cigartoyz

Hey guys...Im looking to build another 1/10 touring car and i am going to go with an xpress kit. What is the pros and cons between belt and shaft drive? I currently have a shaft drive car and was going to switch to belt drive. Xpress just came out with a sport version of their arrow AT1s. So its between that and the XQ2S.

TIA

bill_delong

my information may be a bit dated as I haven't raced on-road in 6+ years, belt drives have pretty much dominated the market in recent years because they tend to produce downward force (increasing grip) on hard acceleration where shaft drives tend to produce torque steer on hard acceleration. A properly engineered belt drive that is tuned properly can be comparable in efficiency with shaft drives. Older belt drive designs were lacking proper tension adjustment and folks were spraying belts with WD40 to loosen them up to help free up the tension to improve efficiency. Not sure where Xpress falls into the mix but I would do some research to make sure they have worked out any kinks on their tension adjustment.

jiuoak

As someone who rides a 1984 Honda VF700C with a shaft drive, I can fully say. They are nice since I don't have to worry about maintenance as much.

T-StudioWorks

Belts are just so much more efficient than shafts. Don’t get me wrong, shafts are still the prettiest cars especially if the shaft is blue & is nice & meaty.