231-derful Posts

The puny-sized 42-tooth sprocket that comes stock on the WR-250XX.
Way too small for acceleration that I like.


Aaahh, that's more like it.
49 teeth.
Your dentist would be proud. :)

You are no doubt asking yourself, "Hey, John. Why does Yamaha Motor Co. stick a 42-tooth rear sprocket on it and gear it to the moon so much that acceleration suffers? They don't want to be known as "Your Slow Bike Company", do they?

Well, no they don't.
The reason this is often done with street bikes is because the EPA regulations the bikes must meet have gotten so ridiculous, gearing the bike overly tall helps it pass a drive-by sound test that the bike is subjected to during it's pre-production phase.

Say the bike has to drive past the sound equipment in 3rd gear at a steady 25 miles per hour.
If you gear the bike tall so that it's practically idling past, it will be quieter than if it were rippin' past doing a wheelie in the powerband (like it should be).
The catch is that the bike must be produced with this overly-tall gearing.
I don't like it.

I've mentioned this very thing (the drive-by sound test) on message boards several times.
Some people are sharp and understand.
Some are dimwits who can't wrap their heads around it.
One guy wrote in, saying that the guy riding the bike past the sound equipment should have just upshifted into a taller gear instead of having the bike geared tall with tiny rear sprockets.
Apparently, this dimwit failed to realize the difference between a bunch of hicks getting together on a Saturday afternoon in farmer Billy-Bobs's corn field and using a Radio Shack sound meter on each other's bikes and the guys from the EPA in the white lab coats conducting a scientific test on a potential product from a mega-billion-dollar corporation like Yamaha Motor Co., Japan, LTD.
I mean, I'm pretty sure that cheating by upshifting would not only not be allowed, but I think those guys conducting the test would certainly be the ones riding the bike in the first place.
Sheesh. :)

*******************************
231.
Yeah, it's been that many, already.
I started in May on a whim, and now look at where I am:
231 awesomely incredible posts that are definitely worth your time to read, over and over again.

-John