1 tooth less on the rear?
 

Ok, I was toying with the idea of putting a 44 on the rear before I take the bike to spain in the spring, with the thought maybe that it would drop the revs slightly for big roads and motorways.
My concern was that I would have a fairly well laiden bike 2up, and spain has hills. Would I be doing the right thing? would 1 tooth at the rear make enough difference to make hills an issue with a loaded bike?

one more... ;) and does fuel consumption change with different sprocket ratios?
When I think of how a pushbike works, higher gear might be less revs on the pedals, but it is harder work on the legs! So does 1 balance out the other keeping fuel economy pretty much the same, or would my 1 tooth less save a bit of fuel?

When I got my xt the front sprocket was a 16 so a close ratio to what you're considering. I've now swopped it for a 15 and the acceleration is better. Theres not a massive amount of difference and the fuel consumption is no worse. I'd say it wasn't worth it.

Fijjitt, I was looking at fitting a 44T rear on the Tenere (-1T) and worked out the difference using a gearing calculator, see my post here (clicky I went with the stock 15/45 in the end as it was easy to get the sprockets, and I considered that with a strong headwind and two up it would be best.

I fitted a 14 tooth front sprocket last year and haven't bothered swapping back to the 15 as standard. This gearing really suits me and acceleration up to an indicated 90mph (GPS) is quite rapid. Went out tonight for a spin and made a conscious attempt to see how the seedo compares to the GPS and the difference is very close to 10mph at 60mph. This means that at an indicated 60mph on the bikes speedo I am actually travelling at 50mph.
Makes trail riding easier as you can use 2nd gear a bit more and 50mph on the bikes' speedo in top gear is 3000rpm, just nice for decent acceleration without shifting down.

Hope this helps.:icon_mrgreen:

You will be fine with a 44 rear. One tooth on the front is = to 3 on the rear.

Thanks for ya help peeps.

The Pegaso (with the XT motor) come from the factory with 44T and 15 on the front withy no problems.

Well, just to update.
Riding with the 44 rear is no problem and definately makes easier feeling riding for big roads. Obviously this is my own feeling as the bike probably isn't actually personally bothered with the slight change in revs. The bike 'feels' slightly bigger as it goes slightly further before needing to change up. ..And no problems pulling 2up with luggage ;)
But then I had the problem of not being able to use second gear offroad, too fast for me! Like a bukkin' bronco lol.
...so recently changed to a 46rear just for fun.
Let's just say I'll be leaving this one on for a while.
Slightly more twitchy pulling out of corners, Maybe I should swap back to save on rear tyres :)

ive just today taken off a 15/48. an put on a tsubaki chain an 14/45 renthal sprocks... havent tried it yet, but its kinda gonna be the same as ma first set up...

subscribing