And then there are the disadvantages that have nothing to do with the ride. The first obstacle any Christini rider must get over is the bike's price. The kit retails for $5995, which includes the modified frame and drive system. Add that to the $6595 price of the stock X and you've got a $12,000 dirt bike. The bike is sold as a complete unit: already converted to a new bike. The bikes are available now, but only through authorized Christini dealers (Honda dealers that offer the bike and carry replacement parts), and are currently only available for the Honda CRF250X and R, and the CRF450X. The next bike to be adapted will be a KTM--both the 450F and the 300 two-stroke, and will be available through authorized Christini/KTM dealers. The list of authorized dealers is growing but they're not everywhere yet. Frame kits can be purchased without the bike but again only through a Christini dealer.
At nearly double the price of a stock bike, the buy-in is intimidating. To make the decision easier (or more anguishing), many Christini dealers are hosting demo ride days so riders can feel for themselves if the AWD system is worth the cost. Check out www.christini.com to find a local dealer and to see if a ride is in your future. The AWD will also require more routine maintenance. The drive seems well-built, with great fit and finish, but moving parts are moving parts, and they need inspection and care. The main maintenance requirements for the Christini are to keep the chain drive lubricated, replace that chain's tensioner when it wears and keep the linear spline bearings lubricated (made easier with zerk fittings and a grease gun included with the bike). The drive can also make maintenance of the rest of the bike more time consuming--most obviously the way it limits access to the carb. We can't speak for the long-term reliability of the drive yet, but Steve Christini is so confident in his design he's letting DR induct the bike into our Long Haul fleet, so keep an eye on the magazine for updates as we rack up the hours.
We're impressed. The AWD works. Most of the disadvantages are felt in the wallet and in the garage. On the trail it offers some very real advantages and doesn't do anything too goofy. Which brings up the best advice we can give anyone regarding the Christini: If you're not going to buy one, you better make sure your riding buddies don't. And don't take a test ride, either!
THE MECHANICS
POWER TRIP
The Christini drive is engineered to limit one inherent disadvantage in front-wheel-drive: torque steer. If you've ever accelerated with a front-wheel-drive car and felt the steering wheel pull to one side, you're familiar with torque steer. On a car, it's annoying, on a motorcycle, it could be hazardous. The Christini 250X setup keeps the gyroscopic and torque forces distributed on both sides of the bike and working in opposite directions to cancel out one another. Here's the path the horsepower would take to get to the front wheel.
The bike's power runs to two sprockets on the countershaft. The outer sprocket drives a chain that runs up the side of the bike to a top sprocket. (On the 250X, this chain drive runs at an 80 percent mechanical reduction compared to the chain drive to the rear wheel and is adjustable with sprocket changes.) Here, the power goes into a gearbox under the bike's tank (a special tank makes room). From there it transfers through a torque-limiter clutch to a set of spiral miter gears that drive a coaxial shaft (a smaller shaft counter-rotating inside a larger shaft) that runs down through the steering head. A set of counter-rotating sprockets each drive a small timing chain inside the lower triple clamp, each one reaching out to a sprocket on the top of a shaft that connects to a linear spline bearing assembly. These spline bearing assemblies rotate in opposite directions down each fork leg to a spiral bevel gearset on each side of the front hub, turning at a 4:1 ratio (one revolution of the wheel equals four revolutions of the spline bearing assembly). These gearsets each run a one-way clutch inside the front hub, and both clutches drive the front wheel.