Quite often people just gear down without a thought to what gear or predominant speed they need, a WR450f has a substainally lower first gear than my YZ250 (14/51 for snotty walking pace rainforest kangaroo track, 15/51 for more traditional singletrack trailrides)so from a distance of not owning one but having ridden a few, running a 14/52 on a 450 must almost make low gear redundant in most situations, instant tyre melt or flip if throttle not applied with caution?. If it is a problem that first is too low and second too high, think outside of the (gear)box, instead gear it up & make low your new bestest buddy, it will space the gears out in your bike, enabling you to be smoother and concentrate on body movementrather than gear selection, gearing a bike down also means you’ll be foot tapping more, as the gears become closer together, and for me that is a big reason to own a lazy big-bore and let’s face it a WR450 does a beaut spread of power, this gives you lazy long legs in top for those transport sections and a usuable low gear for goat tracks.
just a different approach to it that may apply, rather than a blanket response.
Mr Blue
(if I was green I would die)
