HD and Shaft drive
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,216
Likes: 79
I read that Buell is working on a new water-cooled motor, and that should be out next year. I'm sure the R&D will be shared and considered within the Motor Company. Shaft drives would add cost to a bike, not reduce costs. Profit is all about cost reduction and planned obsolesence.
Unless it someday becomes a real estate issue with engine/tranny/primary combos (or changes), Iwon't hold mybreath for seeing Harley going the way of the shaft. We already get our shaft in other ways! Hee hee.
Unless it someday becomes a real estate issue with engine/tranny/primary combos (or changes), Iwon't hold mybreath for seeing Harley going the way of the shaft. We already get our shaft in other ways! Hee hee.
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 442
Likes: 110
From: San Jose, CA
Uh-hem....BMW did NOT invent shaft drive, other companies were doing it 20 years before BMW adopted it. Shaft drive is less maintenance, much easier to change oil in shaft drive than to replace a belt, and with synthetic oils changes are rarely needed. After break-in period oil change, my shaft bikes' oil looks as new as when I put it in after tens of thousands of miles.
Since you resurrected an old post.
BMW is credited for perfecting shaft drive on motorcycles. The first manufacturer to engineer and design a shaft drive system for a motorcycle was Belgian arms and munitions maker FN (Fabrique Nationale de Herstal).
the very first American made motorcycle was shaft drive. Harley had shaft drive in 1942. Belt is the best thing. Chain is best for off road and racing.
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