is there such a bike... help me find it.

[dean owens]

well, i've got two seasons of riding down with my nice free gl650. it's not the greatest bike to learn on, but i have grown to like it.

but, i'm going to have to spend this winter cleaning/rebuilding the breaks... fork seals... "stearing/neck" bearings... possibly giving my gas tank a good cleaning. and spent a good part of this season rebuilding the carbs. and it's getting up there in age... so i'm just waiting to start having problems with the stator.

so... i've started looking around for another bike. right now i'm going simply on looks. my two top choices are a bmw r1200r (absolutely love this bike) and a yamaha fz6. i don't like the hardcore sportbike look. but i have grown to like something sportie. i do like cruisers... but i want to shave off the weight and most cruisers are bigger and cumbersom. i like a more standard seating position... i have been on a cbr600 and didn't like the leaned over riding position.

most of what i do is comuting and would like something light for around town use. but i like to take the ocations 3-5 hour trips to the beach or mountains and want something with some power and that can easily take bags (saddle and trunk) to take all my mess. so i figure i'd let you guys know the pluses and minuses i have of these bikes (having never riden either one of them) and then ask you to help me out from there.

pluses
fz6
- small fairing to help keep some wind off
- standardish seating position
- decent price range (especially used - want something i can pay cash for and that tops out in the $5,000.00ish price range)
- could be used for longer trips with bags
- water cooled
- fairly light for what you get

r1200r
- shaft driven
- standardish seating position
- could be used for longer trips with bags
- it's a beemer so it must be good
- absolutely love the look of this bike and the boxer engine
- i guess being oil cooled it has less that can go wrong?

bads
fz6
- chain driven (my driveway is gravel. i have no place to put my bike up and spin my back wheel to clean the chain. plus the time. i just really don't want a chain.)

r1200r
- price... these are about 13,000 new and hard to find used.
- lighter than what i have now but still a little over 500lbs

if the beemer was in the price range of the fz6, or the fz6 was shaft driven my mind would be made up. but i don't have the money for the beemer and i don't have the space or time to worry about chain up keep.

so here's what i would like... i bike along these lines that is a decent price that would at the very least be belt driven... but preferably shaft driven. is there such a beast? can you guys give me any bikes to add to that list? oh, and i'm a shorter fella so it has to be something with a 30ish inch seat (or shorter) or something that can be easily lowered.

thanks in advance

[RockBottom]

if the beemer was in the price range of the fz6, or the fz6 was shaft driven my mind would be made up. but i don't have the money for the beemer and i don't have the space or time to worry about chain up keep.

so here's what i would like... i bike along these lines that is a decent price that would at the very least be belt driven... but preferably shaft driven. is there such a beast? can you guys give me any bikes to add to that list? oh, and i'm a shorter fella so it has to be something with a 30ish inch seat (or shorter) or something that can be easily lowered.

thanks in advance

I'm fond of my BWM F800ST http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/bikes/bike.jsp?b=f800st Bit pricier than the Yamaha though.

[flynrider]

bads
fz6
- chain driven (my driveway is gravel. i have no place to put my bike up and spin my back wheel to clean the chain. plus the time. i just really don't want a chain.)

I wouldn't worry too much about this. Chain maintenance has come a long way since the pre-Oring days. The primary lube is sealed in the rollers, so unless your planning on doing some mudbogging, you shouldn't need to pay too much attention to it.

I give my O-ring chain a spritz of light silicone lube ever few hundred miles to keep the links from rusting. I recently replaced the O-ring chain on my Nighthawk (40 min. job). It lasted 23K miles and needed adjustment 3 times over that period (10 min. job). Never cleaned it. It probably would have lasted several thousand more miles if that goofball at the bike shop had not misaligned it after replacing the rear tire.

[jmillheiser]

if your looking at something lighter and less expensive your not going to find shaft drive bikes. Shaft drive on modern bikes tends to be on heavier, higher end models, so they aren't cheap.

[dean owens]

I'm fond of my BWM F800ST http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/bikes/bike.jsp?b=f800st Bit pricier than the Yamaha though.

i want to like those bikes. everything i've read seems to point to really great gas milage... nice and light... and smaller which would be good for around town stuff....

but, they just don't speak to me. know what i mean? if i was going to spend that sort of money i would just get the r1200r. who knows. maybe in the next year or so when i get my "new" bike they'll be speaking to me. when i started wanting to ride 3+ years ago i thought sport bikes were hideous and only liked cruisers and bobbers.

[dean owens]

bads
fz6
- chain driven (my driveway is gravel. i have no place to put my bike up and spin my back wheel to clean the chain. plus the time. i just really don't want a chain.)

I wouldn't worry too much about this. Chain maintenance has come a long way since the pre-Oring days. The primary lube is sealed in the rollers, so unless your planning on doing some mudbogging, you shouldn't need to pay too much attention to it.

I give my O-ring chain a spritz of light silicone lube ever few hundred miles to keep the links from rusting. I recently replaced the O-ring chain on my Nighthawk (40 min. job). It lasted 23K miles and needed adjustment 3 times over that period (10 min. job). Never cleaned it. It probably would have lasted several thousand more miles if that goofball at the bike shop had not misaligned it after replacing the rear tire.

i won't be going mudding but i park my bike under a lean-to that has a dirt floor. after a decent rain i have orange clay splattered all over the lower part of my bike.

maybe i need educating on chain maintance. i think of chains as having to be cleaned and loobed every few hundred miles. and i think of that has having to put the bike on a center stand (or something like that) to be able to freely spin the wheel to make sure you get the whole chain cleaned and loobed. then i think of that loob getting on parts of the bike when you ride it next. do i have a completely wrong understanding on chains?

[dean owens]

if your looking at something lighter and less expensive your not going to find shaft drive bikes. Shaft drive on modern bikes tends to be on heavier, higher end models, so they aren't cheap.

shoot. guess you have to pay to be lazy

in all seriousness, i didn't realize that. i get that they are on heavier bikes from the stand point that they are heavier than chains... but why are they on higher end models?

[flynrider]

maybe i need educating on chain maintance. i think of chains as having to be cleaned and loobed every few hundred miles. and i think of that has having to put the bike on a center stand (or something like that) to be able to freely spin the wheel to make sure you get the whole chain cleaned and loobed. then i think of that loob getting on parts of the bike when you ride it next. do i have a completely wrong understanding on chains?

In the old days of standard chains, cleaning and lubing was time consuming and messy. You had to use a heavyweight lube that would penetrate into the rollers and stay there for awhile. This meant slathering lots of lube on, which would fling off all over the back end of the bike (and often the rider). Once the lube quit flying off, it was time to lube again. Given the heavy, sticky lubes and open chain, cleaning was a must if you wanted it to last a reasonable amount of time. The chain would attract a thick, heavy coating of lube/dirt which would prevent lube from getting into the rollers.

My experience with O-ring chains has been quite the opposite. Every 300 miles or so, I put the bike on the centerstand and give it a 5 second shot of light silicone lube. Using a small amount of light lube means the chain attracts almost no dirt, plus it doesn't fling lube all over the place. Since it has a sealed lubricant in the rollers, the O-ring chain also tends to wear less. This means you don't have to adjust it or replace it very often. I adjust mine 3 times in 23K miles. On an old standard chain, I would expect to have to adjust it every thousand miles or so, and replace it in less than 15K miles.

A lot of the complaints that I hear about chain drives are from folks who may have an O-ring chain, but are still maintaining them like the standard chains of old. Many use lubes which are designed for standard chains, which makes a mess, attracts dirt and requires periodic cleaning. It doesn't really hurt to do it that way, but it's mostly unnecessary.

[Wrider]

I'll agree with flynrider on this one... Chains aren't that big of a deal to maintain on bikes anymore... Usually the only maintenance is rolling the bike back and forth (if there isn't a centerstand) with a quick shot of chain lube, then wipe off the excess and go for a ride! When it gets excessively loose tighten it up then go riding again!
Wrider

[HYPERR]

The shaft is a con not a pro. Chain is a pro not a con. JMO.

I do love the way the para-shaftie-single sided swingarm combo look on my R1150R.....but it's still a shaft....