Hi all,
I've had my 2013 WR250R for over a year now. When I got it, it had SM wheels on it which I swapped back out for the stock dirt wheels. I ride a fair amount of single track, but also some highway / forest roads to get there.
I knew the bike was re-geared, but hadn't paid much attention to it until on a recent trip with a bunch of other riders when I noticed how far off my speedometer and odometer are. Like easily 10 - 20 MPH at higher speeds. Fortunately it's a 6 speed so I can still hit highway speeds...but I have no idea how fast I am actually going because my speedometer says 80 when I'm going more like 60.
I digress...
So I got home and checked my gearing. Turns out I'm running 14 - 50, which is great for trails, but maybe not so much highway?
My question is this...
Is there a modest gear change that I could do WITHOUT requiring a new chain? I don't mind buying a new sprocket, but don't really want to buy a new chain. My initial thought would be 14/48. Perhaps I could accomplish this by just removing 1 link from the chain (per this calculator) - http://sprocketcalculator.com/
So to simplify the question, thoughts on going to 14/48 vs my current 14/50 and using the same chain? Gaining 4% speed and losing 4% torque of the 8 that I initially gained over stock with the current setup.
Bottom line, I don't mind the torque that has been gained, but I'm not sure it's worth the loss in highway speed. On a side bar, it's annoying to me that the speedometer can't be reset to match the new gearing.