Originally Posted by ID_CBRRider

Just a thought on your gearing. I have a riding buddy that does the MoM series at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah so he is who I look to for advice on riding track. I am re gearing my bike this winter and asked him if I should go to a -1+2 setup. His response was why do I want to do that setup. I said that seems to be the consensus for the best performance. He said why not just go up 4 (four) teeth in the rear. Dropping a tooth in the front is like going up 2.68 (or some wierd number like that) teeth in the rear. So a -1+2 is basically like going up 4+ total teeth.

Now his reasoning for just going up 4 was what struck me as different. If you drop a tooth in the front then when your chain has to wrap around it the chain wil have to flex (twist, bend, use your word of choice) more because the sprocket is smaller. This could cut your chain life down quite a bit as the individual links will wear out sooner. Going up 4 in the rear will net you nearly the same results as a -1+2 setup but won't be nearly as hard on your chain. Which means you won't wear it out riding on the street and need a new one every 2 years or so.

But that's just my 2cents.

Originally Posted by brveagle

Just playing devils advocate here, but with +4 in the back, you have to run a longer "heavier" chain and you also have a larger rear sprocket. Both unsprung weight. Also if you go to a different track and need to change gearing, your chain is going to be way too long. Most track riders do the -1+2 because it allows them to use the same chain for a variety of combinations.