Did you ever change the gearing? I'm going on a 10-day trip this weekend so took it to a shop for an oil change and general look through and asked about changing the sprockets. They're worn so figured I should change both of them as well as the chain. The guy said he could change it to a 46. But going from 56-46 seems like a big change. I plan on mostly driving small dirt roads and will be heading into mountains and very sandy/muddy terrain. Don't want to lose too much low-end. And I don't care for driving fast so I'm kind of wary about the gearing. I also like having the extra acceleration for city driving. As it I pass just about everyone and on highways drive faster than most too. Maybe the tires (Michelins, goodbut not available here and out of my budget) are part of the equation. I'm also getting semi-knobbys put on but will keep the Michelins as I think they still have some life to them and are great for road use (hardly any vibrations and getting nice speed).

Worried about near knobbys might just be noisy on pavement and reduce any benefits regarding top speed. But I don't think the guy had anything bigger than 46. Did you ever change the rear sprocket? Is the acceleration/top-speed difference quite noticeable? Did it make a big difference in off-road performance?