| Author | Message | ||
     Adrenaline0210 |
Today took my 03' xb9s out and after i around for 15 min from my house belt snapped... what a bummer. Wondering wheres the best place to get a belt for it, I have the extended warrenty but im not so sure it covers it. I cant really see dropping 400$ for the 04 upgrade kit. Any recomendations. And how many miles have you guys gotten outa ur o3' belts? | ||
| Skyguy |
Your 03 belt broke at 5,000? I am SHOCKED! You must have abused it. Did you have a woaman pose on your bike with high heels digging into the belt? Because it clearly says in the service manual "Not to be used for Bondage". Trust me eat the money now for the upgrade or eat more money by later. I thik we should all take our broken 03 belts to H/D and glue them to their 90 million dollar museums doors. Down with the man!!!! "Disclaimer" The above statement does not represent the views of BMC, BWB or "The Man". It is in no way to be taken seriously as we all know that actually defacing a museum would be a crime. Crimes are wrong. "Disclaimer regarding the above Disclalimer" The above disclaimer was not written by anyone with any legal background what so ever. To take the above disclaimer seriously would be a crime. Crimes are wrong. | ||
| Mikexlr650 |
glueing them to the door sounds great! no real damage but the point would get across. bmc really needs to extend a helping hand to the "03" beta tester group. i'm not saying give it away but at least sell the kit for a reasonable amount of money. they know full well this was a design weakness, hence the "upgrades". these people took a chance on buell at a time when they had a bad rep for quality. my guess is this really frustrates bmc but since another hd owned company handles distribution, service, and warranty work there is little they can do about it. the price they pay to be part of hd, after all without hd there probably wouldn't be a buell. i love my bike but the belt is always in the back of my mind whenever i'm more than an hour from home. funny thing is i never even think about it when i'm on the dyna??? | ||
| Prof_stack |
Isn't the replacement belt for the '03 XB models an improved version of what the bikes originally came with? | ||
| Diablobrian |
I highly advise you to either upgrade to the 04+ Pulleys and 06+ belt. Either that or do a chain conversion. Some of them run about the same price as the updated belt. | ||
| Xb9ser |
prof_stack After 10000 miles on my original belt I bought the improved 03 belt and it broke in two weeks. I have put 2000 more miles on original belt and I am going to a chain very soon!!  The improved belt is junk a friend bought one the same week as I did and his broke 600 miles later!! | ||
| Twig |
Ha Ha ... Yes I can verify that. Glenn, I still have the broken belt. We need to get a pic of the"brand new belts" side by side.Idinicaul break to me. | ||
| Black_sunshine |
I put a 10k on my original 03' belt....got nervous that it would break so I bought the upgraded 03' belt. Broke it in 3k miles(no guards and lots of wheelies mind you) put the original back on and 1 track day and 1500 miles later....still going strong. Seems like a crap shoot. Sometimes you get a good on..other times...not so much. | ||
| Ronlv |
what belt  | ||
| Diablobrian |
I have another beltless 03 XB  Unless you count my metal link belt  Hey Ron, you've got another bike that almost couldn't be more opposite of mine and still be an XB. BTW Nice clean bike. The wide rear looks like a factory job from everything I've seen. Your attention to detail is top notch, and that's the difference between a good customization and a great one. (Message edited by diablobrian on July 23, 2006) | ||
| Ronlv |
diablo, thanks yours is awesome to, i almost went that direction(full fairing) on mine, but i decided to get alittle crazy | ||
| Diablobrian |
It's all good Ron, I like both ends of the spectrum. My bike was the exact one I wanted. It came on the market at just the right time, and saved me a bunch of trouble getting to where I am now. Of course there is more I want to do with it given time, and money. | ||
| Kdan |
I got 13k out of my original and so far 8k on the upgraded 03. I guess with only 5k miles on your bike, the belt possibly rotted? | ||
| Adrenaline0210 |
ya ended up just picking up another stock belt for now... dont have the cash to chain it or even go to the 04' upgraded. My bike i purchased last nov with only 600 miles so now im thinking from it sittin for 2.5 yrs and barely ridden that it dry rotted the belt so to speak....posibility, common keep it positive haha | ||
| Skyguy |
The belt don't rot. They just suck butt. I broke two and nearly a third before spending the dough on the upgrade. Two broken belts and you almost have the upgrade. Al at American Sport Bike also does free TPS resets for his customers so it added about $70.00 to the value of the upgrade. Good luck with the new belt. | ||
| Onemanclan |
I think the real issue is that his bike is an '03 with ONLY 5000 miles on it...I'll put that much on my bike just in the summer...Ever notice that Buell sells bikes with belts, but RACES bikes with chains? | ||
| Wademan |
They race with chains because gearing changes are a lot easier. And because the RR makes 150 hp. Implying that buell using chains for racing means that the belts are not properly designed is wrong. | ||
| Ronlv |
just think of all the money buell could save on warranty belt issues if they went to chains belts are designed for sportsters not buells | ||
| Buellgirlie |
not necessarily true that the belts cant race. in our little circus tent of buell racers - only 2 guys have chains. yes the "pro" buell guys all have chains - but otherwise there wouldnt be gearing flexibility. the 2 that have chains regularly do daytona, heartland park, road america, etc. so they need different gears. me, julian, jon, matt, jason, and tom all race with our belts. mine's an 03 and i thought about upgrading but i decided to let the bike tell me when that was needed rather than drop the money for the belt and pullets as a preventative measure. my bike isnt treated delicately on the track either  if i were going to be racing more than locally/regionally - i'd probably do a chain conversion - but as it as, with blackhawk being my "main" track - the stock gearing is actually pretty good there, so the impetus to change is even lower. ymmv, D p.s. my bike has 10-11K miles on it and i'm the 3rd owner. the 2nd owner was a retired racer (former #1 plate holder in CRA) who bought it to use exclusively as a track bike. so its had some hard usage. (Message edited by buellgirlie on July 23, 2006) | ||
| Ronlv |
we have a sponsership program for all licensed racers (inquire within) | ||
| Diablobrian |
Also note that the race bikes in ASRA and FX have 120+ hp, and get their tires changed a LOT! The belts would not fare well with the quick wheel/tire changes. There isn't always time to be gentle at the track. You can't afford to be worried about whether you belt got twisted during the last tire change as you come out of the last turn and unleash the full brunt of the hp on that belt. TO be fair with a chain you could be worried about a master link etc, but the odds of that are far lower, and can be seen on a visual inspection, where the belts can, and have, failed just after an inspection where they were visually "perfect". Just something to ponder. chain-chain-chain | ||
| Buellgirlie |
to be fair, i also didnt do chain conversion because of cost. the hal's kit is $2500 before labor - and tax because i live in WI. (or extra sprockets). yes, i've heard there are other sources for anywhere between $700-900 for the conversion, but i'm honestly a little paranoid because i know about hal's and their racing involvement and track record (and here's where them being local is a great thing vs. when i hate paying sales tax.) the other kits might be great, and much more affordable - but either way $700, $900, $2500 - all of those numbers are too much for my amateur regional racer budget. (belt belt belt - til an issue shows up, in which case i may just do another 03 belt.....or go chain because the cost of 06 belt/pulleys is too much into the money of a chain conversion) my 2 cents, D | ||
| Diablobrian |
Fair enough Dora! I wasn't trying to pick on you....or was I? Really, by the time you're looking at your third belt you could've pretty nearly bought the components to do Saintly's chain conversion, our American Sport Bike 's, Trojan's kit, or the Revolution conversion. The Hal's kit is pricey, but it's proven too, but if it hadn't been installed on my bike when I bought it I would have gone with one of the less expensive options myself, being a cheap bastard and all (except where gear is concerned, but THAT is an entirely different story) For example Tim (No_Rice) is on his fifth 03 belt. He's going to a chain, but he's already spent enough to have done the conversion a long time ago. He's a street rider, granted he has been playing with NOS, but 3 of these have broken when he wasn't using it at all, ironically because of fear of breaking belts after the second one broke.  | ||
| Buellgirlie |
ouch. thats no fun - five belts???? i can take it brian, bring it on  , i think i've proven that i'm a tough cookie! D | ||
| Diablobrian |
I know, or I never would have poked at you like that!  | ||
| Xb9ser |
yes Dora you are one tuff cookie!! if I went through what you did I don't think I would get back on track!Glad to see you are healing well!!good luck on your next time. | ||
| Darthane |
-=shrugs=- 15K on the original '03 belt. Still in excellent condition in the garage 'just in case'. 4K on the upgraded '03 belt, no signs of wear and tear - been removed a half dozen times since the original installation. I'm tellin' you guys, ya just need to sweet talk them a bit and they'll last forever. Let them know they're appreciated. | ||
| Onemanclan |
Sorry for being an noob, but have they improved the belts since my '03? My '06 Uly is supposed to be maintenance free for the life of the bike...My '03 wasn't... | ||
| Darthane |
Several times, One. '03s got a straight up replacement upgrade, then the entire system was revamped for '04...I believe the newest bikes have yet a different belt, though the pulley system will accept any 04s or beyond. | ||
| No_rice |
that 5th belt in 13,000 is on just one of my bikes, my other 03 is on its 2nd and thats bone stock with 6,000 on it. what fun. the first belt on my green 03 didnt even break, it just stripped 6-8 inches of teeth under a hard load, caught the next teeh and end for ended me at about 80ish. thats how i totaled it and why it is now green... | ||
| Skyguy |
No_rice, BMC is lucky it was you that got crashed by a failed belt. I would make an exception to my aversion to the legal system if that happened to me.............. I freaking knew that belt was going to casue a crash. IMHO HD needs to get sued over that darn belt. I upgraded mine just before my third belt broke. I am still going over that belt before every ride. |
