| Author | Message | ||
     Froggy |
… My drive belt. I committed the crime of actually washing my bike for once, it got all pissed at me and said “Screw you, first you wash me, now you are doing wheelies to make sure all the water is shaken out? Take this!” *snap* came down hard at about 60mph. First I thought it popped out of gear, so I up shifted, and it was like neutral. I look behind me and the belt is doing the happy dance down the road. No big deal, I was about 3/4 of a mile from home, so I just rolled it back, but needed help getting the thing up my driveway. I got a spare belt a few weeks ago; I was hoping that was like the good luck charm, my belt would never break, but obviously the opposite. I am due for tires, so I was going to throw it on anyway when the wheels were off, but so much for that. Somehow I botched putting the belt on, it’s jammed between the sprocket and swing arm. (Don’t ask.) My Dad came with his truck, and is hauling it to his shop where I got a better selection of tools at my disposal. Anyway, without further a due, here are the pics of the carnage. (Pics of clean bike just before the snap in another thread) I am assuming this is the original belt, and it has a hair under 30k on it.     | ||
| Ulynut |
Dang. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
you sure are tough on bikes there kiddo.lol | ||
| Froggy |
Well it blows my theory out of the water. I used to believe the more you abuse something, the less it breaks. Tons of abuse on the belt on both the Uly and SS, about 32k combined, and not even a hit of a failure. There wasn't any holes, stuck rocks or any other damage that I noticed when washing it. Then you get people that never get over 3000 RPM and their belts last about as long as a carrot in front of a rabbit. Beats me. | ||
| Froggy |
Story gets even better, my replacement belt I got a few weeks ago doesn't fit! Its way too small, possibly the normal XB belt  | ||
| Strada |
Does anyone have an old belt I can scrounge? I'm looking into an emergency fix idea and need an old belt to help. | ||
| Froggy |
You want the one in the above post? I was gonna use it as a garage trophy, but if you can figure out something to help I am more than willing to send it. I have been thinking about how to make an emergency repair setup, but at the moment I got nothing concrete. | ||
| Strada |
Cheers Froggy. Ideally I need a Uly one to get the right length so I can try on my bike - is it the same length? I have an idea for a temporary repair. (Message edited by strada on November 06, 2008) | ||
| Froggy |
From my understanding it is the same length, as they both have the same swingarm. The difference between the Uly and my bike is the suspension and tail section, both of those are getting swapped out over the winter.  | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I get 9k per belt. I am on my third. and a spare in my tank bag (just in case) 26k on the bike, and I do abuse the hell out of her. | ||
| Strada |
Froggy, I think it would cost quite a bit send to the UK, no? Anyone have a belt in the UK? | ||
| Adamd |
Strada/Froggy, If you're going to make some progress on a travel sized repair kit for belts, I'll gladly pay all the shipping charges. To R&D and the community. | ||
| New12r |
Uly and SS and TT share a belt. I have an ss belt on my Uly. | ||
| Hoon |
Yo Strada, I've got my snapped Uly belt you can have. I'm in Hainault,Essex if you're passing or want to pop over one evening/weekend to pick it up. Otherwise if you don't mind paying postage I can mail it to you. PM me on here and I'll send you my email address. I'll be interested to see your ideas for a temporary belt fix. | ||
| Wheelybueller |
Harley used to offer a road repair kit for belt drives. If you find a parts guy willing to dig a little they may find a dealer with old stock. I lost the belt on my 2000 M2 at 35k right after getting back from a 1000 mile weekend. Broke in my driveway(shit luck) | ||
| Natron |
I'm not a materials engineer by any stretch of the imagination, but those pics make me wonder what the average strand length of the kevlar making up the belt is. Would a belt made of one continual strand would be stronger? Like how they string cables for suspension bridges? I bet that would be prohibitively expensive though. The current belt seems to be a compromise between durability, function, and cost. Just like they say about road bicycle frames, you've got durable, lightweight, or inexpensive... now pick two. |
