Morning All, Just treated myself to a 959 Panigale and am looking to make a few upgrades/modifications. I am not overly impressed with the condition of the current chain and want to replace it with a "gold" variety. As I will be replacing the sprockets as a matter of course with the new chain, I was wondering if there are any benefits to be had by changing either of the sprocket sizes? I am not after any increased performance, more drivability.... there is a lot of talk elsewhere of either -1 on the front or +2 on the rear to lower the gearing... Any advice/personal experience would be welcomed. TIA
I bought a Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX last year for touring duties and after riding that for a while and jumping back onto my 899 it suddenly struck me that the Ducati felt a bit overgeared to me, you can’t get the clutch fully out until your doing about 13 / 14 mph in first gear, so I dropped the front sprocket one tooth down to a 14T. It does pick up off the throttle a bit quicker, but I put carbon wheels on at the same time so it might be their effect I’m feeling, I think as standard it’s geared for about 168 mph ? And I certainly don’t need that, best way to do it if your getting a complete new chainset would be to increase the back sprocket by two or even three teeth, imo this would be better than going one tooth down on the front as decreasing the front sprocket teeth will accelerate the wear on the front sprocket
Thanks for that Poucher... there are a couple of disadvantages that I am aware of in dropping a tooth on the front, the increased sprocket wear that you mention and also the decreased sprocket diameter can also lead to additional chain slider wear. I have gone for a new 108 link chain with +2 on the rear sprocket after reading 180+ posts about this subject ... lets see how it goes.....
I went with DID ERV3 gold chain and stock front sprocket/Supersprox 44T (+1). Seems a good combination
I tried a few options on mine. But settled for 520 conversion using DID ERV3 chain (highly recommended) standard size rear lightweight renthal sprocket and front renthal-1 tooth. I did try the minus one and a couple on the back but it seemed to have definitely lost some midrange grunt. Hope that helps
I’m about to change mine as the std shite chain is showing a bit of surface rust and at 4.5K miles on the clock, could do with changing. Going with the Tsubaki chain, front 15T Renthal and a 44 ZF 44T rear sprocket. Went for this one as I couldn’t find a 43T alloy sprocket in black. Will the std 106 link chain be long enough. Or would a 108 link jobby be too long?
If you're going to be changing sprockets around to get optimal gearing for your intended use it's worth considering a rear sprocket carrier. Not only easier to change once fitted it's a chunk of cash cheaper each time too. Quite a few manufacturers do these and they do seem to be interchangeable in so much as a sprocket from one will fit the carrier from another. I have a JT carrier on my Mutley and this time have a JT sprocket but only because that's what was available. Next time around it might be AFAM and a 530 > 525 conversion as in my case sprocket choice is quite limited in 530 whereas 525 gives plenty of options.
Thanks for the input .... to put a spanner in the works I have gone off at a complete tangent and converted to a SSSA off a 1299.... so thats a 525 rear sprocket/chain. After some initial searching it appears to be a lot easier to purchase a 525 15t to fit the 959 front than it is to find a 520 43t+ sprocket to fit the 1299 rear (the std 1299 being 39t) and although I appreciate that there are quite a few 1199/1299 520 conversions done, I am quite happy to have a 525 .... So, in summary, I have gone for a JT 525x15T front and a JT 525x43T rear riding on a JT sprocket adaptor..... part Nos JTF749, JTR761 and JTA770B respectively. I already have numerous DID 525 chains, so its just a case of finding one closest to the No. of links required which I believe to be between 104-106.... I'll find out soon enough... Pic of the SSSA first fit ....
Just fitted these. DID ZVMX chain, Afam front 15T and ZF T45 a long with a sprinkling of titanium nuts and bolts. Couldn’t wait to ditch that shitty, rusty std chain.
