Why would a XC quad be geared for top speed? The reason the Moto is geared for more top-end is because of the 18 in. tires.

 

Now don't confuse gearing with the sprocket sizes, the gearing on all the quads is the same. But there is a difference in sprocket sizes and we had some conversation regarding sprocket sizes a while back and it was not clear what was suppose to be on the moto. One person who had the moto stated his sprocket size and the engineer from Cannondale who frequents this forum did not think they were shipping that sprocket size and he was going to research that, never heard anything back.

Maybe someone with a Moto or Blaze will chime in here and tell us what their sprocket sizes are.

 

you mean you would want to run a cross-country race not geared for top speed???

what am I missing?

 

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr.... ok, I don't run XC races, and don't plan on doing so. I just figured you wouldn't need top-end gearing becuase chances are you're not running past 3rd gear anway. I don't know, I'm gonna shut up now! oh and Brian, Iw as refering to sprocket size when talking about gearing, just so you know[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

heres the info,
Cannibal, Speed, Blaze, and Moto 13T countershaft sprocket
Cannibal, Speed, and Blaze have 42T Rear Sprockets
Moto has a 38T rear sprocket
Cannibal, Speed, and Blaze have 20 inch rear tires
Moto has an 18 inch rear tire

This is right out of the manual. Hope its right. Seems like they would all be relatively close in top speed based on gearing. Given the horsepower of course the blaze and moto will be faster.

 

I guess the moto is geared higher than the others. I think that a 2" tire size difference would be = to a 1T rear sprocket difference. But the mapping on all of them is different. I think the moto's mapping is set up to get more power to the low and mid range.

 

<< you mean you would want to run a cross-country race not geared for top speed???

what am I missing? >>


Are you are thinking of XC as baja??? The blaze was not designed for that, but GNCC woods racing.

 

You do want your gearing higher for a cross country quad or motorcycle than say a MX version.

Cannondale didn't have a specific transmission for the BLAZE, so they made it up with what they could with the gearing difference in the sprockets.

With everything else on these quads being equal, the BLAZE, in theory, should have the highest top speed. I have not yet seen any statistics between the 'Dales regarding the top speeds with each other. I would love to see this data.

Look at the YZ426F and WR426F. The WR will eat the YZ for lunch big time in anything after 3rd gear and will continue to out run by at least 10mph by the time both machines hit top gear. After that, the YZ really fades back.


A KDX200 will out run a KX250 on the top end.

Cross country races sometimes have loooong straight aways and need this extra speed.

It also keeps you from shifting as much when in the tight stuff. You can ride a gear much longer than usual.

Yes......enduro and cross country machines are geared taller than MX models and should be.