Opinions on Shaft driven bikes?

They were tried 100+ years ago. Lossy and heavy.

well, 100 years ago was a different time. The bikes I saw had them set
up with 7 and 8 speed hubs. I was more interested in anyone who has
ridden one recently.. even for kicks to see what it was like.

Chainless bikes come and go. First sold in the 1880s.

I have a current model, Incline Newport, equiped with Sun's drive
shaft. Sun makes the drive shaft kit as oem equipment for bike
manufacturers. It can't be retro fitted to a normal frame. This model
has a new Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub. I got this for my wife as an all
weather commuter. After 1 year, she said no more. The low gear isn't
low enough for her daily commute. The Sun drive shaft has a reduction
of 2:1. And that can't be changed. I've seen other models &
manufacturers using 7 speed hubs. But the low gear ratio on a 7-speed
is about the same as the 3 speed low.

On to the good stuff, no chain, no mess. The bike we got was powercoat
aluminum frame with all stainless steel, aluminum or pastic bits. The
only part that started showing rust was the adjusting nut on the 3
speed cable. Added fenders & lights to make it a winter commuter. 26"
mtb rims with street tires, more of a hybrid layout. Shock seatpost,
tilt adjustable stem. No getting your trousers snaged or dirty.

Bad stuff? Well, I read somewhere a human can put more torque on the
drive shaft than a car engine. (your weight x crank arm length =
torque. plus pulling up on the handlebars and pulling up on the
opposite pedal if you have clips and this can get pretty big) And the
Sun drive shaft is much smaller than any cars'. So I don't imagine
sprinting or pounding up steep hills would be a good idea. My wife is
a low power smooth pedaler so I never worried about that.

A little heavy, not so much because of the drive shaft & 3 speed hub
but because the rest of the bike just isn't that light.

I feel a little grinding in the pedals. There are bevel gears in the
crank housing front & rear. I suspect they could have machined them a
little better for smoother meshing.

I've seen a number of new manufacturers selling the sun drive shaft
equiped bikes. Some are unbeliveable pricy. I got my Newport/Incline
for under $200 on ebay 2 years ago in the USA. I haven't seen any
under $300 since. Highest price i've seen is over $1,500 in the UK.
You can Google drive shaft bicycle and find them.

Personally I'd like to see one of the bike companies go for a lighter
version. Dump all the comfort/hybrid/mtb bike junk. We don't need
shock forks, shock seat posts, spring & padded seats, adjustable stems,
heavy duty frames, etc for what is essentially a city bike use.

Rick

Years ago, when I was interested in such things, I understood one of
the reasons that racing motorcycles (and motorcycles in general) use a
chain-and-sproket final drive instead of shaft drive, is because the
shaft drive requires the power train to make at least one 90 degree
turn as it transfers power from the engine to the rear tire. This turn
in the power train necessarily places bearing loads on the surfaces
involved (eg the surfaces of beveled gears and respective shaft
bearings) and the resulting friction dispells up to 1/4 (?) of the
energy from the power train, much more than that lost by the friction
in an efficient chain drive. Thus, a shaft drive vehicle requires a lot
more work to be propelled a given distance. On a motorcyle, you can
just build a more powerful engine. Or lose the race. Or whatever. But
on a bicycle, you would just lose.

BG

TRY LIGHT SYNTHETIC TRANS OIL IF ONE CAN DRAIN AND ADD- SYNTH GIVES %50
MORE POWER TRANSFER

TRY LIGHT SYNTHETIC TRANS OIL IF ONE CAN DRAIN AND ADD- SYNTH GIVES %50
MORE POWER TRANSFER

Quoted message said:

I understood one of
the reasons that racing motorcycles (and motorcycles in general) use a
chain-and-sproket final drive instead of shaft drive, is because the
shaft drive requires the power train to make at least one 90 degree
turn as it transfers power from the engine to the rear tire. This turn
in the power train necessarily places bearing loads on the surfaces
involved (eg the surfaces of beveled gears and respective shaft
bearings) and the resulting friction dispells up to 1/4 (?) of the
energy from the power train, much more than that lost by the friction
in an efficient chain drive. Thus, a shaft drive vehicle requires a lot
more work to be propelled a given distance. On a motorcyle, you can
just build a more powerful engine. Or lose the race. Or whatever. But
on a bicycle, you would just lose.

Not quite. We've got a pretty good handle on chain drive vs. shaft drive
losses in motorcycles by measuring at the crank and at the wheel. The
chain drive is about 6% loss while the shaft about 15%. YMMV. I'm
generalizing.

15% is still pretty large. I guess though if you were just tooling
around, it would not make much of a difference, especially if your main
concern is grease and maintenance.

Basically, bad for towing stuff, bad for long distances, bad for hilly
areas.. good for nice fun on the board walk, or flat areas, getting ice
cream and riding with the kids.

[email hidden] wrote (TWICE, even):

Quoted message said:

TRY LIGHT SYNTHETIC TRANS OIL IF ONE CAN DRAIN AND ADD- SYNTH GIVES
%50 MORE POWER TRANSFER

psst. gene. caps lock.

Bill "!!!" S.

<[email hidden]> wrote: TRY LIGHT SYNTHETIC TRANS OIL IF ONE CAN DRAIN
AND ADD- SYNTH GIVES %50 MORE POWER TRANSFER
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I think you meant to say "gives 50% less power loss," which COULD be true.
50% more power COULD NOT be true.

modmans2ndcoming said:

I was looking around and just ran across chainless bikes! I did not
know that they existed. What are your opinions on these? how well do
they work?#

zero bikes were reviewed reasonably in Velovision (.co.uk) some months
back. http://www.zerocycles.co.uk/

Dunno about availability overseas. I didn't remember them being UK
based TBH so there might be options

best wishes
james