Honda NT1100

[CaptainTrips]

I recently bought a Chinese knockoff of the Cobra chain oiler for my Himalayan for under $20 delivered. Filled it with 90w gear oil. Partway through a ride, I give it a quarter turn. Once in a while I spin the rear wheel and run the chain through a rag. That's about it. I have a chain alignment tool from my 650 v-strom days. Use that to ensure that the adjuster marks are actually correct (they were not). I have the tools to break and rivet a chain. It really is no big deal. And it is all out in the open, so there are no hidden problems. And chains and sprockets are easy to obtain and install. Final drive bearings, not so much.

[Will Morgan]

Originally Posted by OldEssexMan

Since 1991 I have ridden 456,000 miles on 5 bikes, none of which had chain drive. In that time I have not experienced a single problem with the final drives, the sum total of my maintenence being the changing of the final-drive oil at the specified intervals. I wonder how many times I would have had to check chain tension, adjust the chain, clean and lube the chain and change chains and sprockets in that mileage?
For me it's a no-brainer, chain final drive belongs on on either vintage bikes or bikes that are not ridden very much.
And that's why I am disappointed that Honda did not see fit to engineer shaft-drive on their new 'tourer'.

I would have agreed with you 100% about shaft drive until I bought a new chain drive bike with a modern spec chain for the first time in a couple of decades.

I am now a born-again advocate for chain drive. They aren't anything like as bad as they used to be!