Shaft Drive Klunker

[deven_science]

I've had this 80s shaft drive bike hanging in the rafters for a handful of years, doing nothing with it. Buying an RV trailer means that my wife and I need some bikes that can do some trails or light off-roading. So... rather than buy another one, I built this into a klunker. This isn't really a build thread, since I forgot to save the before pics, but here she is done.

 

[RustyGold]

Super cool ! When one of those modern shaft drive bikes show up on CL, I struggle with the internal should I battle. Should not has always won that battle, but maybe not the next time .

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Wild. Any indication of who manufactured it? The three stays on non drive side is unusual. Was it designed for shaft drive, or is there even such a thing as a bolt on kit?

 

[Verrt]

Wild. Any indication of who manufactured it? The three stays on non drive side is unusual. Was it designed for shaft drive, or is there even such a thing as a bolt on kit?

Most of them the frame has been made specifically for shaft drive.

I believe there are shaft drive "kits" that you can buy in bulk then build your frames around if you're a bicycle manufacturer.

There have been a couple of attempts at bolt on kits for the public, to my knowledge none have been particularly successful and all have struggled with the engineering problem of making a "universal" shaft length.

There's also a target market issue that most people who feel confident in changing out the drive train on their bicycle are more interested in losing grams rather than adding pounds for the sake of a low maintenance drive train and bucket of artistic flair.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Neat freak!