BMW's "Maintenance Free Chain

[bowlin01]

IF the new BMW chain is as claimed "maintenance free" then I guess it'll mean the death of shaft drives? The new 'Wunder Chain' 😃 has none of the disadvantages of the shaft drive and needs no maintenance. I'm very, very, sceptical, but we shall see (I'd love to know BMW's definition of lifetime maintenance free).

Cheers

Steve

[Buggy Nate]

1 hour ago, 2and3cylinders said:

If you were born in 81, those Yamahas were pretty well used by the time you worked on them.

The main thing with the old style shaft drives (I had a Suzuki 850 4 with the shaft, nice mellow thing), was they didn't have a second universal joint back before the rear transfer, and were thus very sensitive to abrupt on-off throttle application which caused jacking and de-jacking of rear wheel.  All "modern" shaft drives have minimal jacking effect.

Enclosed oil bath primary chain AND rear final drive chains are old as the hills, and I agree they CAN be very effective.  Belts are OK but not being able to juggle sprocket sizes is not appealing to me.

Whereas the new BMW forever chain is only a $100 dollar option for a new XR, replacement is $400 and what about the sprockets?  Why not "diamond-like" coat them too?

 

They were new models when I was working in them, they still make them now in Oz.

[2and3cylinders]

7 minutes ago, Buggy Nate said:

They were new models when I was working in them, they still make them now in Oz.

WHAT? PLZ EXPLAIN / ELABORATE, WHO MAKES WHAT WHERE?

[Buggy Nate]

49 minutes ago, 2and3cylinders said:

WHAT? PLZ EXPLAIN / ELABORATE, WHO MAKES WHAT WHERE?

The Yamaha xvs650 that had awful shaft drives that I was speaking about.

[Lone Wolf]

8 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Whereas the new BMW forever chain is only a $100 dollar option for a new XR, replacement is $400 and what about the sprockets?  Why not "diamond-like" coat them too?

Right, the sprockets are going to wear.

BUT, if the chain doesn't "stretch" then the sprocket wear would be reduced quite a bit. Of course the reason chains "stretch" is because of wear at the rollers & pins inside.

I imagine that if the chain maintained original length, no stretch at all, there would be less "hook" type wear on the sprockets (as shown in this article)

[Dirty Randy]

chain maintenance is easy!  just dont do it while the bike is running 😁

[bowlin01]

This covers the BMW Chain quite well...

 

[keithu]

On 8/29/2020 at 8:05 AM, nhchris said:

Interesting but...

I wonder why they went with chain, given the advantages of modern  belt drive systems.

I'm waiting for a mid-weight tourer with a belt drive!!  Quiet, clean AND low maintenance!

Belt drive wouldn't be any good on the many ADV models BMW sells. But they have offered belt drive on some mid-weight tourers like the F800GT, F650CS, etc. 

Although belts usually last longer than chains on the street, they do wear out eventually and replacement typically requires swingarm removal. 

[keithu]

On 8/29/2020 at 1:05 PM, kmev said:

With out regular applications of moly to all drive splines, including the transmission input splines (which requires pulling the transmission) the splines self destruct and you're eventually left with a bike that revs but doesn't move. Even with regular maintenance, my K75 was showing wear at 60,000 miles.

Your K75's splines probably were not properly lubricated when new, hence the wear. I knew someone who visited the Berlin factory in the early 1990s and he said that the person responsible for lubing splines had a TV at her workstation. He claims that she frequently (like 30-50% of the time) completely missed the splines with her grease brush because she was watching the TV and not her work.

This is just an anecdote, of course, but it might explain why some BMWs of that era had spline failures while others didn't. When I removed the failed transmission from my '85 K100 at 80k miles the splines were in good shape, despite never having been re-lubed AFAIK. In fact the splines were just about the only things that didn't go wrong on that accursed motorcycle. 

 

[Ride365]

On 8/30/2020 at 3:34 AM, Buggy Nate said:

Disagree there. Yamaha’s Xvs650 is the worst driveshaft/diff in the world. Constant issues with howling stripped splines etc. Almost impossible to find a second hand shaft drive here.

FJR and Super Tenere shaft systems are pretty much reliable as an anvil, same goes for the V-Max.

[maximo]

On 8/30/2020 at 12:34 AM, Buggy Nate said:

Disagree there. Yamaha’s Xvs650 is the worst driveshaft/diff in the world. Constant issues with howling stripped splines etc. Almost impossible to find a second hand shaft drive here.

I bought one of these pigs brand spankin new back in '99. It was everything you say, plus the oil filter bolts that would strip if you used anything other than your hand. It was rickety, finicky, and weighed a million lbs that had to be pushed by the 39hp it produced. I fondly remember having the riding group I was with change the route on the fly because the bike literally could not make it over the Ebbetts Pass (I had it jetted to squeeze more power with the open pipes, and the mixture was too rich for the thin air).

I kept mine for 5 years and I inexplicably loved it! I replaced it with a BMW K-bike, so I guess I'm just a glutton for maintenance punishment. 

[HGP61]

I loved the shaft drive on My yamahe xj900 Diversion (was called something else in the USA I think) 75,000 miles when sold and still going strong. Missed it for a while when I changed bike. But come on chain cleaning, Spray on some cleaner, agitate with a three sided brush thing, wipe of excess with an old cloth, spray on some lube. Should take about two minutes so no excuse. Mind you, as much as I missed the shaft drive I don't miss the extra 50KG when I am pushing the bike around the garage.

[PhotoAl]

Traded my belt drive BMW for my Tracer GT :-)    BMW recommends changing the belt every 24,000 miles, if the mechanic installs it too tight the wheel bearings fail prematurely.  But there is a happy ending to that story - fixed it myself and traded it on a new Tracer GT that came with a real motor with real power, a chain drive, maintenance I'll do myself.  It is lacking the forced air heating system BMW installed on the F800GT that only worked when the temperature was above 90F.

My guess for the BMW chain is it will have a limited life of 24,000 to 36,000 miles like the drive belts.  I haven't seen the special kludgerfunkenchainemunchanigng tool that is needed to replace one :-)