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How to Make a Bike Faster with Sprockets?
Sprockets are wheels containing teeth which meshes along with the cycle’s chains. Sprockets are mainly used in motor bikes, tracked automobiles, bicycles, road bikes, mountain bikes, commuter bikes and many more. A Sprockets allow many projections over which chain passes over and allows the vehicle to travel faster. Sprockets are made of cast iron materials. If you want speed up your bike, change your bicycle’s sprockets. Do you want to know how to make a bike faster with sprockets? Read our article to find out.
How to Make a Bike Faster with Sprockets?
Things You Will Need
- Engine sprocket/smaller rear sprocket
- Wheel sprocket/larger counter-shaft front sprocket
Know What a Drive Ratio Is
Many of you who eagerly want to make their bikes travel faster with sprockets might know what a drive ratio is, but if you are a beginner knowing a drive ratio is very important in determining at what speed your bicycle will be moving at. For starters, your engine sprocket is the smaller sprocket and your wheel sprocket is the larger one. You will see there are many teeth/claws or cogs (whichever you may call it) present in the sprockets. These teeth are the sharp projections which will make the chain spin. Usually, the engine sprocket is above the wheel sprocket. Hence, turning the engine sprocket will result into turning wheel sprockets.
For example, if your engine sprocket has 4 teeth and wheel sprocket has 8 the drive ratio will be counted by diving engine by wheel sprocket teeth number, i.e. 4/8= 0.5. If you change your wheel sprocket teeth number to 12, keeping the engine sprocket number same, then the drive ratio will be 4/12 = 0.33. Your overall drive ratio has thus decreased. Decrease in your drive ratio would mean a decrease in speed.
How Sprockets Affect Gearing and Control?
IF your drive radio is less this would mean your vehicle’s speed is low or decreased. Decreased speed would increase torque. Torque is the amount of force that would cause a bike to rotate. It takes care of and determines your counter-shaft ability. This would allow more grip control and better handling capability. A decreased speed and increased torque would also refer to another factor, which is acceleration. Acceleration would increase of your motor bike or bicycle, allowing you to travel to your destinations faster.
On the other hands, an increased drive ratio would mean that your vehicle’s speed is higher, and also its torque is lower and thus acceleration is less. Reduced torque would mean, you have less grip, control and counter shift ability over your motor bike and your bike can ride pretty fast.
When Would You Need a High Drive Ratio and When a Lower One?
When you are going across bumpy, round alleys or your need to make many turns on your way with few straight roads, you would need a bike which can be easily controllable and comfortable enough to make good gear changes smoothly and make good shifts. In such cases you would need a bike with smaller or less drive ratio.
Where else, is you are travelling in a highway, or in a road with very few turns and long smooth pathways where you can easily increase your speed and need less counter shifting or gear changes, you need a higher drive ratio of engine and wheel sprockets.
Final Verdict
Now that you know how to make a bike faster with sprockets and you can easily try it out. You cannot find out the actual differences in speed and gear shits unless you try it out yourself personally. If you are one of those newbies who love to explore new variations in your road bikes or mountain bikes, you will be amazed to find out the finishing difference. We hope our guide was enough to give you a proper idea on how you can modify your bike’s speed by changing your sprockets’ teeth number. Happy Cycling !!
Read here for the best commuter bikes under 200
