What Rims for my SH?
 

Hello all, just purchased my first SH (new to the site as of today). A 98 with jet kit, k&n air filter, D&D pipes, bent front rim, and a extremely stretched chain. I want to perform modifications and wondering if you folks would have input. I hear that front rims from a 95-98 cbr 600 f3 will bolt and play on the SH, is this true? I also heard that 95-97 cbr 900 rr rears rims work also, same question? This is purely cosmetic, minus the front bent rim I currently own. I would also like to do a sprocket conversion as well as upgrading to an X-ring chain (thinking -1 front, +2 rear) I know this will affect the top end, but I am in it for the torque, any thoughts on this? Thinking of putting some aftermarket turn signal mirrors also, does anyone have any suggestions? Basically I want to do a few things to it and ride it for the next couple of years, then I am hoping to go through the entire thing from front to back (including engine mods if possible), I love the v-twin powerplant compared to the 4's. All thoughts and recommendations welcomed. :D

Welcome to the forum, use the search tab, you will find allot of great info and all the know how.

welcome
wheels that fit without modification
Front 6s
Nc29 cbr400rr
Nc30 vfr400r
Nc35 rvf400
Cbr600f3

Front 3s
Firestorm
Nc23 triarm

Rear 6s
92-98 fireblade

Awesome, thanks for the info!!

What about the years for those rims?

You already know about the f3's and the rears, those other model weren't imported to the US although Canada might have gotten a few so for practical purposes they don't count.

As for the sprockets I have yet to hear a good reason to go down 1 in the front if you're going up 2 in the rear, unless you're just into wheelies or stunting which in my mind aren't good reasons to begin with.

Welcome to the forum. There have been quite a few new members from the great state of Michigan. GO BLUE!!!!!!



Tis true IMO. Go up +2 or +3 in the rear and see how you like it. I've always known +3 out back to be about equal to -1 in the front. Start with one or the other, not both.

And as far as torque goes, I don't think you're short to start with!

Is the VTR your first bike?

Sounds good on the sprockets, think I will just go up 2 or the 3 in the rear. No, this is not my first bike, it used to be my buddies. It was the first rocket style bike that I have ever rode though, I have owned a 03 R6 and a 2010 ninja. Not goin to stunt or wheelies, just want some more grunt, although it does have plenty.

The reason I run a +2 on the rear is that it gets 6th gear at @1:1 instead of an overdrive and that is the only reason. With the torque and HP of this bike nothing else is really needed or warranted.

Welcome on. Dont do -1+2or3 its way overkill & you will be redlining everywhere. You can do -1 on the front & really feel it.

Lots of opionions, thats mine. All my riding is NYC and -1 was plenty.

SmokinJoe has apoint in that he's in an urban environment and the shorter gearing probably comes in handy in cage avoidance and stop light hustling.

You however are in Michigan and you haven't said what your riding environment is. If it's not urban and has more wide open spaces riding then I still say +2 is the most you want to do. Lot's of free flowing torque and acceleration without needing to be a screamer between corners. The difference between twins and I4's!

My riding style varies, urban, country, just about everywhere and anywhere there is a road I will ride (live on the west side of michigan and ride to Detroit a lot). I got this SH to rip it up in my local twisties. It will however also go on long rides. I usually ride anywhere from 8 to 12000 miles in a season. I also own a cruiser so the SH will not be my main source for the longer rides, although it will see some longs here and there. Mainly I want to lean low an shred up the corners. Don't really care about gas range or mileage, just mainly looking for the performance aspect. Sticky tires, asphalt, and monster torque is the fun on my menu.

With slightly higher bars and cruise control, the vtr is way better than a cruiser for long miles.

Doesnt make you use your arms to pull against wind and is more ergonomic for your lower back (not slumped).

Hey I really like that seat, what is it? My cruiser is set up pretty good for long rides, mustang seat with driver back rest had to have been the best addition for myself.

Its a corbin.

Hey there folks, can you experienced SH riders and modifiers tell me is these rims will work for my SH. Check out the following links:

96 CBR900RR Rear Wheel Rim Blue Honda CBR 900 900RR CBR900 95 97 98 | eBay

3 5x17 Front Aluminium Alloy 6 Spoke Wheel Honda CBR600 F3 Super Sport 1995 1998 | eBay

The rims will work,,,period.

ahha! sounds like what i like. My recommds: 15/43 or 44, supersprox 520 set your ears back,... 190x55 Q2 stickkkkeee....squirt out of turns, yeah!:draggin::wheelie:

Nath supersprox? Is that the brand? I am soon needing sprockets & have a new 520 chain. Got my last stuff at sprocket specialist last time. What did you do on yours?

Welcome to SupersproxUSA.com

kinda the best of both worlds..lighter than steel, stronger than alum. If you go pure alum, AFAM or similar, no cheapie vortex.

I just took an AFAM off worn out at 17000.....good sprocket. I slapped on a steel 43 temporarily because i had to buy tires.haha

+1. Running one and it works great.

Nath, afam aluminum lasted 17k? Thats crazy long. I have worn thru aluminums in no time.

that's right......went thru a POS vortex in less than 3 thou. i did turn that afam around and the teeth were skinnneee.......oh carrozzeria wheels and 3 sets of power pures def helped. No way i'll get that with these heavy Q2s, but i'll pay the piper cause me love the stick.

yeah. say you get a quality Xring chain and even a superior alum sprocket like AFAM. There's no way the chain's gonna wear anywhere near the sprocket, barring serious neglect. A good chain can tear up an alum sprocket in no time.

Even with TLC you end up with a good chain and a good steel CS sprock and a shot rear sprocket. I took an 8 link piece of new chain(I cut off new) and aligned it with mine at 17000 miles on it and there was no detectable stretch, albeit, there is a little tight spot.

Anyway, it seems that the supersprox steel over alum may offer a better balanced combo in terms of wearing everything more evenly while still providing a measure of reduced unsprung spinning weight.

Okay this is what I have come up with. Curious on what you guys think as far as changing the gearing ratio. Meaning how will this affect the bike. I don't care about going 160 mph, but would like break neck acceleration when coming out I turns. Will this set up be okay for daily use, commute, as well? Thinking 15/43, I know many have said just a 43 in the rear but just wondering.

http://www.sprocketcenter.com/p/4730...00f-97-06.html

I love these sprockets , using them right now, good deal and last long, when you get the 520 chain, make sure you get the best of the bunch!

As for the ratio, just make up your own mind, you can go all day with opinions, but at the end of the day it is about your level of comfort ;)

Thanks, they had two different chains that I was looking at. One is a heavy duty for 1200 cc bikes the other one was for a 750, but they stated that many use these in liter bikes because of the lightweight. Is the difference that much?

looks like a good set-up. You're gonna be rippin it, so get the strongest 520 chain, esp since you got a steel sprocket. 15/43 is what you want for powering out of turns.

Well I have covered this one a couple of times but I'll try once more......

Running 15\43 is just silly IMHO. The reason I say this is if you go to a site like Gearing Commander and punch in the numbers you will see that compared to the stock 16\41 gearing you are at one gear ratio difference.

What this means is that if you are in say 3rd with 15\43 final drive you will have close enough to be called the exact same gearing as a bike with 16\41 gearing in second. Both bikes will accelerate at the same speed at that point so any gains are just a placebo.

You can go down 1 on the front or up 2 on the rear if you would like a little more punch.

Any more than that and all you get is a 1st gear that is unusable for all practical purposes and you give up your 6th gear......

For me it's just easier to down shift one and twist the throttle.....

Roger think I got it figured out.

My gearing may appear silly to you when you look at some abstract calculator, but have never actually tried it yourself. I, unlike you, have tried 16/41(530), 15/44(520), and now 15/43(520), and will likely try others in the future. I like 15/44 and 43, esp with the 190/55 Q2 on a 5.5 rim, which is probably silly to you also and, of course, you never tried that either.

I say, try shit for yourself and see if it works for you. How do you learn anything if you are unwilling to experiment and contrast diff set-ups. Yeah, sometimes you end up where you started, but at least you know why the real way and sometimes you learn something new and better that you never would have known had you not experimented.

What utter nonsense! 8451Hawk made it perfectly clear that you were effectively eliminating 1st gear with those ridiculous ratios. Hell why not try 14/41 and get rid of 2nd too.

You claim to know alot of old racers ask them, I'm sure they will set you straight.

Hey this is like an oil thread. For sure it is a personal preference. Some guys dont mind shifting thier asses off. For me I would think 15/43 low enought to make me shift too often. Especially when the bike will easily loop you on your head in low gears.

Its a torquey bike anyway so getting to redline fast is not always the goal. You should try it but be prepared to maybe hate it. You can always swap to another ratio.

The opinions are many, I guess I won't know till I try it. I'm gonna start with a 16/43 and see what that does. Thanks for all the input. I do have one more question. I looking for a superhawk for my buddy. I found one that has a worn shift lever (description guy gave me) as the only issue for the bike. I got him down to $1200, it's a 98 and I am unsure of the mileage. How hard is that to replace and do you think that is the issue? Has anyone else ever had this problem?

"Just plain silly", thank you hawk, then his good buddy chimes in scolding this aberrant child with more unwarranted derogation, neither of whom has any experience with 15/43. Unbelievable to me! And, where did i claim to know alot of old racers who can tell me what to do.....pathetic. I don't mind some constructive criticism, but like joe said, "personal preference". And joe, I don't have to shift my ass off, in fact, it's the opposite.

I have approx 20 thous miles on 16/41 and another 20 thou on 15/44 (and now 43 for testing)so I ain't talkin out my ass. While I don't advocate this set up for everyone for sure, it's perfect for those who spend the preponderance of their riding in the esses, which is what the new guy, twins+1, said he was going to use his hawk for.

What's nice about 15/44 or 43 is that you can short shift to second without too low rpms, unless you want to loft the front wheel in which case, just roll it on and enjoy. Arguably and oft mentioned here, the gearbox is notchy and not the smoothest shifting from first to second, and with the lower gearing, the issue is minimal to negligible because you got the gears to get out of first earlier. Nice!

So, first gear is to get you off smoothly, shift early to second, and for roll-on wheelies. Now this leaves you with 5 more gears of which I predominantly only use 5th, 6th, and occasionally 4th. This is perfect because most often you end up shifting between 5th and 6th to keep the rpms at 6000 where you can squirt out of turns with smoothness and ease, w/o the need to get into 2nd or 3rd, thus you end up shifting less, not more.

Of course, top speed is cut from the 150s to the 140s with the lower gearing if that's a problem, however in most circumstances you get up there quicker, esp if you max throttle from 3rd or 4th as opposed to drag racing from a dead stop.

All positives in terms of the 15/43 gearing for ripping.

Hey Bob Marley, dont look at me, I didnt shoot the sheriff.

I am actually looking at my gearing now as I am putting first a rear on then a whole new 520 set up. I am willing to try some other combos, but my environment is different.

I found in the concrete jungle I was shifting my own personal ass off with lowered gearing only to shift back down to N.

I can tell you after 13 yrs of racing that for any given track there is a sweet spot gearing that WILL give you better drive and quicker lap times. If you know your riding speeds you can find it.

That said, the street is not a track & only some stuff translates.

But from a stop, if you go too low, you tend to lose acceleration to wheel loft. Fun yeah but not effective for escape.

I'm sorry to see two excellent people like nath981 and 8341hawk going at it. I think that they're both right. nath981 has a Superhawk that's set up to turn very quickly and be ridden intensely in the sweet, curvy stuff in Pennsylvania. Short gearing works for him. 8341hawk has a beautifully carburretted VTR that is a very strong performer. Stock gearing works for him. They've both made intelligent, informed decisions about making their bikes better for the kind of riding they do. Neither would be happy with the other's bike but that's OK.

Well this is why I really don't come on the board all that much anymore. It's hard to say anything with out someone getting bent out of shape of thinking they are being personally attacked.....

But yes, IMHO, that gearing choice is silly. I won't bother with the assumption that I have never tried that set up..... I will say it has never been on my bike but I have ridden a few other VTRs over the years and they might have had set up but then it would just be my word on it and no proof so believe whatever you would like.

On the other hand, if you mounted a 140 series rear tire, I might say that was silly also and not have to run it to stand behind my opinion..... and yes this is just my opinion.

As a reply to the list of "positives" of running 15\43 I have these replies...

The whole short shifting out of first, well you pretty much have to with that gearing unless you have the throttle control of Rossi. I don't know how else to put it but first is all but unusable with that gearing.

I also guess our bikes are a bit different as mine shifts nice and smooth between 1st and 2nd. I even posted a vid a while back of me riding through a little Bay Area goat road where I was shifting between 1st & 2nd with no issues through the whole thing.

Back on topic.... to this:
"So, first gear is to get you off smoothly, shift early to second, and for roll-on wheelies. Now this leaves you with 5 more gears"
I would say, sure it is easy to do roll on wheelies in 2nd as it's just like 1st with stock gearing and I guess you got a "special" bike as I only have 4 gears left after I hit 2nd...... :rotf:

Now for this:

"of which I predominantly only use 5th, 6th, and occasionally 4th. This is perfect because most often you end up shifting between 5th and 6th to keep the rpms at 6000 where you can squirt out of turns with smoothness and ease, w/o the need to get into 2nd or 3rd, thus you end up shifting less, not more."

So can you explain what is the big difference between riding in 5th & 6th instead of running in 4th & 5th? The final drive ratio is is close enough to be called the same in each case so what is the difference and what has been gained?

As for shifting more or less, not that makes a lot of difference but with 15\43 you do have to shift more. You need to hit 6th while a 16\41`geared bike would still be in 5th so you have shifted more. After that it would be the same for both bikes. The only difference is that they would be one gear higher or lower in the transmission.

Maybe Markus can come by and explain it again, you guys seem to like his answers better than mine or at least don't get offended when he posts up.

So once again,IMHO, if you need lower gearing (and my bike will pull from a dead stop in 3rd so is a lower 1st really needed?) then drop either 1 tooth in the front or add 2 to the rear. Anymore than that and you have gone too far for the reasons I have just listed.

Sorry if anyone has been offended or felt personally attacked.

Nath, I'm going to criticize this point. Your following posts make up for it, but I winced a little when I read that. Not about the actual gearing recommendation, but reading a very direct statement without any support that MAY not be the best for the person asking If someone's familiar with gearing threads, they would know why you do what you do, but twist may not actually have given the same thought or consideration to the pro's and con's. It's not like the reasons to run 16/41 gearing don't make sense or aren't true (even for the curvies), it's just that you've found benefits to 15/43 that outweigh them.

In other words, the proper gearing is 16/42, rear shimmed 8mm, USD front end, removing all that extra plastic wind tunnel bs, and yellow rims are the only way to ride a superhawk. Also, size M helmet. Size L is just too large.

Sorry?........ really ha

I believe you misread causing you to prematurely shift to second. it's okay though. i'm not going to laugh at you>