Where are all the shaft drive bikes ?

Clem you know I prefer shaft drive bikes... (I guess I've made that
pretty clear in the news group as well).

But seriously... I find it easy to feel the shaft drive effect and the
extra unsprung weight of a shaft drive system. I ride around it, and it
doesn't effect my speed much... but it does require me to commit to
cornering lines earlier and not change lines mid corner as much.

It also has an effect on trail braking into corners (which I use on
chain drive bikes to tighten my line into a corner), but due to the
shaft drive reaction trail braking a shaft drive bike has a different
effect into a corner on the bikes line.

It's isn't so much about 'grip' as it is about traction and the ability
to alter ones direction on _short_ notice when cranked over.

Also extra unsprung weight means that the rear tyre doesn't follow
irregularities in the surface as cleanly, which on a bumpy road can
cause a shaft drive bike to have the back end step out rather than
spinning up the rear tyre cleanly on exit from a corner.

It doesn't always happen... but it can, so I tend to allow for just a
little less rear end functionality when I'm on one of my shafties


G-S

 

I would think that one would have to lube ones chain more often than
just the day before each GP and supers race


G-S

 

This is one of those "Do as I say not as I do" things...

 

On the XLV, you don't lube the splines unless you're dismantling them
for other reasons. So, smear a fingerful of Moly grease on the rear
wheel splines when you change tyres, and ditto the uni joint splines
if you remove the engine or the swingarm. I drain and fill the final
drive oil every time I change the engine oil, but that's largely because
it's cheap and takes no significant extra time.

I'm not impressed by the BMW paralever setup either ... :-(.

-----sharks

 

I had to buy a lighter bike to make up for the pork I've put on since I
started this MBA (no time for exercise is not good !)

JL
when's the next u-littlies ride ? need to get the KR1 and the DNA out
for a run some time soon.

 

Hope you still have that weather station!

Hammo

 

I don't think so, we'll have finished having this year's rain by the
weekend I suspect. Aside from which I went for a ride in the rain on
Sunday and not because I was stuck having to get from somewhere to home
either.

JL
(not made of sugar, don't dissolve in the rain, need new wets though)

 

250TS Twin smoker.
http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/moto_guzzi_250_ts_1975.php
Even the same colour.

Theo

 

My first solo ride was on a 1940's BSA single. Any sprung weight would have
been great.

Theo

 

Does it matter if the idle jets are blocked? Or aren't they 'idle'?

Theo

 

I'll bet Hammo thought people were looking at him.

Theo

 

We were into camping/touring weekends and it really was not suitable for
that, so we traded it on a V65SP.

Theo

 

It's not a good idea to take your eyes off him.......


Moike

 

Funny mirror setup,

Moike
(and those indicators don't look very useful)

 

Or aren't they 'idle'?

they are at the moment!

 

I think it's supposed to be a catch-22 situation.

It supposedly has good cleaning agents, which means that the first few
times you use it, the shit from your tank and lines ends up in your
filter or carby jets. After that, it keeps everything clean - except if
you leave the stuff in your tank for a while it goes off and deposits
shit everywhere. And all that is the rumour.

Truth be known, I've used it in car and two bikes (all fuel injected,
though) and haven't had a problem.

---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s (gone on to better and brighter things - I hope)
'87 BMW K100RT (write-off)
'81 Yamaha Virago (XV) 750H (work in progress)
'01 Yamaha FJR1300

www.dmcsc.org.au
http://eladesom.com.au/ulysses/
# 37181

 

*wanders off singing* I'm too sexy for this bike... [1]


G-S

[1] Well... I could own a CT110 ;-)

 

Sure, sure. Have you ever toured with it though?
Hammo

 

I'd have bought the ZRX1200R with a shaft drive or without, but it's the
sort of bike that makes sense to have a shaft drive on... so you could
say I bought it despite the chain.... which is the case with most of the
chain drive bikes I've bought.

OTOH I don't think they are stupid for not insisting on it, coz I don't
reckon insisting would work!

One of my all time favourite jap bikes is the Suzuki GS1100G (not the
GS1000S that most people rave about).


G-S

 

If it only has application outside top-level race series then why is the
effect strong enough to slow me down (compared to a similar chain drive
bike) on a less than smooth roads when I'm in hoon mode?

OK... I admit that maybe not everyone rides shafties that hard... but I
know at least one other person than I that does down this way, and he
says the same thing.

Strangely it isn't such an issue on a race track because they are mostly
pretty smooth...


G-S