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Shaft vs Chain vs belt


James in Brum
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I have a BMW K1200S which is a shaft drive. Needs a final drive oil change once a year which takes about 30 minutes to do, so no worrying about chains slackening off and needing lube for 12 months.


Can't think of any downsides to be honest. The final drive on mine handles around 170bhp and is pretty slick.


Just to add, I rode chain driven bikes for over 20 years so can compare the two.

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If I remember right the two main downsides to a shaft are it's heavier and it absorbs more power from the engine than a chain. On larger bikes that isn't an issue. The positives are that it needs less maintenance and is cleaner.


For lower output engines belts are cleaner, less maintenance and transfer energy efficiently.


However tradition demands that real motorbikes have chains so you lose macho points for both belts and shafts.

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I really wish (sometimes) that the Africa Twin was a belt drive.


All the benefits of a chain with none of the downsides. Once its fitted it, never needs adjustment. lubrication or anything at all aside from an occasional exam.. you know its starting to wear out when it loses a tooth. (block) Sprockets are eternal. It weighs next to nothing. doesnt suffer from 'snatch'.. very smooth. very smooth. and will last at least 30,000 miles or thereabouts. changing the belt is the simplest job of all. take off covers, pull old belt off. push new belt on. check tension. done.


Occasionally.. rarely shit happens and these things can snap. just think about what can possibly happen when a chain snaps. just think about that for a moment.


If a belt snaps.. it just drops off the back of the bike and the engine redlines. and you roll to a stop. but the chances of that happening are next to nothing. not even worth worrying about. just have a look at the belt every month or so. make sure its intact. no missing teeth or signs of perishing.


Shafts are extremely reliable.. when maintained properly. and thats all about using the correct spec gear oil and following the schedule. However.. when they break. That means parts, parts that you cannot usually pop to your local bike shop for. I can get a new chain and sprocket for my bike tomorrow morning at 9. Cant do that with a shaft. and you need equipment to fix a shaft if the bike doesn't self support on a main stand. its not something you can easily do at home. back yard. etc. but that wouldnt (never did) put me off... of all the things that went wrong with my GS over the 20+ years I owned it.. the shaft was perfect. maintenance cost me £10 a time.. a bottle of GL5 gear oil.. and a couple of sockets. and 10 minutes.

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you cant really go wrong with any modern shaft driven bike. But you do need to be fussy with BMWs. and not because of the shaft. Avoid any modern BMW with servo brakes. And don't be surprised if you see bikes that have been converted, servo removed. with modern K bikes, ask [mention]rob m[/mention]


Ive only ever owned one.. and that was an older 'brick' I had to get rid of it because my license was in danger. it was so well designed speed became impossible to gauge except by looking at the speedo. when you think you're pootling along at 60 and actually doing over 100. its time to reconsider.

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Well I've had a belt drive for over a year now . It's pretty much maintenance free but I do inspect it occasionally . The only downside of a belt is that if , by a freak occurrence , a sharp object bounced off the road and got between the belt and pulleys it could cut through it .

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@Stu you used to like bragging about your shaft :?

 

Nothing wrong with my shaft :mrgreen:


I lube it every so often then forget about it :D



When I say lube it I just change the oil in the final drive

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you cant really go wrong with any modern shaft driven bike. But you do need to be fussy with BMWs. and not because of the shaft. Avoid any modern BMW with servo brakes. And don't be surprised if you see bikes that have been converted, servo removed. with modern K bikes, ask @rob m

 

The bypassed servo on the BMW range from about 2002-2007 is an advantage to be honest. By doing this, you lose the ABS but you gain non-linked brakes and the lack of paranoia of the whole system going tits up. I've had two K1200S's, the first had the dreaded servo failure and I had it bypassed and my current one had it already done. Without the servo, the brakes are strong and progressive. No worries at all.


The K1200S is a unique bike though. The clutch isn't the greatest but can be sorted and the cam chain tensioner needs an upgrade. The fuel strip screws up too but that can be worked around. BMW sorted all this out on the K1300S, which to be fair is bombproof.


Other than that, if you can live with it, the K1200S is an outstanding bike. I love them. Sooo much power and torque. I nabbed my latest one for £2K. Bargain.

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I've had 6 BMw's, 5 of them with shaft drive. I like the shaft drive, like others have said, no messing around with chain lube or chain oiler, especially when the weather is crap when touring. However, shaft drives are costlier to repair and heavier (nothing different to what others have said). Now looking to change the current BMW shaft drive with servo assisted ABS brakes for something else. The choice certainly doesn't put me off either type of propelled machine. The BM does seem to be smoother than my little MT07 commuter. Id have another shaft drive, just want something different than a BM this time, so chain drive it will probably be :D :thumb:

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I bought my first shaft-drive bike in 1991, a Yamaha XJ900F. Over the next 14 years and 100,000 miles The shaft drive gave me no problems. I then bought a 1300 Pan European, did 100,000 miles on that in 4 years, again, no shaft problems. I bought another Pan and did 180,000 miles in 8 years. So, over a total of 380,000 miles with shaft drives the only maintenence has been changing the final drive oil at the required intervals. If I had been on chain-driven bikes I wonder how many times I would have had to adjust the chain, lubricate the chain and replace chain and sprockets? To me it's a no-brainer, shaft every time. As for the theory that shaft-drive takes more power than chain; well, the Yamaha TownMate of 80cc had shaft drive and they are sought after bikes now!

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Had 3 chain bikes and currently ST1300 with drive shaft.

Other than every 6 months have a quick check on oil level and replace it every 2 years there us nothing much to do with it.

No longer chain lubricating, adjusting the slack or ride to the garage to have the set replaced.

If a drive shaft goes wrong then it is expensive but how often that happen? ;) :thumb:

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Some BMW bikes were prone to final drive failures weren't they? You should check if the bike you're interested in is one of them

 

Lots (all?) of BMWs before mid-90's ish (crown wheel bearings and heavy spline wear), Guzzis (mostly crown wheel bearings I think), early NT700Vs lacked grease on the splines and were often not properly greased up by dealers so those wore out. All Yamahas and Kawasakis seem to be genuinely bulletproof.


Having lived with a problematic shaft drive bike (the K100) I really do appreciate the ubiquity of chains and the ease of servicing. If belts were more common then they would be even better, especially if they were enclosed/caged to stop sharp bits getting to them, but they're not. There again it'd be no problem to take a spare belt with you on a trip..

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Some BMW bikes were prone to final drive failures weren't they? You should check if the bike you're interested in is one of them

 

Lots (all?) of BMWs before mid-90's ish (crown wheel bearings and heavy spline wear), Guzzis (mostly crown wheel bearings I think), early NT700Vs lacked grease on the splines and were often not properly greased up by dealers so those wore out. All Yamahas and Kawasakis seem to be genuinely bulletproof.


Having lived with a problematic shaft drive bike (the K100) I really do appreciate the ubiquity of chains and the ease of servicing. If belts were more common then they would be even better, especially if they were enclosed/caged to stop sharp bits getting to them, but they're not. There again it'd be no problem to take a spare belt with you on a trip..

 

Doesn't replacing a drive belt usually entail removing the swingarm? .. I'm sure I read it somewhere.


I once saw a Harley snap his drive belt when taking off from traffic lights! .. That sort of put me off them.

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Doesn't replacing a drive belt usually entail removing the swingarm? .. I'm sure I read it somewhere.

 

perhaps, for Harley Davidson bikes. I have no idea.. maybe [mention]fastbob[/mention] can answer that.


its definitely not like that for the BMW F800+ series bikes that have it.. all but 1 model were belt drive. I had an F800S for a few years, 15 minutes to change the belt.


a video. (not me)


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Doesn't replacing a drive belt usually entail removing the swingarm? .. I'm sure I read it somewhere.

 

perhaps, for Harley Davidson bikes. I have no idea.. maybe @fastbob can answer that.


its definitely not like that for the BMW F800+ series bikes that have it.. all but 1 model were belt drive. I had an F800S for a few years, 15 minutes to change the belt.


a video. (not me)


 

Yep! That's a lot easier than a Harley! Its a 6 - 8 hour job on one of those!


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Doesn't replacing a drive belt usually entail removing the swingarm? .. I'm sure I read it somewhere.

 

perhaps, for Harley Davidson bikes. I have no idea.. maybe @fastbob can answer that.


its definitely not like that for the BMW F800+ series bikes that have it.. all but 1 model were belt drive. I had an F800S for a few years, 15 minutes to change the belt.


a video. (not me)


 

Not on Sportsters where the belt is on the right but on Big Twins where it's on the left it's a days work .

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Doesn't replacing a drive belt usually entail removing the swingarm? .. I'm sure I read it somewhere.

 

Normally yes, but at least if you can get somewhere with the tools (and the stands if it's silly and doesn't have a centre stand) it's just labour and you're not waiting for parts. It's a much better situation to be in than if your shaft drive fails, then you're really up the creek!

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