What are sprockets and what do they do?

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there are two of them........the chain goes around them... FRONT off the engine and the back thats on the back wheel......

And u ride a bike??? YIKES! LOL

 

You've got a small sprocket on front that comes off the tranny and a large sprocket on the back rim. The chain wraps the two to transfer the movement from the tranny to the wheel. Think of it like the driveshaft of a car. Some bikes are even shaft driven, just not the sport bikes from what I know. You can gain advantages through different spectrums of riding based on whether you want more snap out of the hole or a better top end (I believe) but I am not 100% sure and am not 100% sure what dropping a tooth in the front or rear or adding anywhere would do. I've been told but I haven't retained. Maybe someone will be nice enough to fill us both in on that aspect of sprockets.

-Berg

(If I got anything wrong, let me know)

 

Sorry guys, I guess I posed the question wrong. What I was actually interested in was what BBLineBacker81 mentioned about adjusting the sprockets and what that does to the bike. What is the whole +1 or -1 I hear people talking about when they mention their sprocket set-up?

NB - I actually haven't even "ridden" my bike yet, I'm pickin' it up Monday

 

The first number is change in teeth of front sprocket (often called counter sprocket) and second number is change in teeth of rear sprocket. The change is over what the bike is geared at stock.

So if it comes from the factory 16/43 then -1/+1 would be 15/44.

Here's the deal:

subract teeth from the front or add teeth to the back to increase rate of acceleration (lower top end)
add teeth to the front or subtract teeth from the back to increase top end speed (lower acceleration rate)

There is a point at which you will not accelerate any faster (just wheelie or flip) and a point at which your top end will decrease even with gearing changes due to lack of horsepower.

If you're very new to biking and your first ride is a 600RR then buddy you got plenty of giddy-up. I suggest you learn the basics before trying to increase acceleration rate. Saw your post about blipping the throttle also --- dude, slow down. Blipping is what squids do to make you think they know how to ride. After you get a couple thousand miles on a bike you'll know where to maintain throttle to make smooth up and down shifts.

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah I don't plan on adjusting my sprockets or anything else, I just wanna learn as much about my bike as I can and know what people are talking about. My set-up is gonna be pretty stock for quite a while. As for blipping, that's what a lot of riders and magazines suggest learning to learn to help with braking and taking stress off the engine. The last thing I wanna do is mess up my engine because of improper riding techniques.