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I guess it wouldn't hurt to go to a 22 or 21. According to my 77 fsm the fx went as low as a 3.73 and the fl's 3.90. Just gotta watch the highway speeds....
I believe they did that so the extra revolutions would throw the parts forward allowing the rider could see them come off
FXD Super Glide and Softails only 1995 and up. Wouldn't work for me. My Baker 23T sprocket should be here by Weds the 21st. Probably get to it next weekend.
Got the 23 tooth sprocket installed today and took it for a short test ride: Like it! Acceleration in the lower gears is much better from low RPM's and cruising at 65 did not notice much difference except for feeling smoother. Going on a longer ride tomorrow where I'll take notice of RPM's at highway speeds. Overall I'd say it was worth the effort and small dollar investment.
Yesterday I took the bike out for a nice long ride to get a real feel for the new sprocket. First 25 miles were on the expressway and at 70 MPH I was reading aprox 2800 rpm on the tach. Bike felt great and was quite smooth. Any faster than that, like cruising at 80 it did feel a tad busy but not un-ridable, just busy but still quite smooth. Now mind you, this is an un-faired bike, i do have a wind shield for it and a quick release Memphis Shades " bullet " fairing but neither were on for this ride and at 80 mph the wind buffeting was enough to make me want to slow down. I'd say 90 % of my riding is between 45 and 60 mph and this is where the sprocket made a big difference. Acceleration, roll on passing and general fun riding were greatly improved without sacrificing anything. 4th gear is good from 35 to 60 cruise, and 5th from 45 to 70 no problem. For those that do lots of freeway riding where the traffic, speed limits and bike configuration ( full fairings) and like cruising at 80+mph I wouldn't recommend this mod, but for back road riders like me it's definitely a worth while investment. The last road trip I took was last year to Detroit from south Jersey, I only took freeways and the NE extension of the PA turnpike for less than 100 miles before jumping on state and county roads for the rest of the trip. I would feel comfortable doing it again with this gearing. During the group ride yesterday of course every once in a while we'd get it on pulling out of a corner and the old 80 inch evo would flat out walk away from a 105 inch twin cam Dyna ( stock.) Never had a chance to seek a top speed reading but will when the road and conditions permit. I have a feeling it may be faster than before only because it will pull higher rpm in 5th gear. I will put my bullet fairing back on for that.
The only issue I ran into during install was shimming the M6 primary chain tensioner, glad I had a stack of shims as it took almost .5 of an inch of shims to tension the chain correctly, other than that whole job took 2.5 hours, mostly because I'm OCD about cleaning parts and torquing everything to the FSM spec. Before I'd invest in a bigger motor, I'd take a serious look at a 6 speed overdrive Baker trans with the close ratio 1 through 5 and OD 6th. It would give me the gearing I have now with an overdrive top. 90 HP is more than enough with the right gearing.
I was just looking at Bakers website and it seems they don't make anything for my bike. I know Revtech does but I am not a fan of their quality. Emailed baker to see if they're any possible swaps I could make.
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