trails where I have to use the clutch more than I like to.

Thread Revival.

I have 2 sets of tires mounted on separate wheelsets.
1 set of stock wheels, 21/18's with Pirelli MT21 for Dirt, the other 21/18 set with Kenda 705 for street.
Going to leave the stock gearing for the Street Set up 13x43.

But wanted to get a 47 rear sprocket to put and leave on the dirt wheel/tire set up.
Would a 47 rear fit with the existing chain? I do not want to have to break a chain or go longer when I change over.

I am trying to make swapping back and forth between dirt/street as simple and fast as possible.

I know I can just buy the rear and see, but wanted to know if anyone had done similar.

Thanks in advance.

I'd go something like 14/46(same as stock) on street wheels, and 13/49 on the dirt. It doesnt take long to change the front sprocket, and you can make a bigger gap between the sprocket-combinations, to suit you even better

JAXBAX wrote:

Going to leave the stock gearing for the Street Set up 13x43.

But wanted to get a 47 rear sprocket to put and leave on the dirt wheel/tire set up.
Would a 47 rear fit with the existing chain? I do not want to have to break a chain or go longer when I change over.

Have you explored the impact on axle distance using the Gearing Commander website linked above? Switching from 13/43 to 13/47 with the same chain should move the rear axle forward about 0.68" (17.3mm). You'll have to compare that to where the rear axle is now to know if it will work.

orionswarrior wrote:

So I have been reading through these threads and think I've narrowed it down.  I have a '13 wr250r with stock gearing. I ride 90% off-road and 10% in town (25mph speed limit). When riding slow off-road, 2nd gear lugs to the point of wanting to stall. 1st gear I'm constantly clutching and coasting. My question is: will a 13/48 be a better fit for me? I don't care about top speed, I want to be able to pick my way through the trees without the bike trying to run out from under me.

One of the threads mentioned just going with a 12t front sprocket.

I run 14/51 which is very close to 13/48 and it's very good for mixed use.  Most of my riding is in the woods but I do ride ~1 hr each way to/from the woods and commute infrequently.  

I burned out my clutch on the stock gearing while feathering the clutch in moud:
https://wr250rforum.forumotion.com/t8594-clutch-woes

I consider 13/48 a good compromise if you do both.  I'd go higher if my bike never saw pavement.  

Though a 14t front sprocket works I'll be going back to 13/48 on my next chain/sprocket change as the chain does rub on the chain guard with a 14t sprocket.

I would avoid 12t or at least keep an eye on the swingarm guard--the guards are expensive and wear relatively quickly. I'm getting off topic but also adjust your chain on the loose side.

-morgan

wwguy wrote:

JAXBAX wrote:

Going to leave the stock gearing for the Street Set up 13x43.

But wanted to get a 47 rear sprocket to put and leave on the dirt wheel/tire set up.
Would a 47 rear fit with the existing chain? I do not want to have to break a chain or go longer when I change over.

Have you explored the impact on axle distance using the Gearing Commander website linked above?  Switching from 13/43 to 13/47 with the same chain should move the rear axle forward about 0.68" (17.3mm).  You'll have to compare that to where the rear axle is now to know if it will work.

Thanks WWguy. I had missed that on the calculator.

Hey JAXBAX, I'm in the same boat you are. WWGuy turned me onto this sticky when I started my process.https://wr250rforum.forumotion.com/t5-chains-and-sprockets

I ended up going 13/47 for street & casual gravel and 13/50 for rides I expect mud and or single track. I roll both with a 112 link chain.

Hope this helps a bit.