and 50 pounds heavier!
Put in a Shaft Drive! Just do it!
I think it would really set apart the V-strom in many ways and it's what's needed. The engine is already so reliable why not make another reliable and ease on the maintenance of us owners!
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Chain maintenance is simple. Even more so with an auto oiler.
Chains are the lightest, most efficient, most cost effective way to transfer power.
Chains are the lightest, most efficient, most cost effective way to transfer power.
Do you use an auto-oiler, and if so, which one, and what are the pro's and con's of that one? Would you get a different one now, if you had it to do over? Many thanksChain maintenance is simple. Even more so with an auto oiler.
Chains are the lightest, most efficient, most cost effective way to transfer power.
Don't use an oiler.Do you use an auto-oiler, and if so, which one, and what are the pro's and con's of that one? Would you get a different one now, if you had it to do over? Many thanks
The Tutoro is popular.
Suzuki would never get the gearing right anyway - so there would be far more complaints about that than the fuss of maintaining chain and sprockets.
I'd be happy with a belt, much simpler and lighter than a shaft, but not great for folks who like to go off road a lot.
Had two shafties, '82 Suzuki GS1100G, and '03 Kawasaki Concours ZG1000. Both were solid, reliable systems.
Difficult and expensive to change final drive ratio (and would take some custom machining) and to repair when trouble arises. Adds weight to machine.
chain and both sprockets are wear items like brake pads. Relatively cheap to replace them and not very time consuming.
Difficult and expensive to change final drive ratio (and would take some custom machining) and to repair when trouble arises. Adds weight to machine.
chain and both sprockets are wear items like brake pads. Relatively cheap to replace them and not very time consuming.
I have owned two shaft drive bikes, both BMW K bikes. Those shafts do get maintenance and its not super simple to do. They make the bike heavier and add a lot to the cost. For a long distance touring bike (which is already heavy) they seem a reasonable solution. For a bike like the Wee......add a grand to the price and 50 pounds and lots more complexity to the bike. Not a good trade off. Modern O-ring chains are pretty simple and inexpensive to take care of and last a long, long time.
Look up the recent recall of up to hundreds of thousands of BMW's for issues with the shaft drive. It is so easy to maintain chain drives, and pretty darn inexpensive.
You don’t just put a shaft drive on any bike. Most shaft drive motorcycles are built from the ground up with the shaft drive in mind.
Fifty pounds heavier, not if designed well. Maybe 20 pounds.
Less efficient than a chain, yes a shaft gives up some frictional losses. Meh. I have power to spare anyway.
At the end of the day, a Strom’s v twin configuration lends itself to chain drive.
Fifty pounds heavier, not if designed well. Maybe 20 pounds.
Less efficient than a chain, yes a shaft gives up some frictional losses. Meh. I have power to spare anyway.
At the end of the day, a Strom’s v twin configuration lends itself to chain drive.
Not all shaft drive systems are created equal. BMW has had final drive issues for 20 years now. BMW insists on selling their shaft drives with single sided swing arms.Look up the recent recall of up to hundreds of thousands of BMW's for issues with the shaft drive. It is so easy to maintain chain drives, and pretty darn inexpensive.
Honda and Yamaha shaft drives are much more robust.
Shaft drive systems require additional checkups beside oil changes, to say that shaft drives are "maintenance free" is not completely true;
riders.drivemag.com
Here’s why you should check your drive-shaft from time to time | DriveMag Riders
You don't want to be one of those "I broke my final drive" guys
riders.drivemag.com
I have a buddy who has an R1150 RT he bought with 10k miles...now has 235k miles....all service by him. Shaft is a maintenance item but time consuming, so expensive in shop dollars. Chains are pretty damned reliable and easy to service if you are honest about it...fill with fuel, lube chain, repeat until chain shits the bed some 25k to 45k miles later.... cheap, easy and effective. What's not to love?
I'll have to differ with you on the difficulties of shaft drive maintenance, at least as far as a Super Tenere goes. There's very little maintenance required on the Yamaha final drive. The final drive oil needs changed every 19,000 miles, and I pull the final drive every time I do the swingarm maintenance (at 26,000 mile intervals) so I can lubricate the splines. Pulling the final drive (after you remove the rear wheel) involves unscrewing four acorn nuts. One good tug and the whole final drive assembly pulls out. Yamaha designed a pretty solid, bulletproof shaft drive. I've got just shy of 100,000 miles on mine, and I've never even had a seal leak in it. In a comparison between maintenance on my shaft drive and maintenance on the chain of my old DL650, I'll take the shaft drive any day. I'm going to lament the day when I have to retire the Yamaha, because shaft drives are becoming pretty uncommon, and it's likely when I eventually replace the Yamaha I'm going to have to return to a chain drive.
You'll never see a shaft drive on a V-Strom. The amount of R&D costs Suzuki would incur to redesign the DL650 to accept a shaft drive would probably push the DL650 into the same price area as a BMW F850GS, which kind of shoves the DL650 out of its traditional comfort zone of "quality budget adventure bike". I don't know how many V-Stroms Suzuki sells, but I bet they'd sell a lot fewer of them if they were in BMW price ranges.
You'll never see a shaft drive on a V-Strom. The amount of R&D costs Suzuki would incur to redesign the DL650 to accept a shaft drive would probably push the DL650 into the same price area as a BMW F850GS, which kind of shoves the DL650 out of its traditional comfort zone of "quality budget adventure bike". I don't know how many V-Stroms Suzuki sells, but I bet they'd sell a lot fewer of them if they were in BMW price ranges.
Belts are lighter and more efficient, I don’t know about cost.Chains are the lightest, most efficient, most cost effective way to transfer power.
They are a trade off with durability on an adventure bike. A couple of rocks under the belt and it's FUBAR'dBelts are lighter and more efficient, I don’t know about cost.
Totally agree with @RCinNC "I'll take a shaft drive any day". I've owned many shaft drive bikes from a '97 BMW R1100RS, Kaw Concours ZG1000 and 1400GTR to my latest '17 BMW R1200RS. On most of those bikes I've put 50k plus miles on without any issues whatsoever and the only maintenance done was gear (final drive) oil changes at recommended intervals -- easy peasy! As for the extra weight, I never noticed it on any of those bikes when jumping from one of my chain bikes to those with shaft drive.
There's enough shaft drive adventure bikes out there IMO - Suzuki doesn't need to make one.
1 - 20 of 107 Posts
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