Best gearing for these 998’s

See n blue

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2017 LTX
Running a 137 with the option to run up to 280hp. Although I love my corner to corner acceleration, seeing what it can top out at is always fun. Was thinking of a 22/41 set up but see a lot of the cat guys going to 21/38.
Would like to get into the 130’s but don’t want to sacrifice too much down low. Any experience?
 
22/41 will get you into the 130s but not as efficiently as 21/38.
 
21/38= 1.80
22/41= 1.86
Not a huge difference but 1.80 will get you more top end.
 
21/38= 1.80
22/41= 1.86
Not a huge difference but 1.80 will get you more top end.
Ya,not huge between the two,i did the 21/38 early in the year,but had to drop it when I broke a chain,not the chains fault,as it was BorgWarner gears and hyvo chain,wrong chain got ordered,so I had the 22 top and stock chain,and its been in ever since,and runs great,i think either one works good.
 
I attribute the 22 top gear to some of my belt issues, I'll be going back to 21 in the off season. I've not had the room to get above 126 anyway.
 
What's the best top speed seen with stock gearing?
 
Ive seen 128 a few times and think it could hit 130 if i held it
 
125 on mine... garmin gps
 
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I don’t know anyone running in the 130’s with the 21/41 that’s why I’m asking.
 
Best I ever saw was 129 speedo I'm running stock LTX gearing. Was 125 gps. Trail was very hard packed and a little bumpy well bumpy at that speed. I think that's about tops for the gearing maybe a mph or two on a glare ice run. Dealer near me cuts the clutches and claims about a 10 mph gain. I've heard the sidewinder clutches have more overdrive than past Yamaha clutches but he still does this mod. Not sure how much it effects the low end grunt if it does at all like a 22 top gear might.
 
I have stock 18 RTX Sidewinder...put 1361 miles on it this year. Performance Kept improving all season...and has really woke up once past 1000 miles..and fuel economy has improved quite noticeably as well once past 1000 miles. Love the machine.

Rode with a buddy who had a stock 18 LTX, and neither one of us saw anything above 105 mph in the first 500 miles. The fastest I’ve seen this season was the day before I put it away 2 weeks sgo, and that was 112 mph on a studdery bumpy lake with fluffy wet snow at 34 degrees (ya not the best conditions for top speed runs). Had that been a flat hard frozen trail or lake, I believe the sled would have gone much faster than 112 mph.

Is the stock gearing in my RTX 21/41? Or something different??

You guys seeing 125 mph and 129 mph stock, and stock gearing, must be seeing these speeds on cold/hard pristine/perfect conditions.
 
What's the best top speed seen with stock gearing?
Stock 21/41 my best GPS was 192km/h =120mph
This year 250+hp 22/41 best GPS 203km/h=127mph

Full suspension for trail riding no "go fast" adjustment
 
I can flirt with 130 when the conditions are ideal. My sled has stock gearing, TD (Dalton) clutching, TD Max Spool 17, TD CAI, TD Turbo Force muffler, Turbo Smart BOV, & GAP 3 Bar MAP sensor.

My only problem is poor belt life. Aggressive trail riding with some lake running only yields about 300 - 500 miles of belt life before the belt fails catastrophically. It usually happens after getting out of and back into the throttle (backshift) which snaps the shredded belt in half.
 
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Running a 137 with the option to run up to 280hp. Although I love my corner to corner acceleration, seeing what it can top out at is always fun. Was thinking of a 22/41 set up but see a lot of the cat guys going to 21/38.
Would like to get into the 130’s but don’t want to sacrifice too much down low. Any experience?

Here are my test results running Eco Trail (250hp) tuned sleds on hard pack snow on railroad bed: Cat with 24/50 runs 124mph, while the Winder with 21/41 runs 126. Winder with 22/41 runs 132mph.
 
Here are my test results running Eco Trail (250hp) tuned sleds on hard pack snow on railroad bed: Cat with 24/50 runs 124mph, while the Winder with 21/41 runs 126. Winder with 22/41 runs 132mph.

Fleecer did you lose any bottom end with the 22/41 gear, verse the 21/41 stock set up? Was it soft out of the hole??
 


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