Gears, Km/h And Rmps

This might interest you

 

Hi Andreas, re the Gearing chart it's dead easy really. What it allows you to do is enter your bike's std gearing (so you can do that yourself) and then alter the front and rear sprockets to see the effect on revs.

Just to give you a specific example : my 2010 T100 had an 18 tooth front sprocket and a 43 tooth rear. It had a wide spread of usable power.
I decided I wanted to reduce the revs at cruising speeds 60-70 mph - so I installed a 19 tooth front sprocket (cost about £12 and installed in 30 mins by me). The effects of this change were : reduction in revs of about 350rpm at cruising speed, lengthening of the gear spacing, tiny reduction of initial acceleration off the line, no effect on fuel consumption. A cheap and successful mod. Alternatively if you want more acceleration and are prepared to accept lower top speed then change the std. 18 tooth front sprocket for a 17 tooth jobby. These are cheap mods so if you like playing about with your bikes buy a 17t & a 19t to try the effects for yourself.

 

I assume the top scale is in KPH and not MPH?
A few of us are in the US and UK.
If that’s so then you may be change gears too often.
100 KPH is only 60 MPH
80 KPH is about 50 MPH
50 KPH is about 30 MPH.
You should go on the sound of the engine, that will tell you more than anything when to change gear unless the bike is struggling to maintain speed in that gear of course

 

Andreas

I also have the 2017 T100 and as long as the engine feels like it is running happily then I'm in the right gear. Once you get used to it, and the 4k rpm max for the initial running-in is good for that, you get to know the sound and feel of the engine at various speeds. Don't get fixated by charts and what gear you "should" be in as it is affected by wind, gradient and other factors too much. If the engine is struggling a bit then change down, keep half an eye on the tacho and change up when the revs are somewhere around the max for your initial few miles. Simple. Once you get a few more miles on the engine it will feel a bit smoother, especially after the initial service, and you'll find that changing up between 4 and 5k rpm is smooth as silk.

Enjoy getting used to your new bike, which is an excellent choice by the way.

 

Sorry officer it sounded like I was only doing 30 mph!

 

Wally
You know what I mean or do you really need to check your speedo when you change gear.
Can just imagine you pogoing along when you are out and about

 

Andreas all you can go by is experiance.
Go ride the bike To me first gear is just for getting the bike going or extremely slow stop start type riding,
Second slow riding in heavy traffic and filtering.
Third and four general riding at normal riding speeds around town style of riding.
Fourth and fifth time to have fun out on the roads
I assume you don’t have a sixth on that bike , if you do that’s for mile munching.
It will depend on where you are riding and the style of riding as to what gear you need to be in as my tongue in cheek summation above shows.
Don’t worry about it, listen to the engine and if it’s laboured change down, chugging along fine do you need to change gear at all?
So as Sir Trev said don’t get fixated with charts etc just ride. The bike will let you know if you are doing it wrong by giving you feedback either by struggling to run smoothly, lack of acceralation, lack of staying power etc.

 

Hi Andreas, one thing i suggest you keep in mind is that during the break-in period it's important that you work the engine. I'm not talking about flogging it, but do use your throttle to make it work.

 

Hi, I was looking around the forum for anyone having the dilemmas I am facing, I have purchased a very tidy 2008 T100 as I have always fancied a Bonneville.

I never thought about the gearbox until I went to collect it, it is 5 speed model ( I have seen some 6 speeds since purchasing)

I am searching for another gear very often, being an older guy, I don't like to hear the engine revving and it runs at about 4000 revs at 70mph, not massive but.....

I wondered if a sixth gear could be fitted as I really like to bike and don't want to trade it.

On reading your article, I will have to check the sprocket gearing and purchase some different ones to experiment, so thanks for the insight.

 

@Andreas_CH: You can find it in the list: 069 Triumph Bonneville T100 17-20