Shaft Vs chain

[Bob]

Seen a few old Gs's for sale and was wondering if there any good being shaft drive.Anyone know abit about then?

[Hillsy]

Good for low maintenance tourers / hacks....but not much chop as feisty musclebikes.

The XJ Yammies were a better bike for reliability / durability though. Very hard to kill an XJ900 (I've tried a few times......)

[Redmohawk]

Shaftys do tent to lock the rear on hasty downshifts , gearing changes can be tricky , low mantinace is a plus but when shagged a diff can be expensive. There is a GSX1100 shafty here in shep looks tidy for $2k Needs a clean up for roady prob a bit steep I'm guessing (not to sure of its value , others would know better)

[El_Hefty]

cant change the gearing. getting a little old and parts are expensive ie shaft parts.

Good point is they are cheap for what they are

Ive been looking for a gs for a while but too many gs1100k's although ebay and bike sales its been the same bikes for a while

[Redmohawk]

Hefty whats a good price for a resonable GS1100 unit ?

[ALBI]

Had a few gs1000 g and red id pay no more than $1800 for a shaftie .in average cond.

[EFE 1230]

A nice clean gs1100 with all the factory fairing/panniers in original paint would fetch around 2.5k-3.5k+ depend on rebuild history as they're getting a little long in the tooth, a running roughie would be top dollar at 1500-1800.

best buy for the shafties would have to be the later gsxr1100 based models, less miles more "oomph" potential with the motor and usually owned by senior types so not thrashed/trashed.

takes alot of miles/abuse to kill a shaft drive/diff, had a xs1100 yam never had a problem with the shaft and it had been clocked once before I got it.

[Redmohawk]

Yeah had me a xj900 and a xs1100 , took the xs through tas a long time ago. The one I've been keeping an eye on is a GSX1100 unit, plastics look ok but its showing its age a little. Also a cheap xj900 here in shep atm to.

[hyofighter]

got a gsx1100g in my shed 1g and you can have it

[Redmohawk]

Thanks mate , but by the time I got it down here it would owe me $2k lol

[kiwi kdx]

buy ZED!!!

[Redmohawk]

Plenty of kwaka in the shed and there will be more yet ;)

[Tony Nitrous]

Wouldnt touch a GS/Zed/XS shaft drive.
Tried a few didnt like them. Personal taste.
I found them to be poor version of their chain drive partners.
weight, power loss, handling, poor options on gearing and wider rim's.
V-Max was one of the better one's but I still didnt fancy one.
Each to their own, the price of shafty's against chain drive versions
of old Skool stuff show's im not the only one who feels that way.

Some new stuff like the BMW K1300R is very different and much improved.
Only other factory Big Bore naked bike thats up there with the B-King.

[Redmohawk]

Good frames to start a fighter from though , wide ass would make shoving a modern swing arm in more viable I'd bet

[Tony Nitrous]

Yeah, ex-member SpondonAsh showed me a Z1000 shaft
frame he had, wider across the swingarm area and as you
say, an advantage going to wider wheel chain drive.

[hyofighter]

Looking at my g the swing arm mounts to the out side of the frame as does the shaft runs on the outside kinda odd really

[Redmohawk]

maybe they use a similar frame to the chain version I've never really had a good gander at a gsx shaft rear frame setup even though I've done several 1000 km on a mates

[kiwi kdx]

My 79 Z1000st frame is 295mm at the pivot! Fits the R1 swinger in there piss easy.