New Owner Questions

Greetings All:

I just purchased a 2020 750GS, and am new to the Forum. I had several K75s and an R100RT back in the 80s, then went back to Hondas etc, and now I'm back in the BMW fold.

I like many things about the 750, but I have two issues with it that I'd like to solve if it can be done, and I wanted to draw on the collective expertise of my fellow F-Twin riders:

1. It's too loud for me. Is there an exhaust that is quieter than the stock exhaust? On my previous (admittedly quieter) bikes, I could reasonable ride without earplugs; on 750 I have to wear earplugs, and sometimes I prefer not to.
   
3. First gear is too high when starting from a dead stop on pavement, and even worse on dirt/gravel. Has any one experimented with changing out the front and/or rear sprockets, and if so, what was your experience? I rode up Mt Washington in New Hampshire last week, and had to slip the clutch most of the way up

Like many of you I have the farkle sickness, and I'm just about finished farkling. I will do a future post about the farkling in case anyone is interested.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

GregT
Stamford, CT

Congrats on the new bike and welcome!

I can’t help on the exhaust, but I very recently acquired an F700GS with the exact same gearing issue you describe. It is fine out on the highway, but at low speeds it is just geared too high. I live in an urban area and pretty much all my local riding is at low speeds, so it’s not something I can live with.

I have been researching the issue and have concluded that dropping one tooth on the front drive sprocket is the primary remedy. Some have found this to be a bit too much of a gear-down and then tweaked it by dropping a tooth in the rear, which brings it back up a small bit. But the place to start is minus one tooth up front.

According to my research, even dropping one tooth in front and the rear will be okay without having to alter chain length.

Hope this helps.

I have zero experience with the GS, but it seems to me that dropping the front sprocket one tooth, or two in the extreme should do it. One tooth should drop the ratio about 6%, two teeth about 12%. I would buy a 16 tooth and try it. Pretty simple and easy to do, and most likely keep the stock chain length. Keep in mind the top speed will drop the same ratio.

It really depends on what you want to achieve and how far you want to drop the ratio.

vark said:

Congrats on the new bike and welcome!

I can’t help on the exhaust, but I very recently acquired an F700GS with the exact same gearing issue you describe. It is fine out on the highway, but at low speeds it is just geared too high. I live in an urban area and pretty much all my local riding is at low speeds, so it’s not something I can live with.

I have been researching the issue and have concluded that dropping one tooth on the front drive sprocket is the primary remedy. Some have found this to be a bit too much of a gear-down and then tweaked it by dropping a tooth in the rear, which brings it back up a small bit. But the place to start is minus one tooth up front.
h.
According to my research, even dropping one tooth in front and the rear will be okay without having to alter chain lengt

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

To lower the gearing, the rear sprocket needs to be larger.

EUGENE said:

To lower the gearing, the rear sprocket needs to be larger.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily.

That is one way to do it, but to lower the gearing noticeably you would have to make the rear sprocket substantially larger. That may require lengthening the chain and may entail clearance issues as well.

On the F700GS, and presumably the F750GS, the impression is that the gearing is much too high. The best way to make the required large correction is to REDUCE the size of the front sprocket by one tooth, which has a marked affect. The same length chain can still be used, and there are no clearance issues.

However, even going down just one tooth on the front sprocket can make the gearing lower than desired (for some.) So to fine tune it, you can then REDUCE the size of the rear sprocket by one tooth. This will make the gearing a little bit higher than it was with only the front sprocket reduced in size. Again, no clearance issue and no change to chain length. But the overall net result will be a lower geared bike, just not quite as low as would be the case if only the front sprocket was reduced by one tooth.

Welcome from Newfoundland, changing sprockets sounds like the fix.

Welcome to the forum!

I think I would ride it for a while before changing things. On my F800GS it seemed that it was either idle or 4,000 rpm as the throttle was advanced....... I don’t notice it now.
I can suggest giving yourself a chance to get used to the power band of this style engine.
Good luck.
Gary

On my 640 Adventure I went to smaller sprockets for some offroad riding but didn't like losing my top end. I just got a lot better at getting around offroad in 1st. I haven't bothered to swap them in years.

If his F750GS is like my F700GS, the problem is you are simply going too fast when maneuvering at slow speeds in 1st gear, even at idle speeds. Which means you are constantly riding the clutch. The other issue is insufficient engine braking for around town riding, combined with too much speed when applying throttle while exiting a turn.

If you are predominantly a highway cruiser you could live with this. But if you spend a lot of time at slow speeds (eg off-roading, or urban environments), it's an aggravation.

OM, what he and I are trying to achieve is gearing similar to your F800GS, which is geared much lower.

If you all want to change sprockets-



More here at the Touratech toy store- https://touratech-usa.com/BMW-F700GS-Parts?p=3

Reasonably enough priced so as you can experiment.

OM

Omega Man said:

If you all want to change sprockets-

....

More here at the Touratech toy store- https://touratech-usa.com/BMW-F700GS-Parts?p=3

Reasonably enough priced so as you can experiment.

OM

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link.

I have been studying the offerings at JT Sprockets, which include a variant with a shock absorbing rubber bushing:

Rubber Cushioned Front Sprockets

They also offer a “self-cleaning” sprocket that looks interesting.
.

vark said:

Thanks for the link.

I have been studying the offerings at JT Sprockets, which include a variant with a shock absorbing rubber bushing:

Rubber Cushioned Front Sprockets

They also offer a “self-cleaning” sprocket that looks interesting.
.

Click to expand...

The hub of the F800GS has a rubber “cushion” kinda drive.
OM

Omega Man said:

The hub of the F800GS has a rubber “cushion” kinda drive.
OM

Click to expand...

Good to know. I will have to investigate whether the F700GS has same. Thanks.

That's why they call them "Cush" drives, I have the same on my KTM 640 and 525.