Chain Driven vs Shaft Driven
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233 Posts
hi
i like the chains on bikes , no twisting when you rev bikes.sports bikes ,however lot of messing about adjusting cleaning , shorter lifespan.
cleaning is a bugbear in winter ...ok for fair weather.
shafts have a long shelf life ,saying this bmw have had a few issues with the final drives
expensive fix ..
they are smoother ride ,less to worry about ,no cleaning issues .covered up so no worry about things getting caught.
with my chain bikes i use i am always messing about with them which now find tiresome and get fed up of wiping oil and grease spots off just about everything .
nice to have a change .
for me it would be a shaft for winter riding and a chain for summer on a sports bike .
i like the chains on bikes , no twisting when you rev bikes.sports bikes ,however lot of messing about adjusting cleaning , shorter lifespan.
cleaning is a bugbear in winter ...ok for fair weather.
shafts have a long shelf life ,saying this bmw have had a few issues with the final drives
expensive fix ..
they are smoother ride ,less to worry about ,no cleaning issues .covered up so no worry about things getting caught.
with my chain bikes i use i am always messing about with them which now find tiresome and get fed up of wiping oil and grease spots off just about everything .
nice to have a change .
for me it would be a shaft for winter riding and a chain for summer on a sports bike .
Joined
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274 Posts
shaft driven boxer twins were the Nazi bike of choice because they were more reliable in the desert of the african battelfronts and the muddy european ones...
I do like chains because you can fiddle with the sprockets quite easily and quickly tweak your top end or low end grunt...
I do like chains because you can fiddle with the sprockets quite easily and quickly tweak your top end or low end grunt...
Joined
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274 Posts
exactlyits a pros and cons sort of thing. thats why you have more than 1 motorcycle
BUT
If you had to choose one to live with which would it be, shaft or chain?
this is why i prefer a chain setup, i like to get more out of my bikes and even tweaking and fine tuning them to my liking, this is one of the ways to do it.
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233 Posts
Hi
Ohh see that chain moving on the vid.
Many years back had one snap on a z1000 .wrapped it self round front sprocket and destroyed frount case.total rebuild.
After about 1985 most bikes come with linkless chains.
Ohh see that chain moving on the vid.
Many years back had one snap on a z1000 .wrapped it self round front sprocket and destroyed frount case.total rebuild.
After about 1985 most bikes come with linkless chains.
some great advantages listed:
Advantages:
- Light weight
- Easy to service (requires cleaning and retensioning)
- Smoothly absorbs shock loads from sudden acceleration, braking or road irregularities
- Final drive ratio can be changed by replacing the chain and sprockets
- Better fuel economy
those are advantages of chain though.
NineT is shaft.
Shaft pros and cons
Advantages:
NineT is shaft.
Shaft pros and cons
Advantages:
- Strong design ensures longevity
- Low maintenance (oil change only)
- Stiffens the swing arm
- Cleaner than a chain
- Facilitates rear wheel removal
- Heavy construction
- Early designs tended to transmit shocks to the rider
- Tendency to lock the rear wheel if down shifts did not match road speed
- Torque reaction can be felt by the rider (bike may tip to one side during acceleration or deceleration)
- Expensive to repair
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20 Posts
One thing that has been overlooked as an advantage for shaft drive is no alignment problems. Every time you adjust the chain you have to ensure you move the axle uniformly and maintain wheel alignment correctly. I've often found the adjuster and alignment marks to be not wholly correct.With shaft drive it's set from the factory and no adjustment required. Remove the wheel for a new tire and just bolt back on. Of course this goes in tandem with the single sided swing arm - if you have one on a chain bike as per a Honda VFR then you have the same advantage when changing a tire. The BMW single sided swing arm and shaft drive is a great feature and bikes after 2006 also have the convenient drain plug for chaining the final drive fluid. When the improved GS was launched in 2004 the final drive fluid was intended to be 'for life', however after a few issues the 2006 update came with a very convenient drain plug - changing the fluid in a pre 2006 was a lot of work - remove the wheel disconnect the paralever, swing the drive unit down and let gravity drain the fluid out of the fill hole. I won't miss that on the new RNineT !
This for me. Quiet, long life, no maintenance, clean.
I enjoy being able to just push the starter button and chuff into the sunrise whenever I feel it's time for a ride ... no tinkering needed, almost ever!, merely if I desire to wrench for pleasure - but not necessary to get the bike into the right mood for a trip, every trip, after every trip ...
I totally hate & intensely dislike mucking around with chains. Oiling, cleaning, adjusting, checking, overspray on my gear, buying Scottoilers .... it's just too much. I can't be bothered. Shaft drive is such a convenient technology - hey, even cars use'em
Disadvantages? (quote)... bike may tip tip one side under acceleration or deceleration? I have yet to find a rider so attuned to his boxer engine that he feels a disturbance-in-the-force whilst zipping through some twisties ... must be some Jedi-master who came up with that one ... perhaps it was too hard to find a certain amount of decent negative points re shaft drives? the journo needed to compensate creatively ....?
I totally hate & intensely dislike mucking around with chains. Oiling, cleaning, adjusting, checking, overspray on my gear, buying Scottoilers .... it's just too much. I can't be bothered. Shaft drive is such a convenient technology - hey, even cars use'em
Disadvantages? (quote)... bike may tip tip one side under acceleration or deceleration? I have yet to find a rider so attuned to his boxer engine that he feels a disturbance-in-the-force whilst zipping through some twisties ... must be some Jedi-master who came up with that one ...
perhaps it was too hard to find a certain amount of decent negative points re shaft drives? the journo needed to compensate creatively ....?
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375 Posts
Grease spots on bike and clothes, something to be replaced every 20k miles, maintenance every 300 miles.
I bought my first BMW because I was tired of chains.
Here is the ad I placed in a local bike shop in 1982 after I sold my chain drive bike:
Wanted: Shaft drive bike. Anything considered! CASH PAID.
You get the money, I get the shaft.
I still have that bike - 1967 R60/2.
I bought my first BMW because I was tired of chains.
Here is the ad I placed in a local bike shop in 1982 after I sold my chain drive bike:
Wanted: Shaft drive bike. Anything considered! CASH PAID.
You get the money, I get the shaft.
I still have that bike - 1967 R60/2.
Yep ditto for me on the shaft. I'm sure there is some cosmic level of performance advantage to be had for a chain over shaft - otherwise there would be at least a couple super bikes out there with a shaft - but there is not. I'll take the easy shaft over the less easy chain in my day-today world of real riding. A bit like women eh? High maintenance usually brings something to the table but reliable and comfortable have something to offer as well. Just saying...
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