Equipment list

Motorcycles With Shaft Drive

Motorcycles with shaft drive from the factory: every confirmed model with years, power, weight and a buyer's guide.

By · Updated 2026-10-30

Motorcycles With Shaft Drive
Photo: BMW press archive

Shaft drive turns the rear wheel through an enclosed driveshaft with bevel gears instead of a chain or a toothed belt. It’s sealed against road dirt and weather, so there’s no chain to clean, lube or adjust. Your job is changing the gear oil in the rear drive at the service intervals. The trade-off is plain: more weight at the rear wheel than a chain drive.

Every bike here left the factory with shaft drive; chain and belt final drives don’t count. When one catches your eye, pin down the exact generation and model year of the bike you’re looking at and match it to the right entry below. Then ask when the rear drive last got its gear oil change.

Every motorcycle below has shaft drive from the factory, confirmed against manufacturer information. Where a trim or special edition shares it with the base bike, only the base bike is listed. A model that is missing here may still have it; it means we have not confirmed it yet.

Standard from the factory

148 model lines by category, 39 still in production or built until last year

Adventure

Earlier adventure models (22)

Cruiser

Earlier cruiser models (26)

Hyper Naked

Earlier hyper naked models (3)

Naked Bike

  • BMW R 12 nineT

    Old Soul, New Frame

    2024– · 109 hp · 485 lb wet

  • BMW R 12 S

    Boxer Soul With Modern Manners

    2025– · 109 hp · 483 lb wet

  • BMW R 1300 R

    Boxer Muscle With Composure

    2025– · 145 hp · 527 lb wet

Earlier naked bike models (15)

Retro Classic

Earlier retro classic models (14)

Scrambler

Sport Tourer

Earlier sport tourer models (11)

Supermoto

Earlier supermoto models (1)

Supersport

Earlier supersport models (2)

Tourer

Earlier tourer models (15)