{"id":30673,"date":"2021-08-25T22:17:47","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T22:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motoamerica.com\/?page_id=30673"},"modified":"2021-12-06T19:23:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T19:23:39","slug":"gearing-for-success","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.motoamerica.com\/gearing-for-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Gearing For Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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MotoAmerica 101<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Gearing for Success<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In motorcycle road racing, the sport can be broken down into three variations of the same word: gear, gears, and gearing:<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

  • Gear: the helmet, leathers, gloves, and boots that a road racer wears<\/li>
  • Gears: the cogs contained inside a motorcycle transmission that road racers constantly shift back and forth during a race<\/li>
  • Gearing: various configurations of the front and rear sprockets on a motorcycle<\/li><\/ul>

    \u00a0<\/p>

    When road racing teams talk about changing the \u201cgearing\u201d on a motorcycle, they\u2019re actually referring to changing the Final Drive Ratio<\/em>.<\/p>

    \"\"
    Road America, WI. Photo by Brian J. Nelson<\/figcaption><\/figure>

    Final Drive Ratio is the relationship, or ratio, between the number of teeth on the front sprocket (the one on the engine) and the number of teeth on the rear sprocket (the one on the rear wheel).\u00a0 Final Drive Ratio is also the ratio of how many times the front sprocket turns when the rear sprocket turns once.<\/p>

    Changing the number of teeth on the front and\/or rear sprockets alters a motorcycle\u2019s performance characteristics, and those characteristics are a compromise between quick acceleration and top speed.\u00a0 Like a lot of aspects of motorcycle setup, the key is to find the best compromise for each track.<\/p>

    All of the tracks on the MotoAmerica schedule present unique challenges that can be addressed somewhat by changing the gearing on the motorcycle.\u00a0 For example, Road America is a road course with very long straights, and top speed is very important.\u00a0 At that track, the race teams run taller (or longer) gearing than they do at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, a track known for its tight turns and dramatic changes in elevation, which requires gearing that provides quick acceleration out of those turns.<\/p>

    The teams keep notes on the gearing they\u2019ve used in the past at each track, so they generally know going into a race weekend what gearing is right for the track, and they don\u2019t really change the gearing much during each race weekend.<\/p>

    However, if the chosen gearing presents a challenge in one or more of the corners–such as leaving the rider too far out of the bike\u2019s powerband as they exit a corner, and downshifting to a lower gear in the transmission puts the engine too high in the rev range–then a gearing change may be in order.<\/p>

    Lowering, or shortening, the Final Drive Ratio is what most riders and teams will do to improve acceleration for each given gear, and to do that, they\u00a0increase\u00a0the difference in tooth count between the front and rear sprocket.<\/p>

    \"\"