1st question:
I have an 03 954 with about 19,000 miles on it. I have no idea when the chain and sprockets were last replaced. There is still room for adjustment on the chain so that does not need to be replaced yet based on chain stretch. But, I'm at a loss on determining if the sprocket is bad. To me...it does not look bad but I haven't had a chance to take it into the local shop and do a side by side comparison either. Can you give me your thoughts please?

When looking at the picture it may look like there is a groove where the chain sat but that is just discolored, it is NOT grooved out at all.

Thank you for any insight you can give.

2nd question:
Once my current set up is no longer any good I will be converting to a 520 chain along with going down one in the front and up two in the rear. This is what I did on my 98 900RR and I really liked it. Has anyone else done a similar change up on a 954? How did you like it?

 

Well that sprocket looks good, you can tell when its going bad by the "sharks fin" that it gets at the teeth from excessive wear. I have a buddy with a 929 that did the 1 down sprocket on the front and left the rear alone. I feel like that is a good enough mod for me without making too jumpy feeling like it always wants to wheelie. Google "worn rear sprocket" exactly and go to images, that will show you the "sharks fin" I am talking about.

 

-1/+2 is very popular. It adds more low end torque and takes a little from top end, but who ride at top end anyway. You speedo will be off, but a speedo healer will take care of that.

check this out: Gearing Commander: Motorcycle Speed, RPM, Chain & Sprockets Calculator You can see what the combos will do.

Are you stunting it? (your avatar shows you might be) Stunters use really big rear rear sprockets to get up easier.

 

I like to do wheelies and stoppies but I also like for my bike to look good. And at this point, I'm not good enough at stunting to live in the world of the "stunters" and keep my bike looking good, nor can I afford it. Once this chain and sprocket combo goes to crap I'll do the -1/+2 and go from there. On my 98RR that combo allowed me to be able to get tank wheelies off the ground in 1st gear. Although, I probably wont be doing those any time soon since I also crashed doing one in the past.

I was up in the air looking all cool (at least in my mind I looked cool) and I saw the brake lights on the bike in front of me come on. I let off the gas and the bike came down so fast I fell over the front. I thought everything was going to be fine as I hung there staring at my front wheel but then my windshied snapped, I twisted the throttle a whole bunch and it got the back end all out sideways and flung me off. Thank God, Shoei, Joe Rocket and Sidi for protecting me that day. I hit head first and then shoulder and chest on to some nasty pavement. Besides getting the wind knocked out of me I was absolutly fine. I was so happy that day I had spent the money on quality gear. bike was pretty good as well, frame sliders did their job. Any ways, moral of the story is that I really don't have the desire for tank wheelies any more...and wear quality gear.

thanks for the insight guys.