I had my first ride today on my newly-acquired 300 4 stroke. Despite being told that the four stroke is nice and docile, it seemed pretty lively to me. The bike even offered me the opportunity to inspect the ground at close quarters on a couple of occasions. So now I need to calm it down a bit, as well as tune myself up considerably. A slow throttle will be the first thing, but I'm wondering about gearing.

The standard gearing according to the manual is 11/42. When I spoke to someone at Lampkins, he suggested 10/42 for a novice. This puzzles me slightly as that is 10% shorter, so while speed at any given revs will be 10% slower (reducing the need to slip the clutch) the torque at the back wheel will be 10% more. Any ideas why this would be considered more beginner-friendly? Furthermore, my bike is actually 9/40 which another 5% shorter. What gearing does the panel recommend?

I 've had a couple of 300 4T's & found 9/42 to be my preference.(clubman- Yorkshire). Makes 2nd more usable too. Never bothered changing throttle. Have also compared notes with a couple of other 300 riders, who had much the same story.    

Standard 11/42 gearing is quite high & bike tends to run on a bit in slow rocky going.   

9/42? That's even shorter than mine! I would think that would make second gear similar to first on standard gearing. Throughout my first day of riding I didn't use first at all. It would have had me on my a*** in no time.

I haven't been able to find the gear ratios of my bike online. The nearest I got was the info for a 2009 2T. The difference between first and second is a little over 20%. The difference between 11/42 and 9/42 is 19%.

I run stock gearing on my 2016 300 4t, but feel there is a pretty big jump from 2nd to 3rd. But i feel the same way about my 2017 250 2t as well. May have to try the 10 tooth one day.

10/42 works best for me, just slows down a very smooth bike already. But bigger difference is a slower action amal 80/200 throttle. That one works best as it is a straight swap with same cable just putting nipple on throttle end into the other hole i.e the hole next to standard set up on carb end.

Standard throttle probably great for some but made huge difference to me

5 hours ago, trapezeartist said:

9/42? That's even shorter than mine! I would think that would make second gear similar to first on standard gearing. Throughout my first day of riding I didn't use first at all. It would have had me on my a*** in no time.

Why bother lowering the gearing if you're not inclined to use the bottom gear you have?

Your calcs on the torque may well be correct in theory but that's not how it works in practice.

How would it help a beginner? Try a third gear section in bottom and see how "soft" the motor feels. You probably won't get up it but it will demonstrate the beneficial effect of a lower gearing.  It goes against theory but is the usual way to calm something down.

 

Edited September 3, 20178 yr by 2stroke4stroke