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Old August 4th, 2011, 07:24 PM   #1
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shaft drive?

does anyone have a bike with a shaft drive? how is it? do you like it? are there any downsides? what kind of maintenance is there? why don't more bikes run with shaft drives? just expense & weight?
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Old August 4th, 2011, 07:29 PM   #2
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lots less maintenance as I understand.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 07:39 PM   #3
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Yup. Advantage is zero maintenance, it just works. Great for a long distance bike. Disadvantages are that if it does fail, it's typically a problem that will disable the bike, as opposed to a chain that can be replaced while en route. It's also harder to change gear ratios, with no easy sprocket swaps like chain drive. There used to be handling issues with older shaft driven bikes, but with most of the modern designs (anything in the last 10 years or so), most of the handling quirks have been ironed out. The bikes behave just as any other, and don't require any special techniques or compensations for the drivetrain.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 07:43 PM   #4
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sounds pretty nice... how common is failure though?
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Old August 4th, 2011, 07:45 PM   #5
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Very uncommon. But BMW in particular has had some issues with their shaft drives, and there have been some very public failures in long distance rallies. They've redesigned them a few times, and the vast majority of people will never have a problem. But that's little consolation if it happens to happen to you.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 07:47 PM   #6
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I had a Honda Nitehawk 650 with shaft drive and I loved the instant power to the rear wheel, no chain lag. The only thing I did not like, as Alex pointed out, was handling in the corners while aplying the throttle.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 09:28 PM   #7
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The shaft drive on both my Suzuki S50 and my Honda PC800 are very smooth and flawless and quiet and I know of people who have 140,000 miles on the S50 and over 200,000 miles on the PC800 and never had a problem with it. There was a problem on the Suzuki M50 at about 30,000 miles but that was due to improper lubrication at the factory during assembly and required replacement of internal parts (gears) and has been corrected and has not recurred. These things are usually very reliable as well as maintenance free.
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Old August 5th, 2011, 04:07 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Snake View Post
I had a Honda Nitehawk 650 with shaft drive and I loved the instant power to the rear wheel, no chain lag.
It's not the chain as much as it is the Cush drive. You can take the lash out of it with some shims but you run the risk of premature chain & sprocket wear if you're really hard on your shifts.
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Old August 5th, 2011, 04:14 AM   #9
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I've had a couple V45 Magnas and a V65 Magna, all with shaft drive. The drives were smooth n quiet. I did shear the splines on one of the 45's, but that bike had a hard life. I used to drag it a lot and generally beat the piss outta it. I had to push that bike 6 miles home.

The rear tires break loose pretty easy because when you get on the gas, the rear end lifts. The pinion gear is trying to "climb" the ring gear, which lifts the bike. I used to joke that I could smack the throttle on the 1100 and lift both wheels off the ground. The bike did look like it could, but in reality it never got off the ground
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