Just got my 15 tooth front sprocket in today. I plan on installing it this weekend. I already loosened the rear axle nut. I had to use a breaker bar and some pb blaster. Any suggestions for making sure the chain is adjusted properly?How exact do the indicators on the sides need to be? What should I expect from -1 setup on the 954? How off will the speedo be? I know they make a speedo healer but I don't know if it's worth it. Anyway, thanks.

 

the chain should have 1.75- 2.0 in. of play in it (you measure it from the bottom of the chain in the middle of it. the big thing about the chain wear indicators is that you need to make sure they read the same thing on each side. that means the axle is straight. if they're not reading the same thing, the axle is not straight and you're out of alignment (if you think in car terms). as far as what to expect, don't expect too much in performance difference, there will be a lil more pep, but not too much. your speedo is inaccurate as it is. it'll be a lil more so now that you have one less sprocket in the front, but probably somewhere in the region of like another 5%. so you're looking at 10% too fast overall.


speedo healer is not worth it. it doesnt make it accurate. your bike will still be off even with a speedo healer, so you need to just re program your mind to read speed signs and your speedometer. for example, when you go through a 50mph speed sign, your speedo should read 55 and so on and so on. remember that the faster you go, the more inaccurate your speedo will become.

have fun, enjoy

 

Make sure you loosen the nut on the sprocket first. Mine was installed too tight from the previous owner and hard to loosen. With the bike in gear and my wife sitting on the bike holding the rear brake it still took a long breaker bar and lots of strength to remove it. It would be much easier if you have an impact wrench.

The adjusters need to be as close as you can get them on each side to make sure the wheel tracks straight. Just adjust the chain until you get the 1.6-2.0in of required slack. I use a micrometer to measure on each side from a fixed point to the pointer on the adjuster to make sure I have them very close on each side.

You will feel an improvement by going down 1 tooth but not too much. It will cause your speedo to be off about 12.5% when combined the error from the factory. I purchased a 12oclocklabs H1 Speedodrd just last week. It allows you any correction you need to make the speedo perfect. Its very small and very easy to install. Without a speedohealer your mileage will add up faster; for example when you ride 90 miles it will show about 100 on the speedo. Expect your gas mileage to drop anywhere from 3-5mpg depending on how hard you ride due to the increased rpm's.

 

Check out the 12oclocklabs H1 Speedodrd. I have one and after using both the distance traveled calculation and the GPS on both my Garmin and Droid phone to confirm my speed its dead on now. You can do the math to determine exactly what percentage correction you need for your bike and program it. Each bike may be a little different due to the slight difference in the tires on your bike. After riding almost 100 miles on sunday both my phone and speedo showed the same distance.

YouTube - SpeedoDRD v3M Setup Demo

 

Cool little device thanks for the help. Luckily I was able to break loose the nut on the sprocket before hand as well. (had the old lady on the rear brake) that nut wasn't as bad as the rear axle nut. That one was rediculous. basically the chain is loose the sprocket nut is loose and the axle is loose. Should just need to swap sprockets and tighten everything up. Although nothing ever goes that well for some reason. Lol.

 

Oh it's also worth mentioning that in the one side of the axle bolt, the is like a pointer on the top to align with the notches on the swingarm. I didn't see that Indicator on the other side. The swingarm notches are there, but nothing on the bolt. Would counting the amount of turns on the adjuster screw be the most accurate way to get a well aligned wheel?

 

Sounds like you need to flip the "block" upside down. The notch is probably on the bottom side.

 

Ok so possibly when they put tires on last time they just put it on upside down, how nice of them. I'll check it out today. Thanks.

 

Good call man, it's upside down, just checked!

 

the speedo healer that bacdoc shows is more accurate, but your gps is not 100% accurate, neither is the phone. it's just not. its good enough, but its never going to be dead on. there's a lot of factors. wheel slip, tire hieght, tire pressure, etc. combine those factors with the fact that gps's are not allowed to be that accurate, neither are phones, there is no way to make sure your speed is 100% accurate. if you want to keep your miles down so you can sell your bike, then i would say that it couldn't hurt. i think that is probably the only real reason to do this mod.

imo, if you just re-train your mind, its a lot cheaper, and easier than the speedohealer.