sprockets

[speedster200]

Is anyone making sprockets to regear the Spyder. I have had it to 112 m.p.h. with out a revlimiter kicking in.
There is more there. At that speed the Spyder is very stable .;D ;D

[AMTJIM]

Anxiously awaiting a smaller rear pulley and matching belt to knock about 1000 RPMs of the tach in 5th Gear. 5500~6000 at 75~80 MPH is too inefficient.

[Lamonster]

Anxiously awaiting a smaller rear pulley and matching belt to knock about 1000 RPMs of the tach in 5th Gear. 5500~6000 at 75~80 MPH is too inefficient.

That is on my to do list. I got a pretty trick way of doing it I think. :doorag:

[Magic Man]

That is on my to do list. I got a pretty trick way of doing it I think. :doorag:

I wonder what that would be? :D

[Tim Harman]

:popcorn:

[MrChet]

My concerns with a different sprocket are that it will change the speedometer reading and that the VSS will think something is messed up and kick in. I'm not sure where the speedometer gets it's reading from? I think it would be neat to change the tires sizes but that would mess it up too. Sooner or later someone will come up with a way to adjust or turn off VSS. It would be fun to put it in race mode and be able to do drifts through corners or dump the clutch and do donuts:thumbup:

[AMTJIM]

It's on the right side of the rear tire, a pulley change won't disturb it. A change in tire diameter up or down would no longer match the precalculated mph indication.

[AMTJIM]

That is on my to do list. I got a pretty trick way of doing it I think. :doorag:
Andddd????

[IdleUp]

I really don't see how you're going to re-gear the Spyder - to achieve better mileage you need to slow the engine down in fifth and you can't do that with a pulley change since 1st gear is almost at the point of being too high geared already.

BRP needs to spread out 4 & 5th gear and leave the bottom 3 alone or somehow put 6th overdrive back in the tranny.

[NancysToy]

I really don't see how you're going to re-gear the Spyder - to achieve better mileage you need to slow the engine down in fifth and you can't do that with a pulley change since 1st gear is almost at the point of being too high geared already.

BRP needs to spread out 4 & 5th gear and leave the bottom 3 alone or somehow put 6th overdrive back in the tranny.
If you put a smaller sprocket on the rear (or larger one on the engine) the rear wheel turns farther for every revolution of the engine, hence greater mph at a given rpm. At the same road speed, the rpm is lower. No different than changing the gear ratio at the transmission, or adding an extra gear. Physics and mathematics win every time. The only limitation is how far you can go with the space you have to work with for the gearing, and what parts are available. There are several ways to accomplish the same thing, but absolutely none readily available to us right now.
-Scotty

[IdleUp]

If you put a smaller sprocket on the rear (or larger one on the engine) the rear wheel turns farther for every revolution of the engine, hence greater mph at a given rpm. At the same road speed, the rpm is lower. No different than changing the gear ratio at the transmission, or adding an extra gear. Physics and mathematics win every time. The only limitation is how far you can go with the space you have to work with for the gearing, and what parts are available. There are several ways to accomplish the same thing, but absolutely none readily available to us right now.
-Scotty


The problem is 1st gear is already too high and all you do is make it higher at the sacrifice of the clutch

[AMTJIM]

I don't know...first is so low I can feather the clutch to a start without applying throttle.

[NancysToy]

I don't know...first is so low I can feather the clutch to a start without applying throttle.
Did exactly the same thing in second the other day...accidentally, of course I think that is a function of this baby idling like a Top Fuel car at 1,400 rpm. First is a bit high. At idle in first gear our Spyder runs at 8 mph! I think there is room for a bit of regearing, though. I doubt the clutch would suffer. I have run roadracers with very high gearing, and much less robust clutches, with clutch wear at acceptable levels.
-Scotty

[AMTJIM]

ARRGGG...spit and spat...enough of the 6k rpms...who's grinding out the billet spacely sprockets, cogswell cogs...what do I need to to get 3~5 teeth pulled off the rear pulley...I need Herbie the elf!

[IdleUp]

If you ride two-up and there is any grade at all, you have “baby” the clutch to get going. There’s also something happening with the computer - if you happen to take off and get the rpm’s a bit too low – it feels like the limiter try’s to shut the engine down. Is anyone else having the engine fall on its face during a low rpm take-off?

This is what I would guess happened – BRP sacrificed 1st gear for reverse, so they were left with 2nd through 6th. To help cure the problem of losing 6th gear (and fuel economy) they geared (pulleys) the ratio as high as possible.

The result is our new 1st gear is too high and 5th gear is too low. Short of redesigning the tranny we’re stuck where were at – poor off the line performance and moderate fuel economy.

This is exactly why changing the ratio of the pulleys is not going to work - all you'll do is make it worse. If you re-gear for more fuel economy 1st gear will be almost useless!

[NancysToy]

Haven't had this problem, since we never ride two-up now that wife has a Spyder and I have my bikes. Your explanation makes some sense. We would need to look at the individual gear ratios for the Spyder, and perhaps the Aprilia Mille, to verify it. Time for some additional research, I guess.
-Scotty

[retread]

From what I've seen, the internal ratios on the Spyder match the RSV and Tuono, sixth gear is gone to make room for reverse.

[AMTJIM]

This pulley probably wouldn't be for the 2up trailer pullers...but for 1 up, with all the sport bike regearing I have done...I just don't see a problem. Not sure what your talking about with the engine dying...1st seems like a granny gear to me.

[AMTJIM]

Is there a possibility of a front sprocket 1 or 2 teeth larger, the results are usually similar to 3 to 6 teeth on the rear.

[IdleUp]

Don't start crying when you smoke the clutch in 6 months - 1st gear is already too high!

[AMTJIM]

Why would I smoke the clutch on this and not on any of my other motorcycles(5 and 6 speed tranny) when I routinely did this simple mod?

[IdleUp]

Why would I smoke the clutch on this and not on any of my other motorcycles(5 and 6 speed tranny) when I routinely did this simple mod?


Since BRP sacrificed 1st gear for reverse the spyder is already too high geared in 1st gear, right now it's almost like taking off in second gear - if you do a sprocket change, you'll just make 1st gear higher, causing that much more use of the clutch.

If you're doing it for fuel economy - it's doubtful, if it will make much difference, the tranny needs a 6th gear to get the engine down around 2500 rpm at 55mph - right now the Spyder turns 4000 rpm at 55mph.

Aside from the gearing - the Rotax engine does not have a fuel efficient design. It's designed for performance at the disregard for fuel mileage. keep in mind when they designed this bike, fuel was under $2.00 a gallon so it wasn't of prime importance.

It's hard to believe the Goldwing has 4 extra pistons to drag around and more weight and still get 10-15 more mpg than the spyder.

[NancysToy]

Since BRP sacrificed 1st gear for reverse the spyder is already too high geared in 1st gear, right now it's almost like taking off in second gear - if you do a sprocket change, you'll just make 1st gear higher, causing that much more use of the clutch.
I'm not sure we can say this with any certainty. They did sacrifice one gear itself, but the ratios are unknown. Seems to be a deep, dark, secret. I sure can't find any reference to the actual, individual gear ratios anywhere. I think we would really need to see what the actual transmission ratios are, and calculate the final drive ratios, before we can make any assumptions or make any changes.
-Scotty

[retread]

Okay, somewhere else on this site, there is a comparison between the Spyder and the Aprilia bikes, BRP dropped 6th gear from the Aprilia case to be able to put in a reverse. The rest of the ratios match 1 thru 5 in the Aprilia bikes.
From what I understand, we can't go much bigger on the countershaft pulley (sprocket), there isn't any room inside the cover, so the logical option is going smaller on the wheel pulley, which means a shorter belt, or a really big tensioner.

[bjt]

Aside from the gearing - the Rotax engine does not have a fuel efficient design. It's designed for performance at the disregard for fuel mileage. keep in mind when they designed this bike, fuel was under $2.00 a gallon so it wasn't of prime importance.

I agree that fuel economy was not a concern of BRP in using this engine. I believe this Rotax engine was designed and in use closer to 15 years ago. At that time gasoline was a just over $1 per gallon. Average U.S. gasoline prices (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mg_tt_usM.htm)