Do Shaft Drives Eat Tires Faster?

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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
Not so fast there Ki mo sabe. I can get close to 10 k out of a rear on my wing before the darkside. Never did more than 7,800 miles with the FJR. Real lucky to get 4,800 miles from my 425lb 990 Ktm. HP and using it both up and down to control your spirited pace rider will chow on tries much faster than just weight.

It isn't the shaft, it's your wrist that has the most to do with tire wear.

 
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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.

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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.
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As a matter of fact, my chain drive bike does go through tires faster than my shaft drive bike.
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10 Shaft Drive Facts:

1. They wear out tires faster on the side that has the shaft.

2. They lean on the side that has the shaft.

3. They pull to the side that has the shaft.

4. They get worse mileage.

5. They waist HP and torque turning a shaft Vs a chain, the chain is more efficient/direct.

6. Guys with a shaft get more.

7. They cost more than chain driven bikes.

8. Shaft rear end drives use more gear oil than chain sprockets.

9. Shafts weigh more than chain/sprockets.

10. They have a great Isaac Hayes song about the shaft, they don't on sprockets.

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I also have a solar powered amphibious motorcycle to sell you along with a cheap bridge.
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It's the day after Friday...
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I got 2,000 to 3,000 miles out of a rear tire on my R1. I get 5,000 miles on the FJR. No shaft issues at all. I do tend to wear out the fronts quicker than the rears on the FJR, probably due to weight transfer of a heavier bike. I wear out the sides before the middle also, thank you Hwy 2.
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Wow. Did I ever open the flood gates.

It seems like the consensus is that shaft drive do not intrinsically cause more tire wear.

This was my instinct, but lacking facts and personal experience with a shaft drive bike, I wasn't going to nay say him. I might not have in any case, as I didn't feel like arguing.

 
...I might not have in any case, as I didn't feel like arguing.
However, I would have loved to be there just to watch if you did... too many guys think they can bark out anything they choose when talking to a woman. Little do they know that the fairer sex is often the smarter one as well. Would have loved to see you put him in his place. Spoze you'll ever run into him again?

Gary

 
It is true that shaft driven motorcycles wear out tires more rapidly, but only in the Southern Hemisphere. It is due to the shaft's angle of momentum relative to the earth 's wobble on its axis. As one approaches the equator tire wear improves, and can actually regenerate during cool periods. Many equatorial riders have had tires last over 200,000 miles. A chain drive, due to chain slap and the harmonic interference caused by the chain traveling two directions at the same time, wears tires at a rate equal to the square root of the driver's IQ times 39% of the bikes weight. And there you have it.

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


;)
entire months were spent proving this on Usenet rec.motorcycles.
Ah, it was my imagination then when my ST1300 reared up like the Lone Ranger's horse (Silver) on application of 90% throttle. Da da da, da da da, da da da, da da da, da da da da da da da da da da da da da daaaaaaaaa!

 
... Little do they know that the fairer sex is often always the smarter one as well. ...Gary
Fixed it for you (you ask my wife...).
Any chance the chain springs a bit when you crack the throttle open? My Trophy seemed to stretch its chain quite a lot.

No, I don't believe it either.

 
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... Little do they know that the fairer sex is often always the smarter one as well. ...Gary
Fixed it for you (you ask my wife...).
Any chance the chain springs a bit when you crack the throttle open? My Trophy seemed to stretch its chain quite a lot.

No, I don't believe it either.
Are you possibly running the chain a little tight on the trophy? My ZRX chain will go for thousands of miles with no adjustment at all.

 
...Are you possibly running the chain a little tight on the trophy? My ZRX chain will go for thousands of miles with no adjustment at all.
Could be, but only if "The Book" was wrong. Got about 18000 out of it, sold it with its chain needing adjustment every 100 miles or so. Got me a shaftie FJR :) .
Never had to adjust the shaft, much better. But I have lubricated it.

 
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...Are you possibly running the chain a little tight on the trophy? My ZRX chain will go for thousands of miles with no adjustment at all.
Could be, but only if "The Book" was wrong. Got about 18000 out of it, sold it with its chain needing adjustment every 100 miles or so. Got me a shaftie FJR
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Never had to adjust the shaft, much better. But I have lubricated it.
I've not had to adjust my shaft yet either. Ain't that great?! ;)

18,000 out of a chain isn't terrible, but adjusting every 100 is awful. I used to tour on an FJ1200 and would do 3500-mile weeks on no adjustments. I've got 24,000 on the ZRX chain now, and it has only been adjusted a couple of times. I usually replace them when it starts throwing that brown stuff from around the rollers. I've never worn one badly enough to replace.

 
...Are you possibly running the chain a little tight on the trophy? My ZRX chain will go for thousands of miles with no adjustment at all.
Could be, but only if "The Book" was wrong. Got about 18000 out of it, sold it with its chain needing adjustment every 100 miles or so. Got me a shaftie FJR
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Never had to adjust the shaft, much better. But I have lubricated it.
+100 give me a shaft any day over a chain. I had the same problem with my Versys (great little bike otherwise) and I went by the book as well...had to adjust every 200-300 miles.
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Also had a GenII- FZ1 that didn't need chain adjustment for thousands of miles ( twice in 28K miles.)

 
18,000 out of a chain isn't terrible, but adjusting every 100 is awful. I used to tour on an FJ1200 and would do 3500-mile weeks on no adjustments. I've got 24,000 on the ZRX chain now, and it has only been adjusted a couple of times. I usually replace them when it starts throwing that brown stuff from around the rollers. I've never worn one badly enough to replace.
I got about 19K on my Vulcan's chain, and I adjusted it whenever I changed the oil.

However, when the chain went bad, it went bad quick. I was 400 miles from home, and I had to play with it every 75 miles, as it would jump off the rear sprocket. Five miles from home, it jumped off the sprocket to the outside, caught on the sprocet nuts, and bound up the rear tire. Skidding at 30 MPH isn't fun. However, I kept it upright until the speed dropped to about 10 MPH. From 10 MHP to zero happened much quicker, and then the bike went down.

Did I mention that I LOVE the fact that my new bike is shaft drive?

 
After I thought about it, the guy may have been right after all. It is possible that some of the chain lube that is constantly being slung off is getting between the tire and the road surface. This "lubricates" the tire's interface with the road causing it to last longer.
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Since I was CONSTANTLY having to clean chain lube off the rear wheel and the swingarm of my Suzuki, I know that slung off lube can get everywhere.

I also love the shaft drive over the chain for many reasons.

 
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