Any reduction in front teeth or addition of rear teeth is going to hurt your top end, period. Reducing the number of front sprocket teeth puts a much larger load on the remaining teeth and cause everything to wear out quicker. More teeth on the rear sprocket gives you the same gearing change yet actually reduces load and wear.

 

Well I'm only doing 1/4 like once a month so I want a lil more pickup but not sacrificing longevity of parts... That 1/2 ounce difference in weight isn't really that big of a deal to me lol