If you but a gear set of modern ,manufacture, you might get better steel. I used a 4 speed close ratio set for racing. I tired using the standard ratio and it was simply appalling - too slow everywhere. A close box gives you much better acceleration as you come up through the gears, and it is much smoother coming down. So you become all round faster. It might be wasted on a road bike. The only problem I has with the close ratios was first gear was too high. If I was going to use a 4-speed close set in a road bike, I would use the standard first gear and live with the gap between first and second.
A while back, I made a conscious choice to race me Seeley 850 instead of a TZ350G. I sold the TZ and bought a 6 speed TTI box, which I still have not used in anger. The next time i race, if ever - I will not be making slow starts in races. I will burn their backsides. A lot of the secret of going fat on a motorcycle, lies in the gearbox. If you have not got it, you have not got the bike you need.
Your point is that a close ratio box is for racing where it offers less compromise to external conditions and using it assumes it is all about keeping revs above a given threshold.
The biggest issue will always be first gear being too high for most standing start events, ask a Goldie owner who still has the RRT2 box about that, a race box delivered in volume on a 'road bike'!
When race bikes were push started high first gears were never a problem, often they made life easier because you could start the bike in that gear, the Daytona gear was only important to maintain a kick start provision as required by regulations, and you were not expected to need the gear again after the start!
Since ratios are a simple choice for a manufacture of road motorcycles resolved by testing in road conditions, the cost of individually selected ratios isn't an issue. We know they didn't always get it right, but broadly they provide a set of compromises that suite
most road situations.
Ludwig describes a compromise that suits him better due to his specific riding environment. Most riders and their local environments don't need to make that additional compromise and are well suited by the road gearbox!
The only way to significantly improve things across the spectrum is to do what you did, add one or more ratios allowing each ratio gap to be smaller! The cost benefit of this will not be appropriate for most members of this forum! 25 to 30% of the value of the bike! Not every rider will enjoy the extra gear changes demanded by the extra gears and will end up loping along in one or two of the ratios most of the time. And the chances are that the first gear ratio will still be too high in a product primarily aimed at racing, unless you are very specific about your needs, and select your primary and final drive ratios to suit!
On my Rickman with a 5 speed TTI, a high primary ratio but a low final ratio suited to small and tight French circuits, I still would not want to ride to the shops with the first gear fitted!
