Gear ratios for 530 chains

Getting ready to ordering a new 530 chain setup for the 1000 and I can see the back sprocket is a 38 but I haven't tore into the bike yet so does anyone know what the front sprocket should be for a stockish ride?
I like the take off and cruise/tach range, it is close to stock maybe a hair peppier with slightly higher R's
I'm going to contact Z1E and see if they can look up my last order but I think they changed the front and back sprocket sizes from the first set I bought many moons ago
So if anybody is running 530's in the stock output range I would like to know what your set up is.
Thanks,
JD

I suspect the sprocket sizes are different between the KZ650 and the KZ1000 so this may not help much, but the stock sprocket sizes for the 1977 KZ650 are 16T and 42T. Ed

Thanks Ed, I was wondering about that, I think when I have 70 mph on the speedo I have around 4200 on the tach

According to the parts fishe your bike uses 15T front and 33T rear sprockets. Chain is 92 links.

18T/40T and 110 links is 530 equivalent

2.2 to 1 is the average final drive ratio so aim for that regardless of tooth count.
530 pitch runs a smaller radius than 630 for the same amount of teeth so go for the biggest you can get for the front to keep the chain away from the swingarm.
As mentioned above, 18/40 is around where you want to be.
Biggest practical front for 530 is 19t..

Awesome! great information fellas thank you

Yeah, thanks for this info. Was just about to go searching for it!

I found a old/bad pic of the first set of 530 I bought before Z1E made the move and I think I count 18 teeth on the front sprocket, don't know what happened on the second set but I will be ordering 18T / 40T this time, thanks again guys

I tried the 18/40 ratio on my 900 and found it was to tall. I'd be doing 80 in 2nd gear and hardly use 5th unless above 75, I ended up at 16/40 .

Z1/KZ900's had a different ratio from KZ1000's. The 900's run 35/15, or 2.33.

The optional close ratio transmission makes for a very tall first gear...I can ride around at 30 mph in first gear with 35/15 sprockets.

hardrockminer wrote: Z1/KZ900's had a different ratio from KZ1000's. The 900's run 35/15, or 2.33.

The optional close ratio transmission makes for a very tall first gear...I can ride around at 30 mph in first gear with 35/15 sprockets.

I love the close ratio transmissions. The 1st gear ratio in the stock trans is 3.17. The C.R. trans is 2.50. It gives me a 55MPH first gear on my Kz1000!!! Plus it doesn't want to start hopping the rear wheel when you downshift from 2nd to 1st like the stock trans does!!!

That tranny caused me to tear the engine down to the cases five times because I didn't know I had one and I was trying to put a kick start on a bike I had purchased without one. Couldn't find the cause of the rat a tat tat sound coming from the kick start. Finally I counted teeth on #1 gear and realized it wasn't standard. It was good practice though!