Gearing for DRZ400s

[flashman]

I bought a new 400 and now have 500 miles on it. The gearing is great fro the road and OK for fire roads but in any kind of tight stuff it seems way too tall. What I would like to do is just change the front sprocket when I intend to do some serious trail riding but change back to the original gearing for general riding.

Has anyone done this? How many teeth can I drop and still use the same chain? How much difference does it make?

[analog999]

I've read this article:
http://www.4strokes.com/tech/suzuki/drz400su.asp

which talks about dropping the gearing:


"The DRZ400S comes with a 15 tooth sprocket in the front, and a 44 tooth in the rear. The DRZ400E comes with a 14 in the front, 47 in the rear. The front sprocket on the S has a rubber bushing around it, this is to keep noise down, and does not reduce vibration to the transmission. Feel free to put on different front sprockets, you do not need the rubber bushing. I spend most of my time off road so I use the 14/47 combo. I can still do 70mph on the road no problem. This cheap mod will make a big difference."


Can anyone tell us exactly what we should expect out of the low end on the bike once we make this change?

[analog999]

I went out and spent $17 on a new front sprocket with 14 teeth today and installed it - so I am running the stock 44 teeth on the back and 14 on the front. I would have to say that it was a move worth making, especially for it being so cheap. You don't need to go out and buy a new chain or anything, if your bike is new anyway. The bike is much more responsive and doesn't feel like it will stall in low gears. I was still able to get it up over 70 mph, and there was throttle left to spare. This is how I would have imagined the bike would feel if I had never ridden a stock drz400s.

Anyway, hope this helps you...

Btw, you'll need to get yourself a 30mm socket if you plan to make this change.

[Dewlap]

I run the 14/47 combo and find it to be the best of both worlds. The bike has a ton of low end torque and enough top end to still cruise around 70 mph.

[analog999]

When I put knobbies on, I figured for $15 (Primary Drive), I'd try 14/48. Even better than 14/44. I paid $32 for both sprockets. Major improvement at minor cost. At about 1/3 throttle, I still go 65 in the top gear.

[stickman0629]

Good info here. I have a 2004 DRZ400 and feel its an absolutely wonderful machine for the southern Cali Desert. The front sprocket sounds like an economical swap that I intend to do this weekend to help me smoke up the sand hills. Whoever at Suzuki put thoes terrible "dual sport" tires on this machine should be hung by his/ her thumbs for eternity. New Maxxix knobbies and she goes down all the trails like a champ.