Bike Options: Chain, Belt or Shaft

With riding all year round and not wanting to spend too much time on bike maintenance, then a bike with shaft drive and not a chain is a must.

BMW-R1200RTSo when considering a bike one of the first options I check is whether its a chain, belt or shaft drive.

BMW R1100S
BMW R1100S

Chain is out completely.  Maybe for a sunny Sunday bike only but not for a daily workhorse.  Belt drive is something I would consider.

Crossing the Ford
Crossing the Ford

Because of this my options are fairly restricted.  A few Honda’s, the big Yamaha FJ Tourer, but mainly its BMW’s.

Luckily for me the shaft drive BMW GS is one of the best bikes on the planet, but it came to my attention a few weeks ago that the Triumph Tiger Explorer is now shaft drive.  The Tiger has always been a great British bike but has always been shaft drive.

The standard Tiger is still chain but the new Tiger Explorer version, a GS ‘wannabe’ is now shaft drive, so its a valid option to consider for when I decide to replace the big GS.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.