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Actually with a shaft drive you may experience "shaft jacking" when controlling the throttle. Belt on the other hand is both quiet and smooth, totally clean but it is actually harder to change gearing when compared to a chain and can be damaged by icing or sharp road debris. New belts are much more durable though so this is almost a nonpoint.

Sevulturus wrote:I'd say... sit on them both. Find out which one is the most comfortable and then buy that one. In today's "modern age," the final drive is basically irrlevant to the bike you get. 10 lbs here or there, or having to change out the belt or drive oil isn't something that is going to bother you.

An uncomfortable seating position, bars that are to wide or to narrow, bad positioning of footpegs... these will make you unhappy. How the bike puts power to pavement is for all intents and purposes irrlevant. It REALLY only becomes an issue if you don't like something about the bike.

EG. Well... I like my bike, BUT*, the bars are to high, the seat is bloody hard, the pegs are to far forward. Oh and I have to lube the chain. It's always the last thing you mention when you complain about the bike, and you wouldn't be complaining about it if you didn't have the other problems.

*Note: I love my bike, everything about it, but the rockhard seat... and I'm learning to cope.

Check out the Butt Buffer: http://www.buttbuffer.com/
There's a review over on totalmotorcycle.com: http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/r2/butt-buf ... buffer.htm

If after my trip I find my seat too uncomfortable I'm going to invest in one of those.

My last bike, a Honda Shadow 750 was chain driven... it was fine except that I am neurotic with bike maintenance and almost every time I checked the chain it was a bit loose. I would adjust the chain, tighten the rear wheel to the torque specs every time and keep it clean & lubed. The back wheel was always covered in grease/grime/dirty lube. My bike now is belt driven with a pulley/tensioner to keep the belt tight at all times and requires no maintenance. Like Sev and other said this shouldn't be a decision maker on what bike you get but it is nice not having to worry about keeping a chain maintained and keeping the rear wheel clean anymore

I have no personal experience with shaft drives except riding a couple of my friends bikes… they seemed smooth and they seem to like the shaft.

Chains and belts are a pain in the a$$. Go with shaft drive unless getting every ounce of power to the rear wheel is your most important criteria.
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apollomist

well, more and more im looking forward to the yamaha 1300, the 650's are just too small, and feel like im sitting on a street post. when i was i was cruising around in the parking lot with the honda 1300 it felt very nice smooth and relaxing, but i also like a lot of yamaha bikes for the same reasons, although "no 1300" but once i found out they are comming out with it,, i cant wait,, but my concer was, how much problems do people run into with the belt driven ,vs the shaft since a lot of bikes has left the belt/chain world, expect hd. but i have seen a lot of expensive bikes way out of my league use belt.. so go figure.. i think when the 1300 comes out and i sit on it and if they let me cruise it the in the parking lot, and fall in love... it will be comming home with me... . thanks guys...

DieMonkeys wrote:

Sevulturus wrote:I'd say... sit on them both. Find out which one is the most comfortable and then buy that one. In today's "modern age," the final drive is basically irrlevant to the bike you get. 10 lbs here or there, or having to change out the belt or drive oil isn't something that is going to bother you.

An uncomfortable seating position, bars that are to wide or to narrow, bad positioning of footpegs... these will make you unhappy. How the bike puts power to pavement is for all intents and purposes irrlevant. It REALLY only becomes an issue if you don't like something about the bike.

EG. Well... I like my bike, BUT*, the bars are to high, the seat is bloody hard, the pegs are to far forward. Oh and I have to lube the chain. It's always the last thing you mention when you complain about the bike, and you wouldn't be complaining about it if you didn't have the other problems.

*Note: I love my bike, everything about it, but the rockhard seat... and I'm learning to cope.

Check out the Butt Buffer: http://www.buttbuffer.com/
There's a review over on totalmotorcycle.com: http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/r2/butt-buf ... buffer.htm

If after my trip I find my seat too uncomfortable I'm going to invest in one of those.

Won't work for my problem, but thanks for the link anyways,

(sorry to thread jack)

I don't have a whole lot of experience with chain or belt, but my shaft drive is extremely smooth and low maintenance. But to echo previous posts, get what's comfortable. The drive probably shouldn't be the sole reason to buy a specific bike.

I currently do not own a bike, but I'm hoping that will change in the not-too-distant future. My last bike was a Honda CX-500; it was my first and only shaft drive. The CX-500 was one of the first shaft drive bikes and I never had any maintenance trouble with it. On the down side, it was the worst handling bike I ever owned. It just didn't feel secure in the corners; there was no amount of lean that was confidence building. At the time I attributed the bad handling to the fact that it was a shaft drive, however, I suspect it had more to do with the top heavy nature of the design. It was a v-twin, but the engine was mounted as you would expect to see a V engine mounted in a car. Hence the tops of the cylinders stuck out a good bit just below the gas tank. I think it was Honda's attempt to look a little like a BMW. I notice that they only made them in that design for about 5 years.

I find a similiar dilema in my current bike shopping. I really would prefer a shaft drive or a belt drive, but almost all of the mid-sized (500 - 750cc) now use a chain. Most riders that I've talked to who have shaft drives have no complaints about them. My first choice bike is a Suzuki Marauder but it's a chain drive. From previous experience with chain drives I just find them to be one more component that needs significant maintenance, and if you can avoid it, why not? Plus they make for a greasy mess.

JR

jrdudas the marauder is now called a M50 and should come with a shaft drive and fuel injection.

The shaft drive on my Super was very easy to change the oil. Make the bike level, take of the drain bolt, drain the oil, replace the drain bolt and fill back up with appropriate amount of SAE #80 shaft drive oil. Took all of 10 minutes and most of that was waiting for the old oil to drain out.

I personally would avoid getting a bike with chain drive as it seems it is a lot of work to keep it maintained. I've read that you are suppose to clean an oil it every 600 miles. I'd have to do it once a week at least. Then you also have to change out the chain and sprockets periodically.

I'm the type of person who doesn't like to have to continously mess with the bike as I'd rather be out riding it.