Front one tooth down?

Has anyone just changed out the front sprocket for one less tooth? If so did it make a difference?
I want more low end but dont want to wast the money if this one mod is not worth it (it seems to be a cheap fix)

Stock is 13T. I believe a lot of people drop down to a 12T which was what I was going to do since I could use the stock chain. I still have the 12T in the package though and opted instead to stick with the 13T and get a bigger rear sprocket and 112 link chain. I did this primarily after reading mixed reports about some issues with a 12T. It appears from this board and others that I have read, that many go to a 12T with no problems, others posts I have seen have reported noise or other minor issues and at the extreme (and what scared me away) was swing arm damage due to the lower tolerance between chain an swing arm if the chain is not adjusted just right. I also decided to bite the bullet and get a longer chain to give me more adjustability if I wanted to go even bigger on the rear sprocket in the future. Do some searching on this site and others before you decide either way.

Oh and one tooth on the front is roughly equivalent to 3 teeth on the back.

The first thing I did was drop the front to a 12T. Nice improvement in bottom for $15. (You cab always switch it back easily enuf). My top end is still good for hiway. By trying, you get to experiment for cheap. If you like it, when your chain is worn, you can switch to a 13 x 46 or 47 to get roughly the same gearing ratio as a 12/43 setup. Then nice thing about using the 13T again, is you easily throw the 12T back on to get even more bottom end for trail stuff. 12/46 = 13/50. That's my plan. The stock gearing is waaay too high for singletrack. I wind up stuck revving 1st all the time or lugging 2nd and not being in the sweet spot of the powerband.
Just my thought. Good Luck.

Marioscario wrote:

The stock gearing is waaay too high for singletrack. I wind up stuck revving 1st all the time or lugging 2nd and not being in the sweet spot of the powerband.

Thats the real problem I found with the stock gearing. Not that 1st wasn't low enough, but 1st was too low and 2nd was too high. I changed to 13/48 but 2nd still seems to high with an MT43 rear tire. I still find my self way high in the revs in 1st or bogged down in 2nd.

A shitload of people have changed gearing because those people think stock gearing sucks.

Those people are correct. Stock gearing sucks. (personal opinion)

The cost of a front sprocket is about as cheap as a mod can get other than simply removing airbox door.

If you're sweating that cost, I'd hate to be your stomach when you start agonizing over exhaust pipes, EFI programmers, tires, suspension upgrades..................

Yeah, I never regretted putting the 12 on mine. Had no damage anywhere, and it made bush riding a lot more fun. Of course, so is modding the rest of the bike.

I don't trust the 12 in front, mine came with one "previous owner" and I will be going to a 13/45 combo soon.

Why don't you trust it on there? Has it done something unusual??

thanks.. sounds good! someone told me I may need to have a master link on hand when I change it out im not sure why?

SheWolf wrote:

Why don't you trust it on there? Has it done something unusual??

It is very noisy and I am just leary of it is all, seems you need to be even more attentive to the chain slack.