BALANCE & BOOST
Seems the FORUM is mod Happy??? NOT AT ALL! The newest bikes offered by the manufactures have 4-2-1 with titanium or aluminum or stainless cans/canisters/muffler! Somewhere there must be some happy steel producing people that make pipes cheaper than the newer light-weight pipes. Weigh someone elses, or better yet one of the guys on the web can probably tell you to the closest pound what diffference is. Wheels and tires also have some differences...major in some cases...not just in wieght but in Moment of inertia as in gyroscopic effect/like a spinning top. IF you decide that you want to sacrifice top-end (say 140 on a 500R/with mods) then you can also change the gear ratio with either end of the sprockets. Adding more POWER/\ losing top end speed. I personally prefer to change the rear sprocket because I never need (read want) to have that much top-end. BEWARE though that even if you change tires you only have so much rubber on the road...and it should be as good as all teh money that your bike and your body./life is worth. Tires are probably second only to brakes of being the most important items on your BIKE...leaving out your personal safety gear as being more important than the bike itself. For Quick changes in gearing, with out having to change the chain for each sprocket change you can change out the front (countershaft) sprocket. Sure it is faster and easier, cheaper and you don't need a second chain, but it causes the chain to make a tighter circle because it is smaller. First, second, third and maybe fourth gears the front end is VERY light, with first gear wanting to pull wheelies (a bad thing if you only have two wheels), so it makes things very interesting and powerful. Did I mention that because you change hte gearing that you also lose gas mileage? hey, win something...lose something...it's fun...and if you have a great physics(or even a great math) teacher it is ALL a blast to look at from that angle and learn from!