Quote:

I think a lot of it will depend on your riding environment. If you're a flat-lander, 18 and 19 will probably never be a problem. I ran a 17 for 5 years until late this summer when I went to an 18. I love it on the highway and for rolling around town, but when I went down to Arkansas last weekend I definitely noticed it was different than in my other trips there. I might keep the 18 on there for the rest of the year and switch back to the 17 for the Arkansas Rally every fall. We'll see. I do like going 80+ in 3rd and over 100 in 4th and then still having another gear to really get gone with the 18.



Yep Christopher, Dave in his above reply has hit on a very salient point. If your riding consists a lot of riding up hills, then you will notice that you'll be down-shifting a little bit more in order to stay "on cam"(i.e. in the sweet spot of your bike's rev-range...usually around 3800-4800 RPM on our machines) while going uphill.

I too have run an 18-teethed front sprocket on my BA(which came standard with a 17) for many years, and have found that it the best compromise for my riding habits.

Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)