Motoscrubs.com

Sorry to raise this spectre and I know it has been done to death in the past, but is there any census here on the best gearing for back lanes on a 250? I am running 16/47 on my Mototrans Strada, which I believe has higher primary gearing too. Has anyone run with much higher gearing than this and if so how well does the engine do on back lanes?

I should add that the Strada has a 1: 2.19 primary ratio, which gives primary + secondary ratio with 16/47 sprockets of 6.46, which is the equivalent of an Italian 250 running on 17/44, so maybe this is pretty high already.

I am amazed at how well this engine pulls at low revs, easily pulling top at 30 mph, so I'm thinking of trying an 18t gearbox sprocket combined with the 47t rear; has anyone else run a 250 on gearing this high? I'm assuming that the small valves and soft cam really help the tractability.

I've gone the whole hog and ordered an 18t gearbox sprocket......Watch this space!

I have Mach1 gearing on my 250, which is quite high. I very rarely use 5th and spend most time in third to keep the revs above 3k which I think is essential for long life of the big end. Too high gearing just spoils the performance.

I was advised by a Ducati Single builder of 30+ years experience that the reason Ducati singles suffered in the British marketplace was because British riders were used to low down grunt from British singles and treated Ducati singles likewise, resulting in big end problems. Keep the revs above 3k don't slog it.
Phil.