The previous owner of my KLX put a 13 tooth front sprocket in. The bike will still go down the highway ok, but it surely cant be happy at 7k+ rpm for very long. Also, around town I never feel like I can find the right gear. It seems like for every posted speed limit my RPM choices are 4.5k- and 6k+. I got the stock sprocket with the bike and I am thinking about putting it back in but I am worried that I will miss it when riding offroad. Right now I seem to be riding 50/50 street and dirt. How does a KLX perform offroad with stock gearing? Should I just learn to ride the bike better in town and live with high revs on the highway, or should I go back to stock?

 

I went back to the 14 as road riding is more relaxed, for me the 13 helped off road but to truly be a good off road maching I needed it lower geared than just the 13 up front. But on the road the 13 had me really wringing the bike out all the time, not a huge difference with the 14 but it's better on the road. I can still ride trails just a bit more clutch work now and rarely get it out of 1st or 2nd gear off road.

 

I agree on the 13T not even being truly low enough for all off road riding. I'm running 13/47, and it's the highest I'd want for off roading. It really slows down the pavement top cruising speed, but that's not really what I bought it for.

 

The 13T sprocket makes the KLX better off road than the 14T sprocket makes it on road.

The little 250 will happily spin over 7000 rpm all day long; no risk of damaging anything.

 

im at 14 / 48 i have decent onroad and offroad

one of the guys in my dual sport club set me up with this combo and it has been great combo

 

13-45 best combo ever. I can do 60 on the highway and its got the perfect low end grunt needed to crawl on the single track stuff. my two cents.

 

13/45, 14/48. Different ways to end up at the same place.

 

Yup, agreed. In the spirit of 'less is more' I'd always select the 13/45 combo, regardless of the marginal increase in stress on the chain that results.

 

I kept mine stock. If I could only do 60 mph on the Los Angeles freeways I'd be a bug on the windshield. . from my house the trails are a 45 min ride on the freeways. Never had any problems offroad. I'm sure the 13t is better but im happy.

 

I've found 14/47 to be a fair compromise for a range from trail riding to highway (55-65 mph) commuting. At highway speed, it actually puts the engine at a nice spot on the torque curve in sixth gear. If all I did was commute, it would be too low - most of the time now, I would be riding faster if I had stock gearing. If all I did was trail ride, it would be high - when riding in the Black Hills, for example I was wishing it was 13/47.

I've got 12,000+ miles on my KLX, and most of that has been commuting with the engine in the 6500-7000 RPM range or so. I just ride about 10 mph slower now than I did with stock gearing.