Anyone changed the gearing on their Inspired Fourplay? Couple of questions.

[Rip]

Mine has 22T front and 16T rear which I believe is standard and it seems just that little bit too high a gear for me, if I roll up to something at walking pace there is not enough gearing for me to kick it up something using the drivetrain, there's only so high I can hop without using the pedals. I find myself having to go very slow and do a full 360° pedal to get up even the smallest obstacles. 

I haven't taken the sprocket off this bike yet so I'm unsure what sprocket I need for the Hope Pro 4 hub and the KMC chain?

Would going down to a 15T on the rear make enough difference? (A bit subjective I know)

What tool do I need for removing the sprocket?

Would I have to take a link out of the chain to tighten up the chain tensioner?

Can I split this chain with a regular chain tool?

[Private Repress]

A regular chain tool will split that chain no problem. 
 

I ride a 22t chain ring with a 16t on my fourplay and it feels right for me. I used to ride a 15t on my other 24 inch bike (Ashton ET) but found that static moves felt ‘heavy’. Swapping it to a 16t made a positive difference. 

That said it’s all about preference and technique, both 15&16t sprockets tend to be the norm on a 24inch trials bike. You will certainly notice the difference between the two - certainly worth trying it out as it’s very little cost.

Any single speed sprocket should work with that chain - you’ll want a Shimano spline compatible sprocket, if in doubt give Tarty bikes a bell and they’ll have one for you.

Another factor is your crank arm length, the longer the crank arm, the more leverage you will get and the ‘easier’ the gearing will feel. I personally use 175mm cranks for maximum leverage. 
 

hope this helps 

[Mark W]

For a street trials bike, learning to bunnyhop stuff without pedalling is the way to go. They work much better for that, at which point the gearing is kind of a non-issue and you can keep it around 22:16-ish to keep it sweet for more static trials moves. If you're changing, don't change the rear by more than 1 or 2 teeth. It has a much more pronounced impact than changing the front. As an example, with BMX gearing if you dropped 1 tooth at the rear, that was equivalent to 3 up front.

The Gusset Double Six, Trialtech Sport Splined, Shimano DX or anything along those lines will work fine with that setup. Those sprockets are all compatible with 3/32" which is what you'll need. You'll need a chain whip and a cassette lockring tool to take the old sprocket off.

A regular chain tool will do the trick for that particular chain, and you'll need to take a link out if you drop down to 15t. It looks like you could get away with taking another link out as it is with 22:16, so with that bit of extra slack you'll generate I'd get one whipped out.

[Rip]

13 minutes ago, Mark W said:

For a street trials bike, learning to bunnyhop stuff without pedalling is the way to go. They work much better for that, at which point the gearing is kind of a non-issue and you can keep it around 22:16-ish to keep it sweet for more static trials moves. If you're changing, don't change the rear by more than 1 or 2 teeth. It has a much more pronounced impact than changing the front. As an example, with BMX gearing if you dropped 1 tooth at the rear, that was equivalent to 3 up front.

The Gusset Double Six, Trialtech Sport Splined, Shimano DX or anything along those lines will work fine with that setup. Those sprockets are all compatible with 3/32" which is what you'll need. You'll need a chain whip and a cassette lockring tool to take the old sprocket off.

A regular chain tool will do the trick for that particular chain, and you'll need to take a link out if you drop down to 15t. It looks like you could get away with taking another link out as it is with 22:16, so with that bit of extra slack you'll generate I'd get one whipped out.

I thought that might be the case, I've not ridden trials for about 15 years and when I did I always had my gearing just a tad lower than what my current bike has so it all just feels a bit light to me. I'll kind of stick with it but for the sake of a low cost I will try a 15t as well just to see. And yeah I thought about taking a link out already with the 16T so would probably definitely need to take one out with a 15T. 

[Mark W]

This is the 2020 Fourplay, but the CS length is the same as the 2019 one - you should be able to take a link out and get the tensioner angled more like this. It gets close to the stay so you might need to be careful when lining it up, but it does work...

 

[Rip]

16 minutes ago, Mark W said:

This is the 2020 Fourplay, but the CS length is the same as the 2019 one - you should be able to take a link out and get the tensioner angled more like this. It gets close to the stay so you might need to be careful when lining it up, but it does work...

 

Sweet, I'll give it a go.