Do Shaft Drives Eat Tires Faster?

[Lauren_TK]

Last week, I was at my local dealer for some reason (I forget), and a guy on a Wee Strom started chatting me up. Mostly he was grooving on the look of the bike.

However, once he noticed it was a shaft drive, he said that he would never get a bike with shaft drive, as they wore out rear tires faster.

Given my Physics 101 understanding of the world, I don't see how this is possible. Power to the rear wheel is power to the rear wheel.

Unless shaft drives attract 3 inch, flat-head, Phillips, wood screws, I don't see how this is possible.

Was the guy full of it, or is there something I don't know?

Not that I am going back to chain drive anytime soon.

 

[RichDoyle]

Sounds akin to the tales I've heard that wearing helmets in hot weather makes your brain explode.

 

[jmgrif]

There are a variety of reasons for tire wear! Unless his reasoning is perhaps more weight towards the back of the bike, I think his rational is poorly thought out? Weight certainly is a factor and so is how aggressively one rides, hard braking and acceleration contribute to tire wear as well! By the way get rid of those Stones asap. I like Michelin others will pipe in I'm sure. I could quickly wear out the rear tire on my XX (chain drive) from a few years ago!

 

[juniorfjr]

shafts don't wear out tires. Horsepower, torque and weight do.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Wear has everything to do with what force the tire is imparting at the tire/road interface via shear.

F = ma

m = mass (bike) Heavy bike = big mass
a = acceleration(change in speed/direction) via braking, or twisting that throttle thingy, or changing direction whilst on them thar curvy roads.

big mass and big accell = big force...
...that the tire is pushing against the road to either get you stopped, get yer ass going, or get your butt turned in the decreasing radius curve that you set up perfectly for.

More fun = more tire expendage.
More fun = more $$ expended

There ain't no free lunch...
...but I like the lunch I am paying for.

 

[ionbeam]

Not only does shaft drive eat tires, shaft drive motorcycles can't wheelie either

 

[wheatonFJR]

Not only does shaft drive eat tires, shaft drive motorcycles can't wheelie either

typo fixed.
I know I can't wheelie on the FJR.

It must be the shaft.

 

[ionbeam]

typo fixed.

Thnx! I post proofed my post and saw the error. Corrected it and in that time you had already posted the correction. What that means: It's darn cold, snow is on the ground, your wife does the Christmas shopping and cooks your meals. But, you most likely open your own beer

 

[escapefjrtist]

Sure glad I know why my FJR eats tires now...

For another data point, my Tenere seems to suffer the same problem!

--G

 

[Redfish Hunter]

I am glad you posted this. As long as that guy is out there I am not the dumbest person on the planet.

 

[SLK50]

Braking causes most of the wear of my tires.

If I never had to slow down my tires would last forever.

j/k

(Almost)

 

[Grey13]

So how can I go about swapping out the shaft drive for a chain? Surely someone out there has done it.

Ray

 

[Bounce]

Not only does shaft drive eat tires, shaft drive motorcycles can't wheelie either

entire months were spent proving this on Usenet rec.motorcycles.

 

[garyahouse]

In defense of the guy you spoke with, though it is true that tire wear is a result of three factors: horsepower, speed and weight; there are a couple possibilities whereby he could logically come up with his conclusion. First, shaft drive bikes tend to be heavier. There are exceptions, but that's usually the case. In addition, shaftie owners tend to ride two-up more often than other types of bikes. Again, more weight. And since heavier bikes are harder on tires, there might be some truth to what he said. Another possibility is that shaft drive bikes are typically touring or sport touring bikes. Since they spend much of their lives out on the slab at 80+ mph, they might eat up their tires a little quicker. Those high speeds are hard on tires. However, as the the posts above verified, you were indeed right thinking that shafts don't cause extra tire wear in and of themselves. But it is understandable that someone would notice that a touring bike like a Goldwing, which of course has a shaft drive, would wear it's tires out faster than a lighter weight machine making 1/3 the power traveling at half the speed. Hope that makes sense.

Gary

darksider #44

 

[bwv]

Not only does shaft drive eat tires, shaft drive motorcycles can't wheelie either

entire months were spent proving this on Usenet rec.motorcycles.

****.. Mine's broke...

 

[ionbeam]

[summary]

Shaft drive does nothing directly to reduce tire wear.

The mission and use of a shaft drive motorcycle has a direct impact on tire wear.

[/summary]

Next thing you know someone will be telling us that their sport bike with sport compound tires has short tire life because of the chain drive.

 

[lnewlf]

right wrist wears rears, right fingers wear fronts...

say that three times

 

[Queensland Ken]

So how can I go about swapping out the shaft drive for a chain? Surely someone out there has done it.

They did it on the XS1100's, some of their race bikes had a chain drive conversion done, also a twin spark head.

 

[ionbeam]

So how can I go about swapping out the shaft drive for a chain? Surely someone out there has done it.

They did it on the XS1100's, some of their race bikes had a chain drive conversion done, also a twin spark head.

The V-Max has been converted to chain drive also. The devil in the details is the 90º difference in the output shaft of the engine between a shaft drive and chain drive. That 90º change in drive angle is what makes a man out of the mechanic (or a drooling, raving lunatic).