Chain or Shaft Drive...

[brianmagner]

Hello all. I am very new here and am mostly a lurker. I recently inherited a '79 XS1100 and showed it to one of my buddies who is a big harley guy. His fisrt comment was "You may want to replace that shaft drive with a chain dive." When pressed as to why he didnt really have a good reason other than that he thinks I'd get more power if I get rid of the shaft.
My question is....Is he right? I remember seeing a post where a few had switched them out, but I also see several rave about the power of this bike in it's current sate.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Brian
Charleston, SC -- Newbie.

[CatatonicBug]

Two words:

HECK NO!!

Shaft drive is way better than chain drive. It's more reliable, and realtively maintenance-free. The only reason to switch to shaft drive is when the choppers decide to put a wide rear tire on them. If it wasn't better, Yamaha wouldn't still be using it on the new sport tourers. Stay away from that Hardley guy. Next he will be telling you to use synthetic motorcycle-specific oil in the engine, and premium fuel in the tank. Neither of these are true for these older bikes.

[latexeses]

Greetings and Welcome.

xschop would be the person to answer your question.

Here is a link to the discussion of everything chaindrive.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12859

You might want to introduce yourself in the members forum as well.

Rodger

[latexeses]

Missed the bug by that much.

I agree though. Harley riders are jealous. He wants you to be cleaning oil off of your bike too....

[Pat Kelly]

A stock (30 year old) XS1100 will out-accellerate probably any stock Harley (maybe not a V-Rod). A Harley will require quite a bit of modification ($) just to keep-up.
The drive-shaft will keep the bike cleaner and dosen't require adjustment or replacement like chain and sprockets.
Chain-drive does transfer more engine HP to the rear wheel and the ratio can be changed to suit the riders wishes

[devilschld]

i have owned both. i vote for shaft drive.

[Pat Kelly]

I've owned both too. I would use what it came with... but that's me. If you want to go chain on your XS then go for it. It looks like a fun project. The prospect of redesigning something and having it work without getting hurt in the process would be satisfying.

[soccer4m]

ditto

I second with Pat and the other XS'rs. I have had both chain and shaft and shaft if by Far, the better of the two. Get on the Xs 1100 you inherited and if you think it needs more power,,,,,,,,,,,,,,either you are King Kong or the ultimate need for speed deathwisher. THese bikes are friggin' rockets. Line up with the Harley dude,,,,,,one on one, drop the hammer for a quarter mile,,,,wait until he catches up, with a huge grin on your face and ask Him if it needs more power. Chain drive,,,with all the hassle would be slightly more powerful,,,but messy, Noisy, need continual adjustment, expensive switch, parts wear out,, Why switch to chain ? Keep the grin on your face everytime you run past your bud with the shaftie.................

[wayneshrt]

shaft or chain

I was wondering, is a chain what is on the rock that BC in the comic strip uses?

[DGXSER]

The other advantage of the chain drive is being able to mount a larger rear tire.

I have personally only ever had a problem with enough grip when hitting it hard up about 6k and hit a bump in the road that lets the rear tire lift enough to break traction, then it skips a bit before it grips again. Otherwise, it just grips and rips me into warp speed!!

[SFSPECBIKER79]

chain drive

I don't think you need chain drive to pass a harley, you can pass him in 4th gear @100mph then grab 5th then the harley guy will be running backwards. like bug said, i'd stay away from him and tell him you dont need more horses. to go clean the grease off his back wheel.