Fixing a shaft-driven bicycle?
 

Last year, I decided to get a bicycle. After researching, I found out about chainless bicycles that are run by a shaft drive. I read about the pros and cons and thought that the pros outweighed the cons. I remember being a kid and getting grease stains on my legs and the chain slipping off, causing any rotation of the pedals to be futile.

It was great. There was no chain, no noise, and shifting was really easy (no coordinating between the two sets of gears), not to mention how cool everyone thought it was. But I made a mistake. I decided I should upgrade from platform pedals. Looking at my options, clipless pedals had a few problems: the expense, the hideousness of the shoes, and the fact that my feet are to big for normal shoes and the shoes for my size are many times more expensive than the regular ones. Finding out about Power Grips, I bought a pair, but when I was testing them out over the weekend, I started hearing these awful noises from the shaft drive. I tried to stop using them, but the following Monday, the gears between the crank and the shaft drive went out of alignment. I didn't know what caused it, of course (I'm very mechanically challenged), so I asked my father to try to see what was wrong. He explained it to me; he tightened it (it's a little disk behind the right pedal). It was only a temporary fix, as it kept coming off and eventually the gears connecting the shaft drive to the crank got stripped down to being unusable.

Now, that I got all of that out the way, I was wondering if anybody knows if it's fixable (I know I have seen a couple posts here by people who use them before I joined, but who knows if they're still around?). Sure, you can get a new shaft drive for $90, but it seems like half of it is a part of the frame. It doesn't look like the crank housing is removable at all. And if it's not, I really would hate to waste $90.

I had this exact problem with my shafty and eventually it got sooo bad I
donated it to a bike co-op. If you caught it the first time it happened and
stopped riding it right away, you might be OK. If this phenomenon
happened a few times you are in bad shape, 'cuz the gear teeth actually
get ground away. Your Dad is correct (but you knew that :) ).....The screws
are not nearly enough to take the strain of the shaft. Its bad design, period.
I would suggest taking it (BB)apart and loading it with grease. Then, blue LocTite
EVERYTHING before tightening it up. Goop up the cones that go into the bottom
bracket where they meet the shell of the BB bracket on the frame and also the
three screws on each side of those cones that tighten them to the bottom bracket.
If you caught it before steel got chipped off the cogs, you'll be OK.
Also, on mine, the crank arms were very soft and also required constant tightening
to the axles. Good luck !

I would say that you need to contact the importer/distributor with your question. Lack of standard parts used and total dependence on the manufacturer/importer for spare parts is to me one reason to avoid bikes such as shaft drive ones. Very few LBSs carry or are familiar with them leaving you dependent on the importer/distributor and yourself if repairs are ever needed.

BTW what brand of shaft drive bike?

^^^^ Im gonna bet the farm that its Dynamic/Incline :thumb:

It's a Dynacraft Dekra Urban Voyager. I called support and told them what was wrong and they sent me... pedals.

The pedals had nothing to do with your problem. Dekra's website says the drivetrain has a lifetime warranty. Put the old pedals back on and get them to honor their warranty.

Exactly. My point was that calling did no good.

I might do that if I can think of what to say. But then again, they might consider six months to be a lifetime for a bicyclist (seriously, I got it in April, it started acting up in September, and became totally unusable in October).