Thoughts on gearing, 12 or 15 teeth primary sprocket with Camso DTS 129"?

[_Tor_]

Im setting up my first Snowbike at the moment. It is a Husqvarna TE510 (500cc) with a 2017 Camso DTS 129" kit. I have two primary sprockets, 12 and 15 teeth. Which one should I go for? Or do I need a 13 or 14?

OEM is 13. The previous ovner had a 15 on it set up for road use, it would do 20kph on idle in first gear.... I put on the 12 to bring it back to OEM gearing for a little bit of trail riding (it had a undersized rear sprocket too).

I have never tried a snowbike but from reading about them it seems they are low geared. 1st gear is only for starting. I guess the important thing is where the shift between 2nd and 3rd comes. Apperently the Husky is like a tractor so I am leaning towards the 15 at the moment.

 

[bushsmasher]

14

I can confirm what I have in a couple days but I am fairly certain I am running a 14 tooth on a 2014 KTM 500xcw with a 2018 dts129. The setup is almost identical to yours. The 14 is good. Your 12 will definitely be too low. The 15 may work. If you have it already just try it. It's easy to change if you don't like it.

 

[powdermuncher]

I like using larger primary sprockets and gear down on the kit to get the gearing I need , mostly for clearance around the swing arm area and long live for chain and sprockets more teeth engaged =less wear. This is a big issue with TSS where the chain tension loosens a lot as the TSS compresses, not sure about the rubber dampeners on the Camso.

 

[Timberview01]

14 is the sweet spot, in my opinion. Low enough that you can start in 2nd when you need to gain momentum right away, and 1st is slow enough to idle up the ramp when loading or negotiating a sketchy creek crossing / log crossing / rock crossing / etc.. Top speed is less of a concern with your 500 due to the 6 speed.

 

[_Tor_]

Thanks for the feedback. I will start with my 15 and go from there.

Cheers

 

[TYFOON]

I have a 14 on my 450R. Been talking to Camso trying to get ideas on what manipulations of the track sprockets would do. They confirmed that all three on the track are interchangeable. I may experiment with moving them around.

 

[wwillf01]

I run a 13 on a yz250 so I would go for a 14 for sure...

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[M5-]

I ran a 13 all last season on my YZ450. I had thought originally of going with a 14 but everyday seemed like a bottomless pow day so I never got around to gearing it up. In lower elevations or lower snow conditions I'd go 14 for sure. I think 15 might be on the high side. Sprockets are cheap so its easy to experiment.

M5

 

[Ben 500RR-S]

I had also stuck with a 13T front, just like I do for the dirt.

With a 6 speed, I have plenty of gears so I didn't notice anything negative at all.

I'll be running the same 13T front again this upcoming season.