Cush Drives - Anyone use them for street?

Do a search on the forum. I remember reading somewhere about absolutly needing the cush drive.

you'll get a whole range of opinions. motostrano sell a lot of motard wheels and they have a blog post explaining why they don't think they are needed. but there are plenty of expert (and uninformed) opinions to the contrary.

it's interesting to note that manufacturers almost always put a cush drive hub on bikes once they are over 600cc and will be used at least partly on bitumen. there are a few exceptions to this, like the husky TE630, husaberg FE650 and honda xr650.

Since the newer Berg's and KTM's use damped clutch baskets, the need for a cush hub should be at least partially or perhaps fully negated.

I wondered the same thing for a longtime and never got a good answer, all i read was that the people who did get them didnt know a difference, they just felt better having one.... i though after installing mine that it was a night and day difference, totally quiet and smooth and almost unbeleivable, even felt smoother and quiter even on dirt! i thought it was my imagination till i put my dirt tire back on :shock: i am still in testing and havent got as much time on the road as i would like yet but i think it will be very nice and i will feel good about it pounding the street. i dont have a good sprocket yet, the one that came with the wheel was aluminum and starting to hook, during my 10 mile test run i gassed it hard twice, both times i heard "chain jump noise" right away so i didnt do it anymore, once i get home i noticed 4 missing teeth on the sprocket i will do more testing as soon as i get my sprocket in the mail and time to transfer a tire/rim.......i do not have any experience with a dampened clutch like you to compare to solid wheel or cush, sorry. for that matter i dont have much experience with a cush on a dirt bike either (10 miles with a nobbie tire) though it definatly brought back memories of smooth street bike feel.......

cheers :cheers:
bergini

p.s. if you are following my early berg to supermoto post reguarding cush drive i havent forgot to update, just waiting for pics and some more testing...........shouldnt be tooooo long............

I'm going to ask the noob question here, probably going to research it after I post this but how does a cush drive hub differ from a normal hub. I too have an FE650 that I want to get a set of motard wheels for and have come across these hubs every time I search but noone has said why they are essential.

It's got 6 rubber dampeners in it to cushion the impacts generated from on/off throttle use. I've about 6,000 miles on an o-ring chain, and sprockets. There's no visible wear or hooks or anything. The chain pulls away only 1mm at the back of the sprocket.



If it keeps my chain and sprockets from wearing out so fast, it obviously is or has helped the engine last longer
There's physically no way that it wouldn't cushion the gears, and the multiple engine components.

Think about every throttle application on or off, and up shifts and downshifts. Every wheelie, every time the tire spins, then hooks up suddenly. Every stab at the rear brake. The violence is muted by the rubber dampeners.

My 650 engine has done 12,000 miles in 350 hours. I pulled the engine and dropped my 550 engine in the 650.

It runs great and pulls strong still, I just wanted to rebuild it because it's got a lot of hours.

Here's what a Kush hub looks like. It's not for sale, sorry.

Have a look at these:

http://www.kushsprockets.com/sprockets

Sorry, I forgot to say you'll need a complete wheel or will need to build your own from scratch if you're going with a Kush hub. The rim must be drilled for a Kush hub.

The spokes on the drive side don't use the same angle from hub to rim. The holes wont line up right. And the spokes are longer on that side.

i've mentioned it on another thread, a cheaper option might be to get the rear cush drive wheel from a husky te610e (it must be the e model, not the te610 which had a fixed rear hub). slots straight in, uses the oem axle, the sprocket and disc line up nicely. sprocket side wheel spacer works as is, but the disc side wheel spacer needs to be about 5mm wider so just get a suitable one machined up.

the husky te610e is pretty rare in australia but i think they sold a lot more of them in the states?

Did anyone read bkowal's post, those look like the perfect solution. I'm going to order one on payday. Alot cheaper then purchasing a new wheel.

I would get one too if i got one for 4t 25o or something but a berg 650? a cush drive is indestuctable compared to a sprocket, i would be scared to fold it an half and be stranded or dead, im sure alot of people would like to see a long test done with a big thumper especially on there new design, although it may be a long test at all depending on how it holds up. wear your body armor :lol:

Did a bit of google searching on it this morning after I posted before. Apparently the first batch were garbage and kept breaking but they have since changed the design. They offer a lifetime warranty and I came across a thread where a guy had brought one of the originals and it broke, however one of the guys from kush sprockets found the thread and was after his contact details to offer a refund and one of the new sprockets. Couldn't find anything with more then 1000kms on it but considering they are only $90 I'm keen to try it.

Another 6 weeks before the doc gives me the all clear to get back on the bike. Looks brand new with all the fresh plastic on it too. =(

Idle said:

Sorry, I forgot to say you'll need a complete wheel or will need to build your own from scratch if you're going with a Kush hub. The rim must be drilled for a Kush hub.The spokes on the drive side don't use the same angle from hub to rim. The holes wont line up right. And the spokes are longer on that side.

Click to expand...

I thought i read this somewhere else too.....if you are going to build you own, can you drill out a standard ktm rim and make it work? or do you have to buy a cush rim? do you buy a set of spokes specifically for a cush drive hub or can the 18" originals be recut to 17" length and rethreaded or is the angle at the base different so they cant just be twisted to account for angle change from extra width? of course i wouldnt want to bend spokes to make it work or it would never true...

i have a newer street tire to match the 2.5" rim on my cush drive wheel that i want to use some at least, but eventually want to get a wide 17" rim/tire but i was planning on just getting a rim and nothing else and building it up cheap with my existing spokes if it will work or maybe i need spokes... i just cant pay someone to build me a set of wheels to match my hubs that costs more than a pre-made set of aftermarket wheels......

I think the kush drive guys are just flat out with their next production run. I did hear back from them and they kindly advised that stock will be available late June 2012. Shame you had to move on the hub solution, as this looks like a great product and now in its second generation. We're lookIng forward to trying them out on some of our FE570 and Kato 525/530. Rgds "Another Stupid Aussie"

fredE,
let us know how it goes, sure there is a million people wanting to know how good it works on road/off road in the muck etc. a 2nd generation review would be nice, not that i care anymore since i have the real deal already but my curiousity gets the best of me still.....

1badhusa,
did you call him a stupid aussie in the email you sent them? maybe thats why he didnt get back to you, i sent ryan an email in the past and got one back the next day and we went back and forth about three times like he was sitting there waiting to respond to me on a blackberry or something....i would have bought one but didnt want to wait anymore for the 2nd run and talked myself out of the whole idea while waiting, when i called they were still in the 1st gen, it definatly wasnt because of bad service that i didnt buy from them.....

no worries 1badhusa - I knew you were just joking mate and I'm sure there's no offence taken. I just couldn't resist being a smart@rse.

Bergini; we'll share our thoughts on the kush drive here once we get our hands on them and run some distance on both road and trail. A riding buddy has fitted the KTM cush drive hub on his 2012 FE570 so we'll also see how they compare long term.