Introduction of motorcycle structure - Part 2
Drive Systems 3 basic ways of transmitting engine power to the motorcycle rear wheel are chain, belt or shaft. Chain final-drive systems are the most common. A driven sprocket mounted to the output shaft (i.e., the shaft in the transmission) is connected to a sprocket fixed to the rear wheel of the motorcycle by a metal chain in this system. The smaller front sprocket is turning, power is transmitted along the chain to the larger rear sprocket, then the rear wheel is turning. Drive system must be lubricated and adjusted, and the chain stretches and the sprockets wear are required periodic replacements. The friction drive is another transmission which is a type of continuously variable transmission, or CVT. The variation in gear ratios comes about as a disc connected to the engine (the driving disc) rotates across the face of a second disc connected to the rear wheel (the driven disc). Different gears can be achieved because of varying the radius of the cont...