Hey again,
I replaced my front and rear sprockets and chain. Since I don't do any high speed freeway riding, I decided to go from 41 to 44 tooth sprocket on the rear. I haven't put many miles on it yet but I am very pleased with the results.
Later
Rick

hey, that is good to hear you are pleased with the mod.

I have that on my list as the next mod, I am just waiting to have a bit more mileage from the current chain/sprockets first. (11k miles on them now, and still look brand new.)

You are right, current cruising on the hwy is at a lazy 4.5-5k... it is better to use some of that extra rear wheel torque at the bottom.

I performed the standard one-down, two-up mod, with Vortex lightweight "501 conversion" sprockets and swear by it. In addition to trimming "non-reciprocating mass" from the drive train and thereby making it slightly more effective, the one-down, two-up mod with "501 conversion" chain (DID, Regina, EK) cheats top-speed power a bit (which only the truly insane would ever use) to add extra umph where it is truly used, from 1 mph to "watch out for the police." :)

cheers,
--HotStreetVTR

what's the 501 conversion?

I use 44 teeth on the rear at smaller technical tracks like pocono east where you dont have alot of big straights. It works great to bump the midrange up

where's the cheapest place to get the conversion, i saw this set on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-VTR1000-SUPERHAWK-520-CONVERSION-CHAIN-SPROCKET_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35600QQitemZ45 75763528QQrdZ1
is this a good price for the set? TIA...

what's the 501 conversion?

It's a Freudian slip for "520 conversion kit." (I guess that all those years of my wearing Levis 501 blue jeans almost exclusively have left a "brain stain".) :oops: In short, in case you're still wondering what the "520 conversion kit" does, let me add that 530 = a standard-width chain; 520 equals a narrower, somewhat lighter chain. The 520 conversion kit with Vortex lightweight 43-tooth aluminum sprocket can come into play on track days, as the lighter chain and sprocket shave-off about 1/3 pound of "non-reciprocating mass" (dead weight in the drive train). Most folks, however, would not really need the few thousandths of a second that one might save on a lap by using the lighter-weight sprocket and chain. Racers, however, can get all erect over such things. I, however, have chosen a more frugal route as I note below:

Let me close by adding that I switched back to steel sprockets and a 530 standard-width chain--an EK gold X-ring chain--, but I stayed with the one-down/two-up, front/rear sprocket-tooth arrangement. I switched back to steel sprockets and a 530 chain because I ride SuperChicken III nearly every day and easily put ten times more miles on my motorcycle in a year than I do on my car (a '96 Mustang Cobra). Thus, I found myself throwing way too much money at chains and sprockets during the course of a year. (VTR's do eat chains and sprockets; that's where all the fun comes out.) :)

cheers,
--HotStreetVTR