Chain drive i know i know

So ive had my maxim x for close to 15 years in various states. i have a second parts bike and an 82 750. anyways ive always toyed with the ideas of converting to chain.

First off lets start by saying lets avoid the "just leave it shaft". I want chain drive for various reasons.

anyways. based on a lot of staring at diagrams and the engines themselves, why couldnt we convert to chain by machining a shaft to replace the middle drive shaft. and removing the outside bevel gear with a section for a sprocket.

at this point im only looking at the middle drive gear I realize it would be heavy modifications to the cases but ill get to that after.

based on rotation of the middle drive gear whats anyones thoughts on this?

 

If you like going in reverse then that will work.

Way cheaper and easier to buy a different bike with a chain.

 

i wasnt sure what the rotation actually was but was vaguely remembering it could be reverse. easier isnt any fun though

 

It was done by Yamaha for their racing XJ750.

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/the-ultimate-chain-drive-xj-bike-that-does-exist.48461/

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/do-you-know-xj750r.108896/

A member here was partway into replicating that setup before finances prevented any further work on the chain drive conversion.
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/posts/309077/

My personal opinion is that the best way forward is to either adapt, or have made a 90 degree gearbox that mounts to the existing output shaft. You'd still have the losses from a shaft drive, but remove the little bit of rear-end jacking we get during power transitions.

Keep in mind that whatever you do you will have to either retain the middle-gear shaft as-is, or figure out how to add a cush-drive to the rear wheel.

 

I’ve looked into those options as well as looking into a planetary setup that could reverse rotation of the middle drive.

the racing ou28 is awesome but sadly they reverse rotation of the engine which would make things easier but I feel like that’s changing more then I’d like

 

You are literally the first person that I've ever heard reference anything about reversing the rotation of the engine. To my knowledge Yamaha didn't do that at all.

 

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/my-82-xj750-project-shadow-warrior.35431/page-12#post-450856

if you read back through this post skylrk62 mentions it

 

I've seen some chain conversions on the Mighty V-Max, can't buy a different chain drive bike that will replicate the V-Max so..
The conversion was done in Europe, France and Germany If I recall correctly. It was a magazine article so that will
tell you how long ago it was.
Cheers, 50gary