Bikes

[Gregg1100]

This one is going- too uncomfortable for this old fart



This one is staying- actually in shed with engine partly stripped, but so comfortable--the high bars are actually at right height



Yeah, I know the shed wants a tidy up, but I work on the principle that if I can't find it in there, no thief will either, lol

[crfriend]

Yeah, I know the shed wants a tidy up, but I work on the principle that if I can't find it in there, no thief will either, lol

I think we may be brethren in that viewpoint.

I can see why the former bike is going to find a new home. Us old farts don't crouch down the way we used to. But that latter one looks like you can ride it sitting up straight and enjoy things. (Is that the one with the busted engine that needs stripping and inversion to knock some damaged parts out of?)

[Gregg1100]

Yes Carl. Once I get the blue one out of the way, I can get the black one in middle of shed and work around it. Belt driven, it is nice and smooth.

[crfriend]

Belt driven, it is nice and smooth.

Are there useful advantages (for the rider) of belt-driver versus chain? What about shaft? I've seen a few of those, too. I've always thought that belt-drive was a dumbed-down and cheapened version of chain. Is that notion incorrect?

[dillon]

I've got a Kaw 440 cafe-mod for sale, and Kaw 100 dirt bike too...fuel system issues in both; best offer accepted for you DIY zen bike mechanics.

[Big and Bashful]

Last Friday I went for a ride, to visit the Kelpies (Stunning work of art built around a canal lock)(Dammit! I'm not going to faff about shrinking the file down, just google for images of them). On the way home, only a mile or so from the house, a street sweeper had moved gravel back out from the gutter into the road, I found it and fell off my bike. Bike plastics hurt down one side, including both ends, me with no skin on one knee (Raw patch shows the imprint of the padding in my leather trousers, much better than gravel rash!) Me also with a broken collar bone and what feels like a busted rib. The leathers, gloves and helmet did their jobs, no gravel rash at all. The raw knee has given me an excuse to bin the trousers, hiking kilt in use because most of my other skirts are below the knee length. Bike still rideable but with much plastic hanging off it, I have managed to source replacements for most of the broken bits and hopefully have most of the RHS side fairing panel, enough to bodge it up anyway.

[Big and Bashful]

Belt driven, it is nice and smooth.

Are there useful advantages (for the rider) of belt-driver versus chain? What about shaft? I've seen a few of those, too. I've always thought that belt-drive was a dumbed-down and cheapened version of chain. Is that notion incorrect?

Chain most efficient, handles highest power, high maintenance and short life, noisy.

Belt much quieter and much less maintenance or so I am told. Won't handle really high power. Great for big lumpy vibey Vee twins where I presume an element of elasticity helps to smooth things out.

Shaft great for tourers, very low maintenance and long life, I am told they affect the handling of a bike so they don't get used on high performance bikes, the power losses through a shaft drive are much higher than for belt or chain.
I have only ever had chain drive on my bikes, however my experience is limited, for my style of riding I would probably be better off with a shaft drive bike.

[Gregg1100]

I have had 4 shafties- 3 Kawa Gt 750 and 1 Gt 550. VERY direct drive, no give as in a chain or belt. The belt drive bike I have only used once on the road on maiden voyage- it had been stored 6 years before I bought it, along with another 3 years of me trying to sort out stuff on it. Being up the road all week, not too much time was spent at on it at weekends . The first trip out the bike fell ill and still is. I bought a endoscope camera to try and see where the dowel was that dropped from cam cover-( checking valve clearances) not quite bright enough, but can see the dowel squished on the crankshaft gear that runs the camchain, but even with pickled onion grippers, I can't get the dowel off the teeth. So another few weeks pass. The bike is not eating or drinking anything while in a dry shed.
Power loss probably through bevel gear(90 deg) from crank direction to shaft, then another (90 deg)bevel gear from shaft to final drive

[crfriend]

Power loss [for shafts] probably through bevel gear(90 deg) from crank direction to shaft, then another (90 deg)bevel gear from shaft to final drive

If the gearboxes are in proper oil-baths the losses should be fairly minimal, and I really can't imagine anything in that application running in the dry.