I can't speak on behalf of the Centa cush-drive but I have been using LoveJoy type couplings on oilfield equipment drive lines for many years and its surprising how long they last...over a decade in many cases.
Almost every motorcycle on the road has some sort of rubber-based cush-drive. Old Triumphs had 6 rubbers and a three prong "spider" in the clutch hub leveling out the pulses. Old Nortons (and many Asian bikes) have rubber cush drives behind the rear sprockets. Typically, they're worst enemy is age...again, usually decades before they get hard and start disintegrating.
Many people that have built "bitsa" bikes (bits and pieces of several different bikes used to build one "custom" bike) and they make the mistake of using a engine/transmission/clutch without a cush-drive along with a rear wheel without a cush drive, the transmission dies in record time before their very eyes.
I'd rather take my chances with the rubber compensator than mechanical. Ramps, rollers and Bellville washers have a finite life too especially when run dry.
My only concern with the Centa is reports of new vibrations. I think I'm going to build a balancing fixture to see if I can improve on the "as delivered" balance of the unit before installing it.
As far as future rubber replacement when needed, although it won't be fun, it certainly won't be as bad as the initial conversion from the Bellville style compensator.
It's easy to pick a Christmas present for your friends that own M3Ws...compensators, bevel boxes, steering geometry kits, rubber bobbins, timing belts, rectifier/regulators, stators, belts & sprockets, tools, floor jacks, hand cleaner, henways....
Speaking of which, what I'd like for Christmas is to run the M3W division for one year. Their per unit profits may go down slightly but we'd offset it in the volume of reliable units sold.
Z
