77 gs550 ratios

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  • Hell or high water
    • Jan 2026

    #1

    77 gs550 ratios

    Ok so bumming around on an online gearing calculator has lead me to change the final ratio on my 550. At 70 mph the last ride I was on it was running a cool 6800 rpm. I remember reading on here somewhere that these bikes were built to rev high, but this still seems excessive for extended rides. So to drop some rpm the calculator said if I ran a 17 front and a 40 rear I'd be at around 4K at 70mph. This is a large change front the original 15:50 ratio, so now to the real question. How bad will this kill the performance of the bike? I'm not trying to pull wheelies or run a 0-60 in 2.5 sec. but also don't want to struggle in low rpm. What ratios you guys running out there on these 550s? I see a lot of 1000 and 750/850 changes but not much on the 550. Thanks for any insight guys.
  • steve murdoch
    Forum Guru
    Past Site Supporter
    • May 2004
    • 8489
    • St. Catharines, On.

    #2
    An old thread but has the info you are looking for.
    This forum contains old posts which may have information which may be useful. It is a closed forum in that you can not post here any longer. Please post your questions in the other technical forums.
    2@ \'78 GS1000

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    • Nessism
      Forum LongTimer
      GSResource Superstar
      Past Site Supporter
      Super Site Supporter
      • Mar 2006
      • 35783
      • Torrance, CA

      #3
      Simple swap is to move up one tooth on the front sprocket. This will reduce rpm by a noticeable amount. If you go higher still the bike will be hard to launch without a lot more clutch slippage and the acceleration will be sluggish.
      Ed

      To measure is to know.

      Mikuni O-ring Kits For Sale...https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...ts#post1703182

      Top Newbie Mistakes thread...http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...d.php?t=171846

      Carb rebuild tutorial...https://gsarchive.bwringer.com/mtsac...d_Tutorial.pdf

      KZ750E Rebuild Thread...http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...0-Resurrection

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      • Hell or high water

        #4
        Thanks guys! Sorry about the old thread, I looked but only found larger bike changes.

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