best size sprockets for trails

[dirtbike&quad]

any suggestions? anyone know how many links a 300ex uses?
Mike

[Caseys 300ex]

I use a 14 front and 36 rear. It gives good top end but doesnt take out to much bottom. I think the 300 takes 86 links.

[Y2daT420]

I would gear acording to you own riding habbits and how technical your trails are my 250 is geared real low wich means extremly aggerisive bottom end but not much top end..the 300 has the 14 39 setup and will blow my 250 off the road but when im on the trails i can power spin around all the sharp corners and let the other guy eat my dust for a change......you can get front sprokets for about $10.00 ea you could get all three sizes and see wich one u like the best 12t 13t 14t the rear sprokets cost alot more and make more subtile changes in your final drive..

[JohnT_98300EX]

When I got my 300 it had 14 - 38 gearing. Ran OK I actually thought it was a little weak in the top half of top gear.
When I replaced the chain and sprockets I went to stock 13 - 38 gearing and it pulled better in 5th. After adding the pipe and 128 main jet it pulled real crisp to the top of 5th gear.
I am going to try the 14 - 38 gearing again, the extra power from the pipe and jetting should make it pull better on top. My other thought is to split the difference and go 13 - 37
Casey, is your ride stock? I'm not sure mine has the steam to pull that high a gear. Actually I think mine would fall flat on it's @$$ trying to pull that much gear.

[bwamos]

Originally posted by Caseys 300ex
I use a 14 front and 36 rear. It gives good top end but doesnt take out to much bottom. I think the 300 takes 86 links.

That's way too tall if you're running stock diameter tires (22").

Gearing all depends on your tires and personal preference.

For trail riding/xc, I like:
22" tires 12 x 36
20" tires 13 x 36

(both slightly lower than stock gearing would be w/ 22" tires)

Long open straights w/ 20's. 14 x 36. (on my 330).

I like a 13/38 setup (stock gearing) w/ 20" tires on the MX track.

I'm setup for XC so I don't own 18's. ;)

[maddmatt02]

I screwed myself when I cut my chain, fits on 13/38 until you put the bike on the ground then its too tight, so I got only 2 options, 12/38 or 13/36.

I got 18's though so if I go 12/38 Ill probably top out at like 35 in 5th! lol.

do you think 13/36 with 18s is still gonna me to low? I do do open riding so eventually ill probably go to 14/36 and get a new chain, but for now dont want to.

but for the poster Ill go check whats on the 330 and let you know, its setup for flat track so its kinda low, but I know the change we make for the dunes, either way though its a P&P'd, piped, high cr 330 with a cam.... so you probably wont pull the same gearing as well...

[bwamos]

Stock gearing 13/38 on 22" hits the rev limit at ~55mph

Using some simple math:
12/38 on 18" will hit the rev limit at ~42mph
13/36 on 18" will hit the rev limit at ~48mph

w/ 18" tires you should really be running 14/35 gearing putting the rev limit at about 53mph.

Assuming stock rev limit and nominal tire sizes.

[maddmatt02]

well, if i were to go out and buy a stock 300ex right now id probably drop it to 12/38 right away. so 13/36 on 18's might be somewhere similar to 12/38 on 22's. Ill do the math later about that cuz I dont really want to now... anyways the 330's running 14/26 I found, and this is good with about any tire and any terrain because of what it is, im sure it could be changed either way a bit for different tire/terrain but feels good anywhere, but obviously i like em geared on the low side.

[Y2daT420]

DO U you still have the extra likks u cut out of your chain ?
If so oyu can press apin through the link adding more links on ,then hammer the pin aginst a peice of metal ,and it will mushroom the ends of the pin thus securing the links together..................hope this helps

[maddmatt02]

no, I had the quad on a stand up in washington when I started the project, cut the chain, moved down to AZ and lost a whole bunch of parts... I had so many little bags of new nuts and bolts and clips straight from honda I cant find....

[ridered92]

hey i was wondering what size sprokets i would need to run to get the most out of my 300ex. i ride some logging road tight trails and pits some times and alot of mud i have mud shark rear tires i think there 22's its all stock sorry for jacking your thread

[67mopar]

i have 14/38 gearing with 22 inch tires and my 300 seems to be slower, anybody have any ideas why or am i just crazy?

[maddmatt02]

because stock is 13/38 and stock tires are 20's I believe, so you gave yourself a theoretically higher top speed, but say you hit 40 before, you were at a certain RPM, now at 40, you still have the same amount of pressure in the form of air to push through at 40 as you used to, but your RPM's are alot lower at this point, so before say you were at 5-6k and had the power to continue to accelerate, nto your at 3-4 lets ust say and now you dont have the power to break through that wall of air any faster.

[ridered92]

any one have an anwser to my question

[ridered92]

any one have an anwser to my question

[maddmatt02]

if it were me and I had stepped up to 22's Id definately go to 12/38 for tight woods, maybe even 12/41 depending on how heavy those rear tires are and just how tight the trails are.

[bwamos]

Stock Tires are 22"

13:38 works fine for most 22" tires. If they are Holeshot HD's or Razr2's they are closer to actually being 23"+ so you would want a smaller sprocket.

12:38 would be fine also. It would be geared significantly lower than stock, so it would be good for tight woods riding. You're gonn aloose about 5mph or so off the top.

I ran 12:36 a tad lower than stock gearing and more room between the skid plate and the rear sprocket. Allows room to get debris through.

[ridered92]

im not sure how heavy they are but i was clocked at 53mph im not sure of the gearing i have to replace the chain and sprokets before riding season so i will have to check when i do that and my a new post. i not sure i was at the rev limiter. i also have another question if i buy a aftermarket rev box and i got to go any faster?

[bwamos]

It all depends. If you're able to pull to the rev limiter now, yes it will help you increase your top speed. But if you're not, then you probably aren't going to see much of a benefit.

That being said, I have seen very few 300ex's that couldn't pull to the super low rev limit of the stock limiter.

Max speed on stock tires is ~55mph. That's on 2-ply radials that expand under speed. So you are probably hitting the rev limit w/ your heavier 22's.

If you're running stock pipe I'd just leave it there as the diameter of the stock header will not allow you much more rpm's than that w/o a serious drop in HP anyway.

[ridered92]

ok thanks

[maddmatt02]

oh, ok, I knew the 400 was 20's and the 250 was 22's, I thought the 3 was still 20's.

guess that means my 18s really dropped my overall. (no stock tires ever so I didnt know they were 22's)