Hi, Wanted to drop a tooth on the front sprocket of my track bike. Read somewhere that I will need to change the chain and rear sprocket at the same time. Is this really the case, will it wear them out that quickly? goes from cheap performance mod to almost the price of two track days.
You won't need a new chain for one drop on the front. It's good practice to replace the chain and sprockets as a set as worn parts will wear the new out quicker. Unless the rear sprocket and chain are hanging though, and for the cost of a front, I'd just suggest fit the front and see how you like it. When the set is ready for a change then do them all.
The only major issure you might encounter about dropping the front sprocket is the chain rubbing on the rear swingarm, this can happen on a race bike where the geometry has been changed in either the rake or trail of the bike to lower the whole bike for a flat set up. Depending on your current set up it is hard to say without looking to see if you have suffecient travel in the rear swingarm.
