gears

Tim Paul · Joined: 21 Jul 2001 Posts: 326

What is the biggest gear that someone would run on a clutch kart? If I was going to buy a set of gears and wanted to buy ALL of the ones I might need what would they be. Front and back.

Tim

Chad Stapleton · Joined: 19 Jul 2001 Posts: 4403

99 t on 219 chain in "Extreme" circumstances , but highly unlikely.
Very rarely more than 90 t With 219.

Chad Stapleton · Joined: 19 Jul 2001 Posts: 4403

sorry Tim,
I should have asked what type of racing / track you are looking at - Sprint, enduro, road race, dirt oval etc etc.
My comment were aimed at short Sprint track racing.
Fronts are 12 or 13 T 219

Tim Paul · Joined: 21 Jul 2001 Posts: 326

I wanted to get all the options.10/11/12/13
I will be doing sprint and road. with a 219, do you think a 219 is best?

thanks,

Tim

Chad Stapleton · Joined: 19 Jul 2001 Posts: 4403

Tim, there are arguments for 219 or #35 chain(and belts etc), but for me 219 is whats widely available here ( and to 80%+ of 2-stroke sprinters worlwide). But if your local shop / club / class mainly run #35, then go with that. This is not a life threatening decision !!

Have fun

Jean Stafford · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2001 3:42 pm Post subject: gears

Tim:

Save a bunch of money, and go check what other guys are running. In addition to duplicating the same ratio at least three times, 10-70, 11-77, 12-84, all 7:1, the only thing you'l gain is the difference between the driver size, that is the difference between 10 and 11, or .1 to .09, very close to the same.

Most karters I know are not capable of determining any significant difference, changing 1 tooth on the driven gear in a sprint race. I've noticed only a 200 RPM gain at my local track when going from an 11-90 to an 11-91, I still can lose all of the "gain" in one bad corner, and I get a lot of them. Enduro's are another story, although the differences are still very small. Calculate the ratio differences in all choices you suggest, and then decide if you really want to spend the money.

If your track is a little rough, or has some severe drop-offs, opt for the smaller driven gear and drive gear combination, that is 10-80 vs. 11-88, same ratio, more ground clearance, and chain ain't cheap.

David Mayhew · Joined: 31 Jul 2001 Posts: 209

I run on sprint tracks and the lowest gear I would use is a 75 and the largest being a 90. In the front I would get a 10 and 11 tooth. If you need a bigger gear than a 90 go to the 10 tooth driver and you should be fine. I wouldn't bother with the 12 or 13 front gears as I doubt you would ever use them. BTW one tooth does make a difference when you start racing at higher levels. all of this info is using the #219 chain. I have also used the #215 chain and it works good as well but I would go with the #219 as it is more easily available. Good luck.

David

Patricia Hechler · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2001 4:37 pm Post subject: gears

Gosh, I'm all set to take my lumps, but I simply have to disagree with that statement of "one (rear) tooth makes a difference. Say that you change from the "low" gear of 74 to the next higher of 75. This represents a 1.3 percent gear change. I've never seen much change, if any, in my accel. rates (yes, I check that)based on a gear change that insignificant. Hope I didn't offend anyone... I never meant to!