16t front with 416

[ChadEXer]

I am having my 416 10:8:1 piston and XR cam put on this week and I was wondering if it will pull good with a 16t up front. I have the stock on now but my friend is telling me to put a 16t on it. He has a 416 with a 16t and his bike smokes mine. I have 20in tires and the stock rear sprocket. I do a lot of drag racing. Would the 16t be best??

[Tommy 17]

yes def put on a 16t... i did on my 406 and i don't have to shift nearly as much... with a 15t i beat a stock 400ex from 4 to 6 bikes now i just run them away... i raced a 250f with a 16 and i beat it... it made the power much more managable to ride with 2...

[ChadEXer]

So you dont think i will lose too much bottom end drag racing?

Heheheh I love answering this kind of question...

- On a stock 400EX (and even on lightly to mildly modded 400's) a 16T front will cause you to lose power off the line, and lose a bit of pull throughout the gears, but you will gain a bit of top end speed (in each gear)...however, it prob wont be able to pull 5th gear to the top.

- On a heavily modded 400EX (similar to mine), with a 16T front, there is enough additional power such that it still pulls VERY HARD off the line (easily wheelies), pulls well thru every gear, and you also still get the additional top speed in each gear. And yes, due to the taller gearing, your shifts are more spread out, and thus dont keep smacking into the rev limiter. (I dont want to use a RevKit)

I love to drag. With my setup, in 1/8th mile sand/dirt drags I EASILY walk far away from modded: 430EX's, LT250R's, DS650's, and Raptors. On pavement, because I wheelie so bad from a dead start, I am only dead even with modded Lt250Rs and Raptors, but cannot quite keep up with DS650's. (If I could keep the damn front end down in 1st thru 3rd gears on pavement drags, I am SURE I would be ahead of all these guys.)

With the 16T, my top speed is exactly the same as a LT250R, and about the same as Raptors and DS650's....hence, I think around 73-75MPH.

Go with the 16T...if it seems like you lost power anywhere, keep the stock front and go with a -2 rear sproket instead. Good luck.