Thanks for your elaboration on both sprockets. Personally, I'm happy with the original ratios because, as you've mentioned, they allow to climb very steep hills while engine breaking helps to save the brakes and to limit speed on steep descents. I can live with slightly higher revs and vibrations on the road. The tracks you've shown in the first half of this video look very rough btw 😬
I have been riding with a friend on a CB500x with a 16/41 sprocket and I have the stock 15/41. He says he really likes it for the shifting in town. This is what I notice (as expected). When I follow him away from an intersection, corner, or light, we actually shift at the same time thru 1 - 3. But because I am behind him by about 4m, I am therefore shifting a bit sooner. After 3rd gear we are not that close together so difficult to tell. I am actually going on a 4000 km adventure route, albeit not that technical. I just put a TKC 70Rocks tire on the rear so which is not that aggressive. Because of that I put a 40T rear sprocket on just to test until I go back to a more aggressive tire. That changes the gear ratio slightly. I have not assessed things accurately yet, but so far it seems the rpm’s just dropped by 100 - 150 at 100 kph and the speedo is about as accurate (+/- 1 kph) with my gps as with the 15/41. Will report more later once I redo tires and sprockets. I had no idea I was going to try the 40T rear until I was changing the tire so did not think to document the rpm/speed before hand.
@@dougiverson4297 That's interesting. When I just got my bike on stock tires, the difference between the speedo and gps was 6-7 km/h at around 120 km/h on the speedo. Since I've changed to 150/70 rear tires (I've already had 4 different tires in this size) the difference is now just around 1-2 km/h at the same speed. I've noticed that with the stock sprocket size the perfect cruising speed for me is around 115 km/h which I can maintain all day long, even with the short windscreen. But from experience I know that riding 130-140 km/h during several hours is also perfectly doable (although less comfortable) on this bike.
I have not seen a 38 rear. There is a 36 and 39 available for some of the pre 2019 bikes. There is a 40 for the 2019, 2020, and 2021 (perhaps others as well). If you found one, maybe list the contact info here
Hey Doug, I subscribed in the hopes I get to see more off road from you. It seems you take your cb on some serious off road. In regard to the topic of this clip, I have a stock 2022 model, I just rev it higher and it behaves nicely. It's a honda, after all, it's made to rev a bit higher.
Thanks for tuning in. I got my bike to be an adventure bike and go a few more places than my large Ducati 1200. If you want to see me banging around on the 500X, just click on my name and then click the "videos" tab, which should list them. I am just figuring out the video editing thing but here are a few you may enjoy from the list: Lost Knife Steep Sections Lyndon Creek Road DHI CB500X KTM790 Lost Knife Lost Knife Switchbacks (short) Lavina Attempt Sept 2021 Margaret Lake videos Also search, Jenny Morgan Rubicon trail Love to hear how you make out with yours. Mine has the Level 2 Rally Raid conversion
Thanks for the question. I relooked at the title slide and had double clicked on the 2. I am trying to change it. I have a 2020 model. This one seems to have 15 or 16 available for the front and 41 or 40 available for the rear. Earlier models seemed to have 15 or 16 for the front and 41 or 39 for the rear.
Of course they got it right. The increase by one tooth is done by people who have made a mistake and read somewhere they will get significant better top end on the road. It's true you will be able to get a few mph more but not that big of a difference. So the sub 40,50 horsepower crowd just need to get a bigger bike or accept the design, 500cc is plenty for most things and it's not going to be a 6-10 hour a day coast to coast touring bike. Certainly sad time in motorcycling listening to adventure and dual sport riders discussing something that doesn't exist (currently) no such thing as a nimble 500+ pound off road motorcycle and no such thing as a single cylinder 300-500 w a 21in front wheel and decent suspension that has road manners and won't rattle your soul out if you try and ride highway speeds (80+) for hours or days at a time. No such thing.
My brother in law rides a bit differently than I do and he fitted his 500X with a 16 front. He says it is really enjoyable for in town riding and for on the highways. I am pretty convinced, if I went on a long trip that was non-technical in nature (first gear only for starting out and not in difficult terrain) then I would consider putting a 40 tooth (down 1 tooth) on the rear for the trip. I would only take about 40 minutes for me to make the swap. I have had the sprocket for almost two years and never even tried it. Previously, I completed 80,000 km on a Ducati 1200 Multistrada GT with 150 hp so I, for one, certainly understand the difference. For me, Honda got it absolutely correct, especially for the range of applications I have for this bike. I take it places many people would not and am cognizant of the fact there would be many bikes better suited for that. More on that later. Thanks for watching and responding.
for cruising around main roads, 16t is perfect, that's why i got the 16t, also is cushioned with rubber of course if you ride off road regularly, the 15t is better, maybe even a 14t would be nice for off road usage
@@Tonyx.yt. I concur, the 16T is probably ideal for some riding styles and / or routes. My adventure riding tends towards the dual sport side whereas many others tend toward the main route adventures. The 15T is also available in rubber cushioned from JT Sprockets. I did think about a 14T front but my riding capabilities are not good enough to warrant that, Also I have not seen one available. Has you considered doing the rear sprocket instead, or perhaps both (front up to 16 and rear down)?
You don’t really understand gearing at all. 15/41 is perfectly suited for a lot of applications. 16/41 serves a different purpose, as would 14/41. On paper a 6% change doesn’t seem like a lot but in real life at higher revs it feels significantly different. And it makes every gear taller not just 6th. Just as a 14 increases torque in every gear, not just 1st.
@@elwood62 And what is it you think I do not understand about the gearing? I made this video specific to a discussion on the cb500x.org forum. Many riders there opt for the 16/41. I suspect they are riding mainly asphalt, in which case the application works for them. What the discussion on the forum did not take into account was: where they were riding. My point was, the 16/41 may change the difficult areas one could ride, which I do ride. I would not ride the difficult areas with a taller gearing. A better rider could manage I am sure.
