1700 Nomad Discussion........

[trip]

[MarkG]

When I was on vacation; time after time riders commented how lucky I was to have shaft drive. A good many of them had a list of bikes that they had owned that was quite extensive. The other envious comment was that the Nomad had a water cooled engine instead of being air cooled. The motorcycle show will be here in another couple of weeks. I'll ask the factory mechanics for details, prices, etc. After all, inquiring minds want to know!

[glwilson]

Ah Trip... there it goes... I am back to being "bummed-out'' again. I really liked the overall features of the Voyager and would like to think it would be my next bike; but now I have to reconsider the belt-drive issues/concerns/reliability issues.

As information becomes more clear as to what the belt-drive "facts" are with the '09's; please let me know as my wife and I are not "wrench-worthy" and depend on reliability given the long-distant rides we prefer to do. In fact; the reliability of a shaft-drive was one of the major reasons I preferred the Nomad over several choices we had for our bike purchase.

Anyway; I will keep ck'g back here to see if anyone has info that would dispute previous expereinces with belt-drives.

Appreciate everyone's insight and thoughts.

Greg

[trip]

Well, I'm certainly not trying to bum you out Greg......but I feel it's something that really needs consideration when buying a bike.

IMHO, if you're buying a bike to ride around town and in parades, having a chain, belt or shaft is no problem. But, if your buying a bike to travel with, then a shaft drive is the most dependable......IMHO.

I did the research before I bought my Nomad. I spent several months reading specs, looking at reports and comparing makes of bikes. I had a short list made up of what my next bike had to have:

- Liquid-cooled
- Shaft drive
- Windshield
- Hard bags
- Mucho accessories available

Culled the list down to two bikes.....Kawa Nomad and the Honda Goldwing.

I finally ended up with the Nomad for two reasons......It had a very good reputation as a road bike and the Goldwing had experienced some mechanical problems, frame breakage, etc.

[blowndodge]

Greg, that New Kawasaki with the belt drive shouldn't give you the least cause for concern. Do you change your own tires? Probably not. You, like most, take your bike in for new rubber. Every third or 4th tire have your belt replaced if it makes you feel better about it. Don't make that shafts almost last forever and belts don't disuade you from the Voyager.

You shouldn't even be thinking about your belt as your motoring down the highway. Chances are you will have more flats than broken belts. I worry about getting a flat on a long trip the most! The thought of a belt breaking would be the furthest from my mind.

In fact I don't know of a belt driven biking friend of mine that's broken a belt.

[glwilson]

Thanks guys for the insight and viewpoints. I'll just have to wait until a dealer gets one in and see then if I am "drawn" toward the purchase or not.

[dantama]

Because I do hundreds of miles of dirt/gravel roads, sounds like a belt might not be an improvement for me. :(

Chances are I'll be keeping my Nomad till the extended warranty runs out in 2013 anyway.

[rksaw]

Originally Posted by Blowndodge "Darksider"

In fact I don't know of a belt driven biking friend of mine that's broken a belt.

Greg,
I only know of one acquaintance who ever lost a belt, and it's because he was being stubborn even when a tear had been pointed out to him by multiple people over the period of a week or two. He wanted to keep riding as opposed to taking care of his responsibility. :(" title="" border="0"/> The belt went out in my driveway...much better than going out on the road.

I wouldn't be worried about the belt...my major concern would be the economy, but you've got a good handle on that.
Rich

[MarkG]

Found a youtube video of the Voyager.

[trevwales]

BMW has shaft drive on most of their larger bikes, but all the new models have been belt drive. They have a reputation for reliability to uphold so I don't think they would use a belt drive if they thought it would be causing problems. Most of the models are "off-road" types too.

Having said that, none of the top range have belt drives... yet.

Trev

[glwilson]

I have been "googling" about belt-drives and have found all kinds of opinions about them. What I have found very little about is "shaft-drives".

I was fortunate when I was looking for my bike because "price" was not a factor. I was going to buy a new bike and looked all all the brands before coming up with my choice -- the Nomad.

The final decison was based on: shaft-driven; fuel-injected; counter-balanced engine; water-cooled; and the "bags".

(Ultimately I bought a used '04 from a medical chopper pilot who had to sell because of his wife. Had only 1,200 miles on it in '06 when I bought it. Paid only $7,800 for it -- couldn't pass it up -- pristine condition -- and cancelled the new '06 Nomad from the dealer.)

Now; I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed when I heard the new Nomad/Voyager was belt-driven -- but thought that since "they" claim it is of "new" material that maybe it may be okay.

Again... we'll just have to wait and see.

[dhomoney]

Belt does deliver more power and torque to the wheel then a shaft does. Some like belt better because of lash from shaft drive, but since I have only had a belt I can't say that for sure. I had no issues with the belt drive on the 900. It fed power to the wheel very smoothly.

[coldfingers]

I don't know anything about belts but I ran into a guy at a honda dealer who had a mean streak and a harley and he had mentioned while we were talking that he had been on a road that they were overlaying blacktop on and had gotten a piece of blacktop between his belt and pulley and ended up having to buy a new belt. He wasn't impressed after that. He talked more about the mean streak than the harley, Ha!

[moenko]

Interesting reading. I didn't know that a belt would deliver more HP/torque to the rear wheel than a drive shaft but it does make sense. Now I'm thinking, 150 add'l cubic centimeters plus a belt that delivers the add'l power more efficiently to the rear wheel --- that ought to make for some noticable increase in ooompf !

[radco]

Carsten, Every time you add a universal in you get a loss in power transfer.. and the shaft weight is also a factor... Just like on a car,, 200HP @ the Motor is like 180hp at the wheel.. or something like that,, around 10/15% loos of power transferr I think.I read it awhile ago so I may be way off.and for those that know me always say Im off LOL..............Rich