Hi Guys,
Okay, you're gonna think I'm nuts... That's okay. No need to reply with, "You're nuts, forget it!!"
I am looking into the possibility of changing gearing on the st1300 so that ALL gears are taller. I've posted my logic for this before. Quite simply, this is a Honda motorcycle made in Japan by people with an insular type of thinking (I married a Japanese, I lived in Japan, I speak/read/write fluent Japanese, I understand their culture better than a whole lot of books on the subject). Honda makes their motorcycles with ridiculously short gearing, which is great for their main roads which go up to 80kph (this is a fast road) except for the toll highway system, which are not often travelled by motorcycles. For other international roads where 100-140kph is a desirable cruising speed, the gearing is way too short. Agree with this or disagree with this, it doesn't matter. Many (most?) cars are designed to run on the highway at 110kph near 3000rpm for ideal fuel economy and for not over-stressing the engines. Our motorcycle basically has a car engine! It should have been designed with gearing such that 100kph yields nearer to 3000rpm.
At any rate, presently I'm in discussions with a specialty machine shop that does work with automotive gearing. The EASIEST to access for changing gear ratio is the final drive. I bought a used final drive to work with for this purpose. But, the gear design/manufacture for a worm gear and ring gear (I think that's what they're called) is more challenging than simpler "cog" style gears.
I was looking in my Honda repair manual, but I cannot see how the front end of the shaft connects with the engine-unit's primary drive.
Questions: Does the front end of the shaft hook onto the output of the engine primary drive with a 1-to-1 ratio (ie: it just locks in and is co-axial with the final drive output shaft)...?
Or, does the front end of the shaft hook to the engine output shaft via a gear system...?
It seems as if I were to attempt to have custom made "cog style" gears for the primary drive, the engine/transmission cover would have to come off for access, meaning the custom alteration would prove more troublesome than changing the final drive gears only.
Again, I don't need nay-sayers telling me I'm nuts. I'm just looking for information.
And FYI... I altered my 2003 Shadow Slasher 750 (yes, a Shadow "Slasher") with first a different chain gearing, then I purchased a custom-gear ratio belt drive kit for the motorcycle. The change in gearing made ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the world. Changed the bike from high revs in 5th gear at 100kph (about 4500rpm if memory serves correctly) to comfortable revs (about 3250rpm) at the same speed. I had to sell the bike when I left Japan so I don't exactly remember the revs. But this vastly improved in-town driving (didn't need to change from 1st gear to 2nd before 10kph), and vastly improved highway driving as well.
The st1300 has the exact same "short gear" syndrome!! In town, for ideal rpm's I wanna change from 1st right in the middle of a turn from a stop-light or stop sign. And I'm busy changing gears - into 4th and 5th gear at 50 and 60kph. Absolutely ridiculous!!
This is my biggest complaint about this bike. It is a GREAT bike! No bike is perfect. But this one is close to it! (If it could shed 100 lbs that would be nice, too!)
Okay, you're gonna think I'm nuts... That's okay. No need to reply with, "You're nuts, forget it!!"
I am looking into the possibility of changing gearing on the st1300 so that ALL gears are taller. I've posted my logic for this before. Quite simply, this is a Honda motorcycle made in Japan by people with an insular type of thinking (I married a Japanese, I lived in Japan, I speak/read/write fluent Japanese, I understand their culture better than a whole lot of books on the subject). Honda makes their motorcycles with ridiculously short gearing, which is great for their main roads which go up to 80kph (this is a fast road) except for the toll highway system, which are not often travelled by motorcycles. For other international roads where 100-140kph is a desirable cruising speed, the gearing is way too short. Agree with this or disagree with this, it doesn't matter. Many (most?) cars are designed to run on the highway at 110kph near 3000rpm for ideal fuel economy and for not over-stressing the engines. Our motorcycle basically has a car engine! It should have been designed with gearing such that 100kph yields nearer to 3000rpm.
At any rate, presently I'm in discussions with a specialty machine shop that does work with automotive gearing. The EASIEST to access for changing gear ratio is the final drive. I bought a used final drive to work with for this purpose. But, the gear design/manufacture for a worm gear and ring gear (I think that's what they're called) is more challenging than simpler "cog" style gears.
I was looking in my Honda repair manual, but I cannot see how the front end of the shaft connects with the engine-unit's primary drive.
Questions: Does the front end of the shaft hook onto the output of the engine primary drive with a 1-to-1 ratio (ie: it just locks in and is co-axial with the final drive output shaft)...?
Or, does the front end of the shaft hook to the engine output shaft via a gear system...?
It seems as if I were to attempt to have custom made "cog style" gears for the primary drive, the engine/transmission cover would have to come off for access, meaning the custom alteration would prove more troublesome than changing the final drive gears only.
Again, I don't need nay-sayers telling me I'm nuts. I'm just looking for information.
And FYI... I altered my 2003 Shadow Slasher 750 (yes, a Shadow "Slasher") with first a different chain gearing, then I purchased a custom-gear ratio belt drive kit for the motorcycle. The change in gearing made ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the world. Changed the bike from high revs in 5th gear at 100kph (about 4500rpm if memory serves correctly) to comfortable revs (about 3250rpm) at the same speed. I had to sell the bike when I left Japan so I don't exactly remember the revs. But this vastly improved in-town driving (didn't need to change from 1st gear to 2nd before 10kph), and vastly improved highway driving as well.
The st1300 has the exact same "short gear" syndrome!! In town, for ideal rpm's I wanna change from 1st right in the middle of a turn from a stop-light or stop sign. And I'm busy changing gears - into 4th and 5th gear at 50 and 60kph. Absolutely ridiculous!!
This is my biggest complaint about this bike. It is a GREAT bike! No bike is perfect. But this one is close to it! (If it could shed 100 lbs that would be nice, too!)
