| Author | Message | ||
     Longhaulpaul |
2009 XT, belt failed in February, days after purchasing my first American Made bike at 12,000 miles. Dealer said would never happen again. Did again yesterday at 24,000 miles, I suppose my belt replacement schedule is every six months or 10,000 miles? $350 for two belts ( you don't have to tell me twice to carry a spare) installed myself, a motel room and a cab ride to HD this morning set me back over $500 for a issue that showed no sign of wear a week ago. Give me back by shaft. | ||
| Ratbuell |
check your pulleys and tensioner wheel for wear or nicks. What's your riding style, lots of clutch drops and wheelies? Or are you a "tame" rider? repeated hard shifts and snap-loads on the belt don't help belt life...DAMHIK. | ||
| Reepicheep |
 Stuff happens. In general, the belt system is the most reliable and economical option. A good XRing chain is pushing well past $100, and will start stretching and have a lot of lash, and should be replaced every 10k to 15k miles. You can pack and extra master link though, which is a nice compact "recovery" possiblity. Providing your broken chain didn't break your crankcase or destroy your swingarm, and provided you have the nerve to ride a 100HP bike around with a master link. Shafts are actually kind of nice, when they aren't on fire, but they can jack up handling. Most Buells have good luck with belts. My M2 had about 30k miles on the original belt when sold and was still doing great. My 9sx had 26k or something on the original, also still doing great. My Uly did seem to be a little different... it felt like I could feel the belt binding at times, and pushing it around the garage was a bit stiff. Some people use the free spirits belt tensioner to reduce the tension, and are happy with it, but you should inspect/replace springs every 10k or so. I just ordered a new belt and put it on last weekend. I took a step drill bit and hogged out the mounting holes in the tensioner just slightly, so it is just a shade higher, and puts on a shade less tension. The old belt now rides along in a side bag. No idea if it really "fixes" anything, and I had no problem with my original belt, but it does roll around the garage easier. In general the belts seem to work well, but some bikes seem to eat them. Perhaps a tolerance stack issue or something. Sorry about your luck! The belt should be going 30k miles easy. | ||
| Nobuell |
What is your belt tension? I replaced my belt at around 15K miles just to keep as a spare. I keep it with me all of the time. I currently have 19K miles on the current belt. I do not baby the bike but I do not do harsh starts or wheelies. When I installed the current belt, it was waaay to tight. I slotted the pulley hole to relieve the tension to an acceptable level. People will argue that the Buell pulley system is perfect, but I still stand behind my contention that some belts on some bike are just too tight. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Nobuell has the right idea. Some belts are going to be tighter from the gitgo but will stretch in time. If you are 300+ lbs you are going to be harder on the drive train than someone of lesser girth. If you constantly have to be cracking the throttle and pulling wheelies then your belt replacements will be plentiful. You might want to invest in the Free Spirits spring loaded tensioner that Trojan sells. I'm about 210 lbs and my belt lasted 25,000 miles and I'm now at 35,000 miles and the belt is just fine. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
My 2010 wheel seems to make pushing the bike feel smoother with no binding. I never had a bearing failure but must admit that every time I checked those original bearings they were never easy to turn until I would clean them out and re grease. Had enough of that and bit the bullet with no regrets....yet. | ||
| Andymnelson |
26,000 miles of beating the snot out of my bike...and no belt failures. I occasionally take is off road, and it really seems to like wheelies. I don't get it, really seems I should be going through them! | ||
| Etennuly |
I wonder if the bikes having this problem have good alignment between the front and rear sprockets. | ||
| Uly_man |
I had one go at 7k and one, with the FST, at 14k and I did not abuse the bike. It do a lot of town work and have to ride over lots of traffic humps though. Maybe this and lots more gear changes dont help my bike. Your lucky you dont have to pay the price we do in the EU for belts. Its near twice the price. If your bikes running well dont worry on belts and wheel bearings as the other stuff that can happen with a Buell will make you think you had it REAL EASY before. | ||
| Scooter808484 |
Mine fail at 12k miles. Almost don't need an odometer. | ||
| Uly_man |
I sort of look at it this way. I would rather have 5 belts go than one crank fail. A belt is easy a crank will total the bike. A Buell is not like some bikes that have engines with as much as 50 years of development. The GS engine dates back to the mid 30s and you can see them on bikes that invaded Poland and they still have some design problems now. Nothing in life, that is worth having, comes cheap and a Buell is no exception to the rule. I have had many bikes and all in total none have given me the problems my 06 and 2010 Ulys have. I still cant say no though. | ||
| Wbrisett |
hmmmm.... I'm at 25K on the original belt. Wayne | ||
| Crusty |
I've got 31K on my XT's original belt. I've also had belts fail with 15K on them; usually because a stone got between the belt and sprocket(pulley). I converted my M2 to chain drive; then went back to belt after 10,000 miles. Chain was a pain in the ass to maintain (I had an X-ring chain). Right now, I'm looking pretty favorably on the shaft drive on my Guzzi; but I've had U-joints go on previous shaft driven bikes (Moto Guzzi, BMW and Yamaha XJ 900). Bottom Line: No method of final drive is flawless. | ||
| Froggy |
Electric motor mounted in the wheel hub  | ||
| Longhaulpaul |
I ride daily, commuting twenty thousand miles a year. I weigh 160 lbs and don't abuse, but ride hard. I do some off road, but nothing crazy, I have pilot roads for god sakes. Belt shows no sign of any rubbing or wear at all for that matter. Rear pulley and tensioner are perfect, have to wait for the only belt on the East Coast to be send before I will check the front. Last weekend I was riding Along the Canadian border, and I would have been in real trouble. I have ordered two belts, but this belt issue this time has cost me over a thousand dollars, and I may be back on the road four days from now. Hard to believe no belt available this side of the Mississippi! | ||
| Longhaulpaul |
I ride daily, commuting twenty thousand miles a year. I weigh 160 lbs and don't abuse, but ride hard. I do some off road, but nothing crazy, I have pilot roads for god sakes. Belt shows no sign of any rubbing or wear at all for that matter. Rear pulley and tensioner are perfect, have to wait for the only belt on the East Coast to be send before I will check the front. Last weekend I was riding Along the Canadian border, and I would have been in real trouble. I have ordered two belts, but this belt issue this time has cost me over a thousand dollars, and I may be back on the road four days from now. Hard to believe no belt available this side of the Mississippi! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Too much unsprung weight froggy!  | ||
| Reepicheep |
I'm on your side of the Mississippi, and I had a belt sitting on the bench in the garage. Shoulda called! | ||
| Ejc |
Shouldn't proper spring preload adjustment negate GVW as a stress factor on the belt? | ||
| Ghostrider |
I've got almost 30K on my original '03 Firebolt belt, and almost 14K on my '09 XT belt. Never replaced either of them. Never had a concern. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Belts, like everything else fail. My 08 XB12R failed at approx 14,000 with no warning. Looked almost like someone cut it with a knife, but it happened in the middle of a street ride. No belt guards. I pretty much babied that bike. MY 04 XB12R suffered a "birds nest" (stripping of teeth) in 2 seperate places on the same belt due to an "extra" downshift under hard braking, coming downhill at Road Atlanta about 2 laps from the end of the race. Finished the race in 2nd place and only noticed the birds nest after the bike was on the stands in the pits. No belt guards. Racing is, well racing. It takes some abuse. My 06 Uly is running strong at 54,500 miles. Not sure if it is the original belt or not. Belt guards in place. I kinda baby this one too. A little bit of off road. On my 98 S1W I replaced the belt at 20,000 miles as a precautionary measure while I had the rear isolators replaced. No belt guards. | ||
| Ourdee |
I like a pusher prop for final drive. | ||
| Hughesatron |
'06 Uly with 39k on my belt. no problems | ||
| Sprintex |
One advantage with a chain you know or should when it is do to be replaced but with a belt there are few obvious signs it is going to go. Having said that I think the belt is great clean, smooth , I like it. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
It's a frustrating crap shoot. I have had between 12,000 and 48,000 on various belts. I understand being able to detect wear on a chain but I came from and ironhead and I will NEVER get another #$%^ chain again unless I absolutely have to. Of course, my old H-D couldn't run an O-Ring chain due to clearance issues so one long ride in the rain and the chain was a floppy, squeaky waste. I love how it was lubed enough to fling crap out all over me and the bike and yet not lubed enough to protect itself from road grit. | ||
| Slyuly |
After reading a lot of these broken belt posts, I figured I better order one, change mine and carry the old for a spare. Ordered last week, will arrive tomorrow and guess what happens on the way to work this morning? At least the belt is on the way and it broke going to work on a monday morning, not in the middle of a nice ride at the start of a weekend..... | ||
| Skifastbadly |
There is absolutely no reason to not carry a spare belt. I'd sooner leave home without a tire repair kit. It can be changed on the side of the road in under an hour. Ask me how I know... |
