I understand your reservations but I ride tight trails all the time and when I finish my engine I'll be running my 16/40 again. You need to decide what gears do you normally ride in when you ride your trails? My guess is you're always higher than first especially with 13/41? If you up that front tooth count you can make a rideable first gear. For me my shee came 12/41 and I was running 4th-5th in my short straight aways and I'd downshift to high revs second for the tight stuff. With 15/40 sometimes I may shift down to first but for the most part I run in second and third on the same trails and do a lot less shifting and run much faster overall times. Take a shee out in the open geared 16/40 and actually hit sixth all your riding buds will have run out of gear at 4th. It's worth a try for the $12 for a front sprocket.