Shaft drive

Shaft drive is a final drive that uses a rotating driveshaft and bevel gears to turn the rear wheel, instead of a chain or belt. It is common on touring bikes and large adventure bikes from BMW, Moto Guzzi and others.

Its advantages are cleanliness, long life and very little maintenance: there is no chain to lube or adjust, only gear oil in the final drive to change at intervals. The downsides are extra weight, some power loss and a higher cost. Older designs could lift the rear under acceleration ('shaft jacking'), which modern parallelogram swingarms largely cancel out.

Check the final drive for oil leaks and play at the rear wheel, and change the oil at the specified interval.