07/09/2017 10:51am
The first thing to realise here is that there's no gearing set up that works for everyone. It depends on the track, the bike, the conditions and the rider at the very least. Works Grand Prix riders have more variables to play with so they can get things a lot better and can even change the gearbox ratio’s to try and get things close to perfect all the way around the circuit. However, since most of us are not Grand Prix riders we are going to have to reach the best compromise that we can.
So what are we looking for? Well on any race track there will be corners that are more critical to a good lap time than others. Usually, these are the corners that lead onto the main straights because if you loose speed here you will loose it all the way down the straight as well. So try and set up your gearing to give you maximum drive off these corners. In an ideal world you also want to be just about revving to the maximum RPM in top gear at the end of the straight just before you have to brake for the next bend, but remember when you are thinking about this that on some tracks it is sometimes better to use less gears to make the bike easier to ride.
By setting the gearing up like this, you will almost inevitably have other areas where the gearing isn’t quite right. Ultimately, you will need to compromise in some areas in order to get it just right in others. So look for the area’s that are the most important and work from there. It is no good gearing it just right for that bottom gear hairpin only to find you are losing 20 mph down the main straight!