mostly trails, fire roads and we have an old golf course we ride on...

so drop front to 15 give you more off the line but less top speed

 

I just put on a 15t front sprocket yesterday. Only took it out for a 10 min ride around my work area but it is 1000x better on the low end, feels wayyyy better. Im heading out now for a few hrs of riding!!

 

I have a 14 on the front. Previous owner did it for trail riding. I have mixed trail and open field/hill riding. It is a good mix for my type of riding. There is still plenty of top end. I also have a 15 tooth still sitting in the package. Has anyone sampled all three sizes? 16, 15 and 14. I'd be curious to know what most people preferred.

 

i got the stock i went rippin' down a very long, straight dirt road i was at like 90% throttle, the quad got up to speed, stayed there for a few seconds then pinned it and i didn't really feel like i was accelerating, kind of like my clutch was slipping but it wasn't.

long story short with the 16-tooth sprocket very rarely will you actually get up to top speed. Keep in mind everything is stock on my ds650, no mods at all.

 

You guys are all trying to compare sprocket sizes without even mentioning what size rear tires you are running. The affect of a 20" vs 22" rear tire in terms of gearing is significant. Don't forget tire diam = gearing too...

 

HAHA good call lol although I did say my ds650 is completely stock there for I'm running 20" tires

 

Same here.

 

Well then I would look into upgrading those crappy stock tires before worrying about your gearing. Get a good set of 22"s then gear down appropriately.

 

For the meat a good combination is 23 up front and 22 in the rear, accompanied by a 15t countersprocket and a 42t out back. Makes for a little more ground clearance for those pesky rocks and roots and gives you better launching capability while maintaining most of your top end.
If you're running a mostly stock bike a couple of good and fairly economical upgrades are the OMR stock carb mods, a Big Gun CDI, and a decent slip on or end cap.
But be warned, once you start it never stops! If you do any of those changes it will lead to a high compression piston, followed by a set of cams, followed by a TM45 or Lectron, followed by some head porting, followed by some stroking......

KEEP IT STOCK.

 

Sound advice Ace....it never ends.....blast from the past.