I am glad you asked that question. At home I use a socket and a 14" long ratchet. Anybody remember what size the sprocket nut is? Instead of carrying the weight of my home tools, I am thinking that a stubby box end wrench with a cheater pipe that can double as a jack stand for removing wheels may work. I get by with a 14" wrench by stepping on the rear brake hard and pushing the wrench with my left foot. I definitely want to minimize weight and also practice at home the theories I develop sitting around that might not work in the bush. I probably will not need to worry with sprockets until I reach Colorado, maybe Oklahoma if the mud there has me overheating my clutch. That won't happen on my first sally as I intend to do the eastern half only for the first year and the western half the following year. I do intend to start the trip with an all new clutch with some extra-stiff clutch springs to guard against unintended slippage and suffer a harder lever pull. Suddenly I am sensing that this maybe a somewhat quixotic adventure but riding solo I won't have a companion to taunt me.

 

Sounds like you've given it some good thought, and I can see a creative method like that working in the field when done carefully. The lack of a torque wrench really isn't absolute if you have a decent feel of "just about right". I've done lots of things off of a motorcycle over the years, but traveling on a small motorcycle, across country, with all your self sustained gear is not one I have ever lusted after...LOL! My hat's off to those who do, and I bet you'll get it done.

 

My current combination is indeed 13/50. I haven't attempted to make a top speed run but something north of 8000rpm for 65mph seems about right. It's turning 6500 or so at 55mph.

I'm fortunate to live about 4 miles from BLM land and maybe 20 miles from national forest lands. The road between home and BLM/national forest is posted 50mph so I really have no need to do anything more than 55ish.

Good call on watching for overheating when riding with my boy. I'll certainly monitor.

 

I was able to ride about 60 miles yesterday -- the first significant outing with the new 13/50 combo. What should have made for glorious blue sky views in mid September were spoiled by the large amounts of smoke blowing in from fires burning a few hundred miles to the west.

First of all, I noticed my stock speedo is erroneous by 10-12% compared to GPS indicated. 62mph on the speedo is really only about 55mph per GPS. I had never bothered to check this previously, and curious if this is normal on other bikes?

Second, at 65mph the engine is turning north of 8500rpm. Again, this is not a concern for me personally but I can absolutely see how it would be an issue with others.

I am still quite happy with the 50t rear. I was mostly riding desert two-track roads with ruts, humps, bumps, whoops and the like, cruising at 25-30mph in mosty 3rd and 4th gear. In 3rd gear especially, lifting the front tire to speed over ruts is easy with a little throttle and pull of the handlebars. Not surprisingly, it pulls a lot better from low rpm.

I encountered a very rocky ~1 mile stretch of road as I dropped about 1000ft elevation going from the rim of the plateau down to the Snake River. I stopped at a convenient place to snap a couple of photos but they don't really do it justice. It was pretty gnarly: steep, rocky, dusty, with some loose sand type stuff thrown in for good measure. This would have SUCKED with my stock 14/42 gearing. But the 13/50 combo allowed me to easily stand up on the pegs, and lug it up out of there in granny gear (what I now call 1st gear).

I'm liking this setup a lot. Looking forward to some single track later this month and into October.