CMS-Japanese Motorcycle Supply Parts

How to measure the driveshaft angle - Honda CX500, GL500, CX650, GL650, others


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There are probably dozens of programs which will do this; we tend to use Photoshop since it's already part of our workflow. Here's two methods of how we measure the driveshaft angle.

Drop a photo of your bike into Photoshop - thanks Tommy Baron for the photo:

Here we look at how to measure the driveshaft angle using a Honda CX500 and Photoshop.

Grab the Ruler rool - it's in the same icon stack as the eyedropper, circled in the above photo:

Here we look at how to measure the driveshaft angle using a Honda CX500 and Photoshop.

Zoom in on a part of the engine that's level with with drive shaft where it exits the rear of the motor; the fins on the sides are perfect. Click and drag a line along the fin.

Here we look at how to measure the driveshaft angle using a Honda CX500 and Photoshop.

Select Image -> Image Rotation -> Arbirtary:

Here we look at how to measure the driveshaft angle using a Honda CX500 and Photoshop.

This will level the image out so that the engine is perfectly horizontal, based on the line you drew above. Hit OK:

Now, zoom in on the swingarm and draw a line left to right:

Here we look at how to measure the driveshaft angle using a Honda CX500 and Photoshop.

At the top - circled in the thick red line - is the driveshaft angle. Ideally, have someone take a photo of the bike with you sitting on it so that you can get the angle it's at when it's under normal load - that's what really counts.

On a stock bike with a rider on-board the driveshaft angle should be at or close to 0 degrees once the sag is taken up. Ideally you want the deflection to be max. 4.5 degrees in either direction - so 9 degrees total. Maintaining these figures will give you maximum U-joint life.

As a footnote, you can do this in Photoshop by drawing one line with the ruler tool and option+clicking (not sure what the Windows key is for that) the end of the line you have drawn and draw a second line; Photoshop will then tell you the angle you have drawn. I find this slightly more fiddly getting the horizontal angle just so - but YMMV!



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