Yea, I forgot to mention that I have been riding without my windscreen, or my rad shrouds. But I can honestly say that it will pull 115 indicated, no problems with a 17th. Probably alittle more with a 16. The KLR is still capable of doing a AA enduro trail with a 17 tooth sprocket. But you run the high chances of smoking a clutch. Hey, you can't have everything.
So if you leave your gearing stock and ride easier, I'll bet your fuel consumption goes down too. if you ride easier when you have a 17t, there's no way for you to tell if it is the gearing that gives you the good mileage, or your riding style. I say the riding style has more to do with it. And if you are accelerating slowly, then you are spending less time at the highest cruising speed where drag is greatest. Change gearing and ride normally, no change in mileage. If you only ride easy when you are geared tall, I suppose you could say it is the gear, but really it isn't. I read the stories about the mileage competitions, too. High compression, tiny valves, way tall gearing, dustbin fairings, and speeds around 30-35mph. That's how you get 180-200mpg. (But not out of a KLR). ;-{>
I've just finished a couple tanks with the 16 & milage is up SLIGHTLY (to 51mpg). But I can get near 60 with the stock gearing if I keep it below 4000 RPM. Anyway, I kinda like it at hiway speeds - it is smoother, it's OK on 2 track too, & I also did OK on easy single track. Here's the nut of the deal - it's $22 from Fred - give it a try. And try a 13 for the dirt - that'll make you crack up out loud - you'll have friggin' splash marks on the inside of your visor from foaming at the mouth.
Like I said, I have tried riding easy with the stock gearing more than anything else. The best I got was 61mpg, which was great, but my speed was limited to 55mph to get this. When I switched to the 17, and tried riding under the same situations, I got 62mpg on the low end, and 68mpg running a steady 70mph on the highway. Throttle control is more tricky than you think. With the 17th front sprocket, you can actually get worse gas mileage. This all depends on how much throttle you are giving it. Because say you give the bike half throttle, now with taller gearing, it takes longer for the rpm's to catch up to the throttle opening, where shorter gearing it catches up sooner, so you waste less gas with the shorter gearing. However if you only open the throttle to the exact rpm(slow to accelerate) you are gaining mileage. Because at the same throttle opening, you are moving faster with the taller gearing than the shorter gearing. Now of course wind resistance comes into play here. If your wind resistance causes you to have to open the throttle more, then you loose mileage. So remember that taller gearing is harder to pull. To run taller gearing efficiently, you have to have your bike running strong, and not too much wind resistance. I have went to the extent to put gauges on my throttle to record throttle opening to the amount of rpm's. So I know when and what gearing is getting the worse gas mileage. It all factors on how far the throttle is open. YOu want the least throttle opening at the highest speed possible. There is your mpg in a nutshell. I do mostly city and offroad riding though, so the stock gearing only looses 1mpg for me. However, my bike consumes about 1 quart of oil every tank. So running a 17th front has been a huge benefit on oil consumption, even more than mpg.
wow ! a quart of oil every tank of fuel ! I just rode 4400 miles in 2 weeks with a max recorded speed of 88 mph and an average speed for the trip of 68.7 mph and used less than a quart of oil, I'd consider putting some new rings in at the least. back on topic, there are many things effecting fuel consumption, quality of fuel, ethanol, winds and load. i was going to use a 16t counter sprocket on my trip back east, but due to the load i was hauling, it would have actually destroyed my fuel mileage. I saw my mileage vary from 35mpg in the high head and cross winds of nebraska and iowa, to as high as 49.5 fully loaded while in utah. the saying " your mileage may vary" is just that. riding style , like the last poster said is your greatest issue, ride conservatively and your mileage goes up, twist that right grip hard and push 80 all day and you might as well drive the car. I've riddenin such high head and side winds that just to maintain the flow of traffic, i had the throttle pinned, only to come up on a big rig and as soon as i got in the dead air, had to chop the throttle because my speed shot up by 20mph. there are so many factors it's hard to say what really works, all i can say is from practical experiece. if you travel and carry all your gear, stay with the stock gearing, taller gearing just meanms your going to have to twist the throttle more to just maintain if you run into wind and weather, hills etc.
oh it's you caveman ! sorry, the pain meds make me loopy, the way you ride yours like a mx bike explains that, i'm in the weekend joy rider catagory compared to you, i sure could have used some of your skills in moab !
I switched to the 16 a few weeks ago and found it an excellent improvement for street use. More relaxed on the highway, I carried more speed, and the lower gears were more useful in traffic. You have to feather the clutch a little more but you get used to it quickly. Personally I'm amazed that anyone could ride a KLR on the dirt trails around here with a 15 tooth sprocket: it seems much too high to thread your way through the hills, curves, and loose soil mixed with rocks. The switch is really easy, let the rear wheel go all the way forward and you don't even have to remove the chain from the rear sprocket.
Yep. That's why I am crushed that Kawasaki didn't bite the bullet and do a six speed on the new model. The KLR has always been one of the narrowest ranges from first to fifth of any of the dual sports, and the ratios are unchanged on the new models. They could have spread them out and kept the five speed, but that would have hurt them in the magazine drag strip testing. The wouldn't risk that, and they wouldn't spend the money for a new crankcase. You know what, Kawasaki? You've been selling the same model with nothing but paint changes for almost 20 years. All the tooling was paid for a decade ago. You could have afforded to do the transmission. If Honda and Suzuki come out with a killer adventure tourer in the next year or two and blow you out of the market it will serve you right.
Just got back last week from a run down to San Diego and back with a 16T. Made the highway (and especially freeway portions) much more relaxed and pleasant. Crusuing on the 5, 405 and the 10 at 75 was no big deal. Downside was the need to feather the clutch often at low speed and the anemic performance getting started from a dead stop (doubly so uphill). Also was a tad annoying in the twisties (1, 101 and the like). Tough to find the sweet spot without constantly changing gears. Seemed to always be lugging the beast or winding it up tighter than I wanted to. I'll probably be doing a run down to CO in the next few weeks. Going back to the 15T for that one.
just changed back to a 15t tonight. 16t was way too mushy on any hills or tight spots especially 2up which i ride alot.
My opinions haven't changed. I currently run 16/45, slightly taller than stock, but it allows an easy swap to 14/45, very nice off pavement. I would not go any taller. I would prefer 16/46, which is almost the same as stock, but still allows an easy switch down to a 14t, for even lower gearing.
I have put in the hot cams and the 685 kit, after my top end exploded on the highway due to massive oil consumption and a neglectful rider (did't check the oil nearly enough). Checkout the damage at www.thelatestkrays.com With the 15t sprocket i maxed out at about 140 km/h (maxed torque). With the 16t sprocket I am reaching 160 without really pushing it. Not that I normally ride that fast but 4th is now a useful gear for hills and passing on the highway and 5th gear gives me the extra jump I really wanted from the engine upgrade on the highway. On a stock bike I wouldn't have used the 16t as I felt it too underpowered on the highway already. just my two cents.
I run a 16T for around town, highway and logging road exploring. Works fine. If I was going to do a lot of more challenging dirt riding I'd gear back down, but for my needs the 16T is great.