Ducati Monster Forum

Was putting on a sexy new gold DID525 today and noticed we had a a driven light weight 14 tooth front sprocket sitting all alone in the case...I put it on and I'm fairly certain I HATE it! I only have about 30 miles on her,  but 1st gear is twitchy feeling and revs out too fast for my taste, I hit the rev limiter in 2nd (ouch)...I know I have to adjust my riding style a bit, but there is a lightened flywheel in my future and am wondering if its just gunna compound the twitch!

Anyone else have experience or advice?

Cheers!

What rear sprocket are you running?

I knew I'd have to answer that...don't recall. Its the stock for now.

WHen I had my 900 I went up 3 in the back i think which was the equiv of 1 down in the front.
and yes, it was more difficult to control the throttle at first. wanted to lift the front more.
looking back... wish i would have stayed stock.

Yeah but you're living in a place where you can exploit the stock tall gearing  [evil]

Me? I very much preferred the lowered gearing that a 14t gives.  

no, i had the 900 when i lived in Texas

-1

I have the same bike
I changed to the 14 t recently
didn't feel dramatically different .
What I like is I don't have to ride the clutch so much with the 14
pretty much dump it and go where the 15  I had to ride it more
The clutch plates were worn out by 18,000 ks with the 15 
which seemed to soon thought i would get 30k +

same bike; did the mod recently. i love it. yes, you rev out faster - but the bike pulls like crazy. i use it primarily for commuting in a city environment, so the jumpiness is very good. no experience with a light flywheel, no idea what that would do in this setup.

I didn't really notice a lot of difference going to a 14T, and now that I have the DP ECU I almost want to swap back. If I was doing it again, I'd do the ECU and leave the 15T on there.

I have plans to have a custom exhaust built next week and add the TPO beast intake as well as Tuneboy software...I might be switching back to the 15 tooth....

i pussied out and went up 1 in the rear and stock in the front.

in hind sight, i think +2 in the rear is a good happy medium.

Different bike...

I don't like the 14t due to the extra chain noise.

+1 in the rear is good for me, but I didn't mind the stock gearing in the first place.

I did both.  14t in the front and 42t on the rear.  My 800 needed some help on takeoff and I have yet to see the need for the extra mph on the other end.

commuting?

i went to 14t on my S2R800. once my chain wears out, i'll be jumping back up to 15t in thefront, and jumping up 2 in the back for a compromise (like heman sez)

 The 14t was one of the first mods I did, due to the feedback/peer pressure here.  It seemed indispensable. 

I tried it and hated it.  The only plus was that I had some more roll-on power on the fwy.  But my bike's powerful enough (S4Rs) andd I could downshift if really necessary.

Negatives for me were buzzier, slightly less mpg, and I hated the revving and getting through the lower gears so much faster.  I undid the mod and was happy as a clam.  My bike already got up to speed fast enough...I don't need to shift more. 

Since I have an S4Rs the 14t may not be as needed, but the bottom line is I was fixing a "problem" that for me wasn't even a problem.  I had no problems pulling away from stops smoothly, and only at very very slow speeds in parking lots was it a bit of an annoyance.  But 99.5% of my riding ISN'T that.

In fact, when my chain/sprockets wear out, I'm going one tooth smaller on the rear to ever-so-slightly drop the revs a bit more. 

Joel

never felt the need to do it on mine although when I redo chains/sprockets I'll probably go up 2 in the rear... but maybe not

Although I'm just running an 800, I went to a 14 up front last winter and LOVE IT.  Yes, the rev limiter does approach a whole lot quicker, but the bike is just more FUN.   That's the only way I can describe it.  It pulls harder.  It's zippier, for lack of a better word.  I can see how it wouldn't be necessary with a more powerful bike, but for the 800 it was awesome. 

I have an S4rs and LOVE the 14T sprocket.  Zippier for sure!  3rd gear in the canyons and the thing is a beast!  I jumps out of corners.

Changed from the stock 15T to the 14T about three years ago....not crazy about it at speed, but bike is more rideable in slower, around-the-city traffic (which is why I did it).

FWIW - I only noticed about 500RPM difference (at the same speed) between the two sprockets...not a big diff imo.

BTW - BlackKat, have you checked the chain tension, that might be causing the extra noise and/or twitching in 1st?

Chain tension is spot on. The bike is at HMF (the guy who actually makes the FBF exhausts) having a lil custom piece made, but when it comes back, I'll see how the lightened flywheel will impact that 14 tooth as well. My master tech is a long time racer and he swears by 14 tooth fronts and lightened flywheels on his race bikes and his street bikes...so we'll see....full report next week.

Thanks for all the input boys!

The 14t front feels like a good improvement on the S*R for the moment. 

But I DO wish there were more sizes available for the rears.  Because I'd like to run a 43 or 44t rear, possibly with the stock 15t front (I know, I know there's a lot of conversation about front sprocket sizing and leverage).

In any case, I don't need top end but enjoy the lower and middle range and would like to gear accordingly.

Though on the M900, I did drop a tooth on the front and add two on the rear.  Maybe I answered my own question.

I've got a 44t Stealth right here in my hands.
It's not for sale, but there are 43t and 44t sprockets available.

What style are you looking for?

I was looking for a 44T for the carrier/sprocket setup. Those don,t seem to be nearly as prevalent.

Where did you get the 44T Stealth?  Most everyone I speak to doesn't carry anything over 43.

Thanks