Originally Posted By: BusyLittleShop
The pros and cons of each...
Lightest weight...
1 belt
2 chain
3 shaft
Best efficiency...
1 belt
2 chain
3 shaft
Lowest maintenance...
1 belt
2 shaft
3 chain
Most expensive...
1 shaft
2 belt
2 chain
Least amount of drive line snatch...
1 belt
2 shaft
3 chain
Biggest vocal following...
1 shaft
2 chain
3 belt
1... belt drives are 5 lb. lighter than chain...
2... belt drives only sap 2% of available engine power and never take more
through it's life... whereas chains start sapping 2% and progressively
sap up to 7% near their end...
3... belts don't need slack and therefore are positive drives whereas
chains need slack and are snatch drives...
So lighter... more power... less snatch is why I went ahead and
converted my VF500F Interceptor into the famous Belt-o-ceptor... plus
the fact Honda said it was impossible... well all it took was 8 months
worth of engineering and machine work plus $1500.00 in parts...
Belt life was good... going 2 times the distance of a chain and
it covered 40K miles without needing any adjustment...
Honda VFR1200 Veefalo $4148.00 / 40 pound shaft system...
The only one I disagree with is maintenance. Shaft drive requires less maintenance than does a belt. Belts need to have the tension adjusted, and they need to be replaced from time to time, which requires the removal of the swingarm. The only thing shaft drive requires is the occasional oil change...