Why did the shaft drive on bikes go out of fashion ?

Question

is it a torque problem thing..or are they hard to maintain ?

Answer 1

They are suppose to be lower maintenance.  But in general the chain is a very low tech and working solution.

Also the shaft drive has a problem with the wheel locking (just briefly) when down shifting (especially in wet weather) - and that could cause a wipe out.

Good Luck...

Answer 2

Shafts will accept torque far better than a chain, think about the changes of direction of movement, they are easy to generally maintain (a lot less than a chain) although a service is difficult but then that doesn't need to be performed often. The reason you won't find them on sportsbikes is that they are heavy in comparison to a chain system.

Answer 3

It didn't.

It was always the case that only a few bikes at any one time had shaft drive and that's still the case.

Off the top of my head I could probably think of at least 10 bikes that currently have shaft final drive and as a percentage of total bikes available that's about the same as it's ever been.

And that doesn't include the bikes I don't know about.

Answer 4

Shaft driven bikes out of fashion and torque problemos? Sez who? The new Vmax is shaft driven and its 200 horsepower!I ride a Vmax which gets me from 0 to 100 in 4 seconds.Still no torque?Then ride a rocket.

Answer 5

Shaft drives have not left the motorcycle world.  

A shaft drive system is more expensive to manufacture.  

I ride a 1800 Goldwing.  Here is my yearly maintenance of the  Wing's shaft drive.

Drain oil from final drive by removing drain plug.

After oil has drained replace and torque the drain plug.

Remove filler plug.

Add approximately 5 ounces of 90 weight gear lube.  I use Mobil Synthetic.  Replace and torque filler plug.

About a ten minute job with all the tools handy.

Now I am ready for a year of riding.

Shaft drive is used on the Honda 1800 Goldwing, the ST1300, the VTX1800, the VTX1300, Shadow Sabre, Spirit, Aero, and one of the Spirit 750s.

Shaft drives are alive and well in the motorcycle world.

I also like the belt drive system used by Harley and others.

Answer 6

price

motorcycle manufactures always find ways of building them cheaper to increase profit

Answer 7

these are some really good answers on this question, but there are some points to be made. the inventor of shaft drive BMW still has shaft drive on all it's cycles. every body else is a new comer. the reason is longevity and almost no maintenance, just check the oil twice a year. the down side is going into hard turn hot, making a gear change, will land you in the weeds ( direct link torque rebound ). it destabilizes the bike when you can lest stand it. if your riding a cruiser i don't think you'll get in that position. on the other hand if you have a bike with a chain you get to adjust it 4 times a year (oily and very messy) and replace once a year ($50). the up side you can shift  up or down in hard turn at speed an keep the bike stable. ride safe.

Answer 8

YamahaFJR, Honda ST and Gold Wing, Suzuki Boulevard series. All shaft drive, which bikes are You  referring too?

Answer 9

I didn't know they went out of fashion. There are way more models of motorcycles WITH shaft drive than without..................

Answer 10

They haven't.  They are heavier and cost more than chains, so , even though they are nearly bullet proof and  maintenance free they are put only on  higher quality motorcycles,  like the Gold Wing, VTX and Shadow.

The drive shaft on my Valkyrie is on the right side, to counteract "torquing".

There is no problem with down shifting. Skidding on a down shift is result of poor riding skills and can happen with any final drive.

Answer 11

Shaft drive is alive and well.  The Suzuki M109R and smaller M series bikes are shaft drive, Honda Gold Wing is shaft drive, Kawasaki Concours in shaft drive, should I go on?

Chain drive is more popular on sport bikes, belt drives are more popular on cruiser bikes, but the shaft drives can hold just fine because the M109R cranks plenty of torque out of that 109 inch engine and I haven't seen one fail yet.