| Author | Message | ||
     Grimace308 |
belt snapped on me today. the grimace isnt happy. nothing out of the ordinary as far as how i rode the pumpkin. 4600 easy miles, lifetime my ass... chrtis (Message edited by grimace308 on May 26, 2006) (Message edited by grimace308 on May 26, 2006) | ||
| Mrvvrroomm |
Sorry to hear that bro. You should be able to pick one up tomorrow. | ||
| Windaddiction |
make them warenty it | ||
| Dano_12s |
Grim, did you change rear tire?Good luck. | ||
| Javadog |
How is it possible to snap the unbreakable, indestructable belt? Do you know if Goodyear is aware of these failures? | ||
| Grimace308 |
if they had them in stock, id be able to pick one up tomorrow.  no tire change yet. if the belt doesnt get here in time, i may have to miss homecoming and im a bit chapped right now. is the silly belt under warranty for the lifetime of the motorcycle or whats the actual deal. the shop is indicating it isnt a warranty issue and i reckon im going to get stuck with the bill for the unbreakable, indestructible, inedible belt that failed at 4600 miles. as i said, im a bit chapped. nicest 4 day weekend in a spell and im stuck without a ride. a buddy broke his arm so he said i could use his ducati monster 620 till i get the orange pumpkin back. its cool, but id be taking 3 HUGE steps backwards by mounting up on a ducati.  the chapped one, chris | ||
| Grimace308 |
did i mention im a bit pissed off right now? | ||
| Maximum |
As long as you did not remove the belt guard, it is covered under the 2 year standard warranty. See previous post: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/196238.html#POST651285 | ||
| Daves |
I can send you a belt out on Tuesday I stock them Buell of Appleton WI 1-866-757-1651 ask for Dave in the sales dept | ||
| Debueller |
Grimace, I had the orignal belt on my Uly break when it had 7700 miles on it. The dealer had no problem with replacing it under warranty. They even overnight shipped a belt & had my bike back in 3 days. It's my understanding that the belt is covered under warranty for 2 years...but it must break before they will replace it. I picked up a small stone in the 2nd belt, so to avoid a failure at a bad time I bought a new one from Daves out of my own pocket and installed myself. I now have the damaged one on hand for a spare. I am now running on my 3rd belt in just over 13k mi. I'm not real pleased with the belt drive but I've already ranted enough on that subject so I'll stop now. Don't let the dealer screw you. If the belt failed they need to replace it for free. | ||
| Chadhargis |
What's the "average" number of miles folks are getting out of their belts. As is typical, we always hear from people who have problems, but what about you folks who've had great success with the belt? | ||
| Duck |
23,105 so far on mine | ||
| Fool4buell |
Less than 2800 miles on mine. It broke yesterday (Memorial Day) about 180 miles from home. Had to ride home 2-up on my wife's 400cc scooter, get the car and trailer, drive back, get the bike, and then drive home again. In Memorial Day traffic. I've been planning a 4500 mile ride to Yellowknife at the end of June. I guess I need to pack a spare for that trip, eh? My wife has over 15,000 miles on that scooter and it has had absolutely no trouble -- and it's got belt drive, too. (CVT steel belt) | ||
| Pigseye |
Are these '06 Uly belts? What bikes are these belts breaking on? Please clarify. Thanks! | ||
| Fool4buell |
'06 Uly belt broken in 2800 miles. | ||
| Pigseye |
What was determined to be the primary cause of the break? Did something get caught between the belt and the sprocket? Was it a belt defect? There's a huge gap between the your mileage traveled and Duck's mileage taveled. Was this pavement only, or did you do off-road stuff as well? I hope the folks at Buell sees this. I want to get a Uly. The belt warranty sounds good, but being stranded miles from nowhere with a broken belt or an easy way to install a spare belt sucks big time. 2899 miles is not much....disconcerting. (Message edited by pigseye on May 30, 2006) | ||
| Chadhargis |
Maybe I should buy a spare and store it under the seat. Of course, I'd have to wad it up so much that it would probably weaken it. Quick question...what does everyone clean their belt with?? I NEVER put anything on mine except what soap and water that drips on it during a normal wash. I'm wondering if people are "dressing" their belt and that might cause it to weaken. Just a thought. | ||
| Stevenknapp |
If you read the service manual, the procedures for care of it are pretty strict. How much you can bend it, twist it, etc.. Not saying it's the cause, but I wonder about removing/installing the rear wheel possibly causing problems if the belt isn't treated with kid-gloves. | ||
| Debueller |
I keep mine clean by using a paddock stand under the rear wheel then running the rear wheel at about 20 mph with the engine. I spray plain water with a garden hose all over the rear wheel and pulley. I also spray water on the inside and outside of the belt. I spray water into the countershaft area also. All with the wheel spinning. I usually only do this when the bike is very dirty or has been off road and is muddy. A small amount of soap might find it's way into the process, but no solvents, dressings, or other chemicals at all. | ||
| Duck |
Mine snapped at 25,152 on the way back from Homecoming. Cerini Buell was great about the whole thing. Much thanks to them. All I could think about while waiting for the truck to come get me was the seminar I sat through at East Troy and how great the new belt was. Meanwhile my old man kept reminding how his 92 Softail has 132K on the original belt. In the immortal words of the large Asian One: Did I mention that I am a bit pissed off right now? Amazing what a difference a few days makes | ||
| Whodom |
I keep mine clean by using a paddock stand under the rear wheel then running the rear wheel at about 20 mph with the engine. I spray plain water with a garden hose all over the rear wheel and pulley. I also spray water on the inside and outside of the belt. I spray water into the countershaft area also. All with the wheel spinning. I usually only do this when the bike is very dirty or has been off road and is muddy. I read an article in a cruiser mag a few years ago about a very high mileage (~200k IIRC) Harley and its rider had gotten very high mileage out of his drive belt (maybe 150k). He said he was religious about regularly washing the belt with soap, water, and a brush and he thought this contributed to its life. The oddest thing to me about these belt failures is the inconsistency. We have at least one 03 XB9S hooligan rider here who got ~30k miles out of his original notoriously unreliable Gates belt. OTOH, we've got conservative Uly riders who've snapped their indestructible Goodyear belts at less than 5k.  | ||
| Pwnzor |
I agree with the inconsistency statement. When I first bought the bike, my buddies all lambasted me about the belt drive, yada yada yada... I told em, I've driven shaft and chain drives to no end. I'm in love with the smooth power of this belt drive. I'm scrubbing exactly ZERO grease off my rear wheel. I'm lubricating exactly ZERO chain links, making ZERO mess in the process. I searched and searched for information about belt drives. I figure Harley has been doing it forever, pushing big heavy all-steel bikes down the road for god knows how many years, mostly on belt drives. Other than the inconsistent reports about a few belts snapping I couldn't find anything to dissuade me from riding belts for life from this point forward. I did have a personal experience with a broken chain once... on my '76 CB750F... with the chain guard removed... to look cool... and the chain broke, came flying over the top of the rear sproket and tore the heel out of my Red Wings boot. Thank god I wasn't wearing tennis shoes. It was very soon after that I sold the 750 and "upgraded" to the 83 CB900C which is a shaft drive. Loved shaft drive for a long time, rode a few chains since then but always longed for that smooth hookup. Then I bought the Buell. I'll never, ever go back to a chain unless its on a dirt bike. Just my personal preference. BTW I would have actually kept the 750 but the other deciding factor was that it got run over by a truck filled with... frozen worms... Taco'd the rear wheel and bent the swing arm. Which is less than what happened to the trucker at fault. I spent the next 3 days in jail  | ||
| Debueller |
I think there might be is something to the inconsistent belt quality thing. After breaking my first one at 7700 mi. and getting a replacement under warranty, the 2nd one picked up a pebble when the bike had 12k mi. on it. I'm not too fond of going through what Duck went through on a trip far from home when his belt left him stranded. ('m leaving for Boise today for a 4 day trip) I bought a new one from Daves, but before installing it myself I figured I would try to break the one on the bike and get it warrantied then keep my the new one for a spare. My 616 was wore out also so I did some rather violent powerbrakes (complete with pushing the front tire) and burnouts. The damn belt thing wouldn't break. The 616 was worn almost to the cords and I was kinda tired when I was through. I put the new one on and the old one looks like it might keep going fine, I suppose it has proven it's self as a worthy spare. BTW, I've treated chain and shaft driven bikes the same way and have never had a failure on them either. (except for a clutch on a FJ1200). I'm still not sold on the belt drive. Windrider, I'll call ya this afternoon from Baker City. I'm lookin' foward to a guided ride of your turf on Fri afternoon. (Message edited by debueller on June 08, 2006) | ||
| M2buelligan |
Man this sucks!! I'm getting moved to Alaska and was going to buy a Uly. After reading about all the problems with belts and engines shutting down on the HWYs, I might change my mind. Maube look at a BMW R1150GS Adventure. | ||
| Jim_sb |
Well go buy the GS then. But if you think they're problem free you are going to be in for a surprise. Or you need to hang out on the GS boards and see the problems those guys have... My buddy's new GS has been in the shop a lot more than my Uly. We bought them within 2 weeks of each other. The engine shut-down appears to be very isolated - I wouldn't worry about it. The belt issue appears to be more problematic. Undoubtedly Buell is going to address the issue with the belt. Don't over react, eh? The Uly is a good bike. Very few issues at this point. Regards, Jim in SB | ||
| Whodom |
Man this sucks!! I'm getting moved to Alaska and was going to buy a Uly. After reading about all the problems with belts and engines shutting down on the HWYs, I might change my mind. Maube look at a BMW R1150GS Adventure. Be sure and read some of MikeO's adventures at advrider.com. He's on his SECOND final drive unit on a late-model GS in ~30,000 miles. You can buy a lot of belts for the price of one of those, and they're much easier to replace on the side of the road. | ||
| Stevenknapp |
The engine shut-down appears to be very isolated - I wouldn't worry about it. Not only that, but it doesn't leave you stranded. AND Buell is looking into the issue. Calling owners on the phone. Both are good bikes. IMHO the Buell is much less complex and the company is much more responsive. | ||
| Fool4buell |
I have a 4500 mile trip to Yellowknife planned at the end of the month. My belt just broke with 2800 easy miles on it. I don't know what to do now: It doesn't sound practical to carry a spare belt -- too easy to damage while touring. BUT! I have owned 2 BMW's and I will not buy another. They were SO much more trouble-prone than the 15 or so Japanese bikes I have owned. The Buell is more fun and interesting than the Japanese bikes -- I hope the belt thing was a fluke. | ||
| M2buelligan |
You guys are right. I have 2 Buells now and have not had any problems with either. I know not to over react to these posts. Thanks for gettiing my attention. I have ridden the BMW & the ULY and I really liked the Uly best. What can I say it's a Buell and I love Buells. Looks like it's Uly time in Alaska!!!!!!! | ||
| Chadhargis |
Any type of drive can fail, although chains seem to be the most reliable. I simply hate fooling with a chain. I just cleaned the chain on my Ducati, and it was a mess. YUCK! | ||
| Whodom |
I have a 4500 mile trip to Yellowknife planned at the end of the month. My belt just broke with 2800 easy miles on it. I don't know what to do now: It doesn't sound practical to carry a spare belt -- too easy to damage while touring. Fool4buell, I don't know that that is true. The Gates belts used on the 03's were VERY finicky about proper handling and a factory service bulletin was issued to warn about this (absolutely NO twisting, stretching, prying, folding, etc. allowed). The latest Goodyear belts are SUPPOSED to be relatively immune to rough handling and I've seen it posted here that you can safely fold one up and store it on the bike without a problem. Perhaps someone could confirm this with Buell Customer Service? | ||
| Whodom |
Aha! Some diligent Googling found this post from shortly after the Uly's release. Now, the durability of the belt may be somewhat questionable, but at least someone from the factory has said you can safely roll one up for ease of carrying. Anonymous Posted on Friday, August 05, 2005 - 01:14 pm: ------------------------------------ Huge improvement in the belt this year. It will not be a problem off road. Not that you CAN'T break one, but it will be rare and you can break chains, too. Good news also is that you can roll up a spare belt in your pack if you are doing a trip to Tierra del Fuego or the like. And it's only 1/4 the weight of a spare chain! | ||
| Fool4buell |
Wow, thanks Whodom. I'll look into that. The peace of mind would be worth it if I could bring a spare along without too much trouble. And, of course, if I have a spare then there is no chance the belt will break. | ||
| Mb182 |
If it bothers you that much do the chain conversion then live with the mess.. MB | ||
| M2nc |
I can't remember exactly how many miles the M2 had when I striped about a third of the teeth off the belt at the drag strip, but it was somewhere around 35,000 miles. The Honda CB750 I had started popping under acceleration. The chain was stretched and it damaged the both front and rear sprockets. The bike had 20,000 miles. As I found out from the Honda dealer, they recommend chain replacement every 15,000 miles and said that I got good mileage out of it. I have 9,500 miles on the Uly and the M2 is at 43,000 miles with the 2006 belt I put on it. So combined I have over 17,000 miles on 2006 belts with no problems. It does concern me that dealers do not have replacement belts because I travel on the Uly and really have to think if this spare belt ideal has merit. The only advantage I see to chain is that it is easy to find, but have one break it will leave you stranded just like a belt if you do not have a spare link and tools to repair the chain. I would love to see figures on how many Ulys are on the road and how many belts have failed on them. The question that has to be asked is why is the belt breaking? If someone is getting 4500 miles out of a rear D616 they are not riding it hard. On the flip side many of us have pushed our Ulys to its limits. As for my experience, I have more miles on 06 belts than the service life of a chain with no problems so it appears to me a properly made, properly installed belt can handle the load, so something else is causing the problem. The question is what is causing the belt to fail? |
