Hi, just bought a 1952 golden flash that has a 19 teeth front drive sprocket and a 49 teeth rear sprocket which i believe is the sidecar ratios, i find this far too slow for cruising, the easiest solution would be to fit a 42 teeth rear sprocket, would this work with the 19 teeth front, i don't want to strip the front end to replace the front sprocket unless i have too, any thoughts much appreciated thanks
Hi eggar,
Definitely fit the 42T rear sprocket and if you ever have the gearbox out fit a 20T gearbox sprocket. This will give the bike slightly longer legs without making it slog up hill. My wife has run a 20T on a '51 Golden Flash for many thousands of miles including many ascents of Alpine passes loaded with the camp kitchen, supplies for several days and a bag of clothes.
Dave.
great, thanks for the reply
Dont forget that a change to the rear sprocket will mean the speedometer will not read true - side car geared and solo geared bikes use different instruments.
the speedo is out by about 5mph reads 30 mph when i'm only doing 25 so i'm hoping the change in sprocket might make it more accurate with a bit of luck, cheers
It will do that with a larger gearbox sprocket.
42t rear sprocket now fitted, much better for cruising and the speedo is now accurate, great result