NoBs

Didn't see this was replied to... sorry about that. The bike was brand new, I've since located a 14T front sprocket instead of the stock 15 and as I thought, made a world of difference. Made the first 4 gears much more useable in the dirt because of the local terrain, especially the first 2 gears. I've always geared my dirt bikes down a notch since the 70's. It's commonplace to have over a 1000 ft elevation change several times in one outing. Top speed is not an issue. Feathering the clutch on a long uphill climb is a technique that's popular here in the states. While there are rocks everywhere, there are sections that have fist size to baby head size all the way to full fledged boulders all the way up a climb. On the few flat areas you can still have 60 mph or so top speed which is more than enough in the dirt..

I've only ever known it as a counter shaft sprocket but output shaft works as well. .. I'm in the USA so our ways of describing it may be different. Perhaps you folks have less terrain where a little more oomph is useful while going up steeper hills. Here in the States there's a lot, especially in the Eastern and Western parts. Have to disagree with " settling " with what you have. A tooth or two less on the counter shaft makes a world of difference in pulling power up steep terrain. While the HP is unchanged the pulling power is increased dramatically. Obviously, it's easier to go uphill no matter what the terrain. Common practice here in the States.. Some guys also increase the teeth on the rear sprocket as well. If one lives on flat ground area, you might go the other way ( less output shaft teeth ) for more speed.. but for me, I wouldn't have bought the dual purpose XT 250 if that were the case.. *** guess I should have stated in the beginning I'm mainly talking dirt bike riding hills, some fairly aggressive in soft dirt, not street hills. Even so, the principle works the same.

Howdy folks. Been riding forever ( 1952 when my Dad put wheelbarrow wheels on my brothers 2 stroke Harley Hummer age 6 ) A few hiatus's here and there but recently bought this XT-250 to do a little off/on road riding before its too late. First ride today on the new bike, worked pretty good overall. a little squirrely in the loose leaves in the woods and up a few pipelines but it was good to be out again. Even got a couple early season raspberrys on the ankles. It's a pleasure to be able to put both feet flat on the ground and that was what drew me to this bike.. No road time yet, the less the better for me.

New owner here, first ride today. Tried a couple of hills today and had some issues between 1st and 2nd while going up a few decent hills. First was too low and second wanted to bog. Who has dropped a tooth or two in the counter shaft sprocket to help with this and what kind of results did you notice ? Pretty sure this probably has been addressed before but I don't know where or how to look.