Q: Suzuki T350J - chain and sprockets.

[Gyffe]

In March I bought a T350J and have now made some Progress in the restoration of the bike (Pictures will be posted later).
I have come to the chain and sprockets: according to the parts manual the gearing should be 14 - 38 and a 525 chain. However mine is equipped with a 14 - 41 gearing.
Which gearing is to prefer ?

Best regards
Henning B. Hansen
Faxe, Denmark

[Vintageman]

Depends what you want to do. Street and even highway is what I do

I run/ran 14-41 (T/GT250 spec) for a long time, but feel the T350 engine can run the 14 - 38 just fine. I find myself wanting to up shift but out of gears with 14-41. You need strong low middle range power. So you need to be jetted just right, too rich for example will hurt. Also you need to be at factory timing if not a tad more advance IMO OK factory is fine. Also, the T350 vibrates and if you can keep it under 4500 RPM it is a much nicer cruise.

15-41 is close too stock, maybe 14-39, etc. I am working on a third (1971 T350) and it will be stock gearing and confident 6 gear will have enough torque to cruise +50MPH.... If you want to accel quick just down shift. The ratio of 5th gear is close to 6th (6 speed ) and for that reason it should work well. I also plan to replace one of my T350/GT250 hybrid from 14T to 15T front and leave the 41 tooth in the back (I have it and thus low cost to get to stock T350 gearing). My third one I may run 14-40 or 39 but 14/41 right now

14-41 is OK, but as I say for street a little higher gearing is probably better fit when your bike is tuned spot on.