To all you technical geniuses...It you look at a bike from above a BMW boxer has a crankshaft that goes North-South (or as Tanneman has pointed out - longitudinal or inline, as us technical geniuses refer to them) straight with the driveshaft.On a bike like this a driveshaft has less parasitic loss than a chain.You can get that number from manufacturers claimed hp figures and real rear wheel hp numbers on a dyno.
On a shaft driven bike with a crankshaft that goes West-East (lateral or transverse, another technical genius term) the power obviously has to be redirected by a 90 degree geardrive that costs more power than chaindrive would because the chaindrive does not need a 90 degree bevel drive on these applications like inline 2,3,4,6 cylinder engines...
I hope that was not too hard to understand...![]()
You do know that the GS drive train goes through a 90 degree gear drive don't you

I'm getting to be a lazy sod with old age so I can completely understand the appeal of shaft drive, you just need to argue its merits on actual facts and benifits

) straight with the driveshaft.On a bike like this a driveshaft has less parasitic loss than a chain.You can get that number from manufacturers claimed hp figures and real rear wheel hp numbers on a dyno.
) the power obviously has to be redirected by a 90 degree geardrive that costs more power than chaindrive would because the chaindrive does not need a 90 degree bevel drive on these applications like inline 2,3,4,6 cylinder engines...


I can only ride my bike fix a few things if they go wrong, but engineering way out of my capacities.
so we can still slaughter Pumpkins and Duc's...