It does sound great. Early cars ran belt-driven axles, these days it's gears, shafts and chains in oil baths. My guess is that the decision was made by marketing and the accountants rather than the engineers.

• Belt drives and cast alloy swingarms look sportier than a bulky enclosed chain.

• The T-Max is supposed to be a hybrid scooter/sportsbike and the bulky enclosed chain looks too much like a regular scooter.

• Reviewers pore over curb weight figures, and "reduced weight by xKG" looks great on brochures and press releases.

• The casings, double-row chains & sprockets are more expensive to manufacture than a couple of pulleys and a belt.

I can't get too mad, as hell knows they could have ruined it any number of other ways. At least they don't specify a mandatory final-drive belt replacement interval like BMW does; they just say to inspect it and leave it be if it's fine. Harley owners have been known to get 70k+ out of their belts, whereas the oil-bath final drives on BMWs have been known to explode long before that mileage...

Nick