[oldphart]

Who's tried a 16 tooth up front?

For me, the gearing around town is a tad dodgy in left hand corners (right hand if you ride on the right hand side of the road) so maybe being able to use 1st rather than 2nd with slipping the clutch makes sense. The other advantage is a drop in revs at highway speeds. But does this make sense in the real world?

The downside would be a higher first gear off road.

Has anyone tried it? How did it go?

For reference, a local bloke is importing a collection and I can get one at a good price which is why I'm interested.

[Toni59]

Hello Oldparth,

I have read elsewhere about the effect of a gear wheel with 16 teeth that it reduces the revolutions by about 400 revolutions per minute (at the same speed)

Calculated:

As far as I know the standard gear has 15 teeth - so the Difference to a 16 teeth gear is 6,6% more speed at the same revolutions of the engine...



Regards

Toni

[oldphart]

Thanks for that, I hadn't done the maths myself.
It's not so much the numbers I'm interested in as the real world feel of the change. Does it now feel over geared?

[Toni59]

Well,
 I don‘t have any experience with it yet - since I haven‘t got my Himalayan yet...

Some riders report, that they are happy with the 16 teeth gear (mostly located in flatlands)

Some tell, that they could use the standard chain with 110 links, some had to use a chain with 112 links when changing to 16 teeth.

Since a 16 teeth gear wheel is not so expensive, i will probably also try it also - once I have finally got me RE. I love low revolutions...

Regards
Toni

[oldphart]

It's certainly worth a try.
I also hope to be doing some genuine off road work, not just dirt roads, and it's there it might all come adrift. Not hard to put the 15 back on though (I hope).

[Guldner]

So, Oldphart (Granpa Slow)..did you bite the Bullet and change the gearing? Where’s the report? Mine is sat in a box waiting for the exhaust and cam upgrade before fitting.

[oldphart]

Nope, I'm sticking with standard for the time being. I've also fitted a sidecar so increasing the gearing isn't high on my list of things to look at.

[Jerryman]

Hi, New boy on this site. Bought my 2019 Himi new. I fitted a 16t front sprocket when I changed the chain at around 8500 miles.  Chain had 2 extra links, but there's a lot of adjustment there. I live in Norfolk, UK which is flat. The higher gearing is fine on the roads, but it somehow doesn't feel quite right,  5th gear becomes almost overdrive. I think I'll go back to 15 at the next chain change.

[oldphart]

Hi, New boy on this site. Bought my 2019 Himi new. I fitted a 16t front sprocket when I changed the chain at around 8500 miles.  Chain had 2 extra links, but there's a lot of adjustment there. I live in Norfolk, UK which is flat. The higher gearing is fine on the roads, but it somehow doesn't feel quite right,  5th gear becomes almost overdrive. I think I'll go back to 15 at the next chain change.

I've got a mate who fitted a 16 for his runs up the freeway, but is taking it off because it ruined his off road work.
Yet other people love it.

[cupoftee]

Mine had a 16 tooth on it but soon swapped it back as it didn't feel right in the gear ratio. Much happier even with a rattly high lift cam fitted.

[Carl Fenn]

Well as with always changing sprockets is one mans gain one mans loss, in other words to gain something you lose something.

[Guldner]

Mine had a 16 tooth on it but soon swapped it back as it didn't feel right in the gear ratio. Much happier even with a rattly high lift cam fitted.

Cupoftee you mention a “rattle high lift cam”….Who’s cam have you fitted?
I have a “Tappety High Lift Cam” made by TEC….and I have a 16 tooth sprocket waiting to be fitted….the amount of times I try for 6th is virtually every ride..

Have fun

G😎

[Andy C]

I ride my Him solo and along a range of differing roads, but I dont do any off roading.

16t works fine for me, fitted and never looked back.

Clearly different people have different opinions.

[Crabsapper]

I fitted a 16T shortly after I fitted a TEC cam. I've since done around 6000 miles.

The bike felt more sprightly with the cam/15T, and with the cam/16T still pulls well, but can feel a bit overgeared up long hills and into headwinds. That said, on long motorway inclines into a headwind, I can get away with staying in 5th and pinning the throttle.

For longer journeys, the 16T makes sense on UK roads as you can hold 70mph in a more relaxed fashion. The trade-off is that you need to hold bigger throttle openings.

Overall, I'm not sure I'm liking the 16T, and might go back to 15T.
All of this us with the TEC cam plus Delkevic pipe.
With a stock engine there's no way I'd go to 16T!

[Andy C]

I find that quite suprising, my Him with standard cam hapilly pulls 16 teeth with no problems, in fact I much prefer the 16 tooth to the 15.

Different for different riders though I guess.