Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to If you've been on the fence about installing a 19 tooth engine sprocket, take the dive.
This runs counter to what seems to be popular, swapping out the stock 18 for a 17 and maybe even swapping the rear sprocket for something with more teeth to reduce speed at a given RPM. Suzuki gave the Bandit a healthy dash of torque right from idle so why not use it?
The 19t is a really nice change for the Bandit 1250. First, it corrects the speedometer error. Now its within 1.5 mph of actual, still that much higher that true speed but close enough that it probably doesn't matter. The idea that Suzuki needs to help me not get speeding tickets by putting in a huge error seems a little big brother to me, I can read the speed limit signs thank you very much. No more econo cars lined up behind you because the speedo says 55 and you might be at 47, or 49 or who knows what.
Around town. 2nd on city streets makes even busy streets almost pleasant. You can even start in 2nd if you want, the 1250 has plenty of oomph and you never have to shift.
Country roads. 3rd becomes your friend. 3rd can take you around all but the tightest curves through open sweepers. No shifting. What you also get is super smooth transitions because there is linear power delivery at any legal speed and beyond if you must. If you ride two up, the backseat rider will appreciate it as much as you do because no matter how smooth you think you are, nothing is smoother than no shifting.
Highways. 4-5th rule here and those longer roads that beg for higher speeds but still have you paying attention? The 19t makes that a breeze.
Freeways. Even at 60 mph, 6th is workable and up to any other speed you want to go. The engine feels so relaxed but be careful, you look down and see the speedo indicating 75-80 or more and guess what? You really are going that fast. None of this 80 indicated and actually doing maybe 74 or indicated 65 and you are really barely ticking over 56-59. If you need to lay down miles those roads that might seem like a long drone can now pass by rather quickly.
Think of 6th as the Texas gear with the 19t installed.
I didn't feel any discernible difference in vibration between the 18 and 19 sprockets at the same RPMs, just that you run at the higher speed with the 19.
Merging onto freeways is a little different, you can run up to speed in 2nd or 3rd and then snick up to 6th and move on. I also didn't find engine braking a difference that was noticeable, besides, there are 3 rather good sized disks to slow you down and they do a better job of that anyway.
For the light to light riders, the 19t isn't on the radar, when the tach gets near 7, 8 or 9 in any gear, your velocity is already so high that things happen in a big hurry. No, the 19t just takes advantage of the tremendous torque of the 1250 engine and gives you more of what you already have.
One tooth less on the rear would make the speedo exact but this is close enough. Take note that the 19t with stock rear sprocket gives you the least chain wear according to Gearing Commander.
So if you've been thinking about how a 19t works, it works just fine, it does not turn your 1250 into a slug, if anything it gives you more speed, some better fuel economy, lower chain/sprocket wear and makes 2nd more than just a pass through gear and 6th what it was meant to be, a here to there and smell the roses gear.
This runs counter to what seems to be popular, swapping out the stock 18 for a 17 and maybe even swapping the rear sprocket for something with more teeth to reduce speed at a given RPM. Suzuki gave the Bandit a healthy dash of torque right from idle so why not use it?
The 19t is a really nice change for the Bandit 1250. First, it corrects the speedometer error. Now its within 1.5 mph of actual, still that much higher that true speed but close enough that it probably doesn't matter. The idea that Suzuki needs to help me not get speeding tickets by putting in a huge error seems a little big brother to me, I can read the speed limit signs thank you very much. No more econo cars lined up behind you because the speedo says 55 and you might be at 47, or 49 or who knows what.
Around town. 2nd on city streets makes even busy streets almost pleasant. You can even start in 2nd if you want, the 1250 has plenty of oomph and you never have to shift.
Country roads. 3rd becomes your friend. 3rd can take you around all but the tightest curves through open sweepers. No shifting. What you also get is super smooth transitions because there is linear power delivery at any legal speed and beyond if you must. If you ride two up, the backseat rider will appreciate it as much as you do because no matter how smooth you think you are, nothing is smoother than no shifting.
Highways. 4-5th rule here and those longer roads that beg for higher speeds but still have you paying attention? The 19t makes that a breeze.
Freeways. Even at 60 mph, 6th is workable and up to any other speed you want to go. The engine feels so relaxed but be careful, you look down and see the speedo indicating 75-80 or more and guess what? You really are going that fast. None of this 80 indicated and actually doing maybe 74 or indicated 65 and you are really barely ticking over 56-59. If you need to lay down miles those roads that might seem like a long drone can now pass by rather quickly.
Think of 6th as the Texas gear with the 19t installed.
I didn't feel any discernible difference in vibration between the 18 and 19 sprockets at the same RPMs, just that you run at the higher speed with the 19.
Merging onto freeways is a little different, you can run up to speed in 2nd or 3rd and then snick up to 6th and move on. I also didn't find engine braking a difference that was noticeable, besides, there are 3 rather good sized disks to slow you down and they do a better job of that anyway.
For the light to light riders, the 19t isn't on the radar, when the tach gets near 7, 8 or 9 in any gear, your velocity is already so high that things happen in a big hurry. No, the 19t just takes advantage of the tremendous torque of the 1250 engine and gives you more of what you already have.
One tooth less on the rear would make the speedo exact but this is close enough. Take note that the 19t with stock rear sprocket gives you the least chain wear according to Gearing Commander.
So if you've been thinking about how a 19t works, it works just fine, it does not turn your 1250 into a slug, if anything it gives you more speed, some better fuel economy, lower chain/sprocket wear and makes 2nd more than just a pass through gear and 6th what it was meant to be, a here to there and smell the roses gear.
