Emergency Belt Joiner

[TPEHAK]

A belt requires NO maintenance, and last forever. In most cases. I have never had one go bad.

I prefer to maintain chain instead of to maintain wheel bearing, idler bearing, swingarm bearings and output shaft bearing trashed by belt.

[Disturbed1]

Yes, I agree in normal road conditions a belt will last longer and will have less or no maintenance. However, I was referring to his environment (He's in New Zealand, I think.) that he is riding the bike in an area that is detrimental to the belt, and a chain conversion might be more viable. Ie... I have personally had road debris, in a rural area, get sucked up into a belt drive and fubar the belt. I have never had a motorcycle with a chain have this happen. Is a chain more maintenance? Yes, you have to clean, oil, and replace it and pulleys every once in a while. But they have never left me stranded at the side of a road if I do all the right things. Plus, fixing on the side of the road is simply spinning a new chain on or adding a couple of spare links with a master link (which I carry with a breaker), not disassembling the entire swing-arm and rear section of the bike.

[Cooter]

TPEHAK, whats the factory chain tension spec on a Buell?

Geez.
All three bearings you listed are susceptible to additional wear only by improper (too much) tension on the final drive.

Since a Buell belt is set to:

1) Factory spec
2) Has more 'give' than a chain
3) and is non-adjustable

it would follow that the only issues one would have with those bearings is if they do a chain conversion on a bike that was never designed for it and then set the tension too tight.

[Cooter]

I've had debris ruin a 530 chain on an old Ninja of mine in the 90's. I didn't reengineer the whole system over a fluke, and it's never happened to me since. If it's debris you're worried about you should design a Buell shaft drive set-up

Disturbed: I have never had to do it on the road but given there is no service interval at all for a Buell belt, they are surprisingly easy to change and could be done without drama.

I've had probably 50/50 belt drive and chain drive bikes. I've had way more chains/sprockets leave me stranded than belts/pulleys. The reasons don't matter, poor maintenance, adjustment, debris whatever. Chains have let me down more often. That said, I've done conversions on a couple XB's and really like the shorter gearing you can get. I really don't like how the chain gets very tight on suspension extension and very loose on compression. Ok for a race bike, but I'd stay away on the street for longevity for all the reasons, plus all the maintnence you guys already listed. IMO.

Worst case? Take it to a shop, it's broken. No one can plan for every possible trip inconvenience. Light is right! It's not worth hauling all that crap JIC, IMO.

[TPEHAK]

Speaking about chain benefits over belt on Buell chain is just much better than belt. The only one benefit of the belt is you do not need to clean and lube it time to time.

Here is benefits list of the chain:

-Chain is easier to install and to remove, no need to remove wheel and disassemble swingarm, no need to remove tensioner, no need to follow particular sequence in installation process, it is faster and easier.
-No need to remove chain, wheel and swingarm and to do a bunch of another related things to maintain motorcycle, or to rotate engine, or to reach rear shock absorber or O2 sensor, with chain you can reach all this stuff fast and easy.
-Good heavy duty Japanese X or Z ring chain from reputable manufacturer will last compatible amount of time as belt.
-Chain does not brake unpredictable. When chain goes bad you will definitely know it is time to replace it, but it still will work many miles before it will brake.
-Chain does not trap dirt, rocks, branches and another stuff so you can ride it everywhere fearlessly.
-Chain does not load wheel bearing, tensioner bearing, output shaft bearing and swingarm bearings.
-Chain is more efficient than belt, more horsepower, more fuel economy.
-Chain is capable to hold more power without breaking.
-Chain is the only easy way for 240 rear wheel conversion.
-You can change front sprocket to rear sprocket ratio easily.

Here is benefits list of belt over chain:
-No need to clean and to lube time to time which takes just 10 min per month.
-Is is quiet.

So basically you pay 10 min per month of your time to have all this chain benefits. Or you can pay hours of your time for additional work once-twice per year to maintain your motorcycle with belt. So chain takes even less time than belt.

Also at highway speed you will not notice difference between belt and chain which one is less noisy.

Basically belt has no advantage over chain, chain is just better everywhere.

[Disturbed1]

Yea Cooter,

I understand about the XB’s and maybe changing something into something it is not is not the best plan. As for me the right tool for the job was my problem with the belt drive. Ended up in the mountains of Colorado on one of my HD’s. (I have a habit of veering off course to destination known.) A big rock chinked up and got caught in the belt causing the pulley cut through the belt. If it wasn’t for some mine workers I’d still be walking down…

[GregoXB]

Yea Cooter,

I understand about the XB’s and maybe changing something into something it is not is not the best plan. As for me the right tool for the job was my problem with the belt drive. Ended up in the mountains of Colorado on one of my HD’s. (I have a habit of veering off course to destination known.) A big rock chinked up and got caught in the belt causing the pulley cut through the belt. If it wasn’t for some mine workers I’d still be walking down…

2009-Buell-Lightning-XB12Ssc.jpg
That's the belt protector. It consists of a plastic shield on the outside and a metal shield on the inside. It's function is to deflect debris from getting inside your belt. With those items properly in place, the odds of catching debris in your belt are extremely slim.

[Mito]

THREE belts in one rally!?! How many tires got blown? Wow, thats crazy are you dirt tracking in a scrap metal yard? lol. Burt Munro would be proud

Serious question, are you running full upper and lower belt guards?

NJ, check out the link. They aren't screwing bolts into the rubber. Its an upper and lower piece held together with cotter pins to sandwich the belt ends and use the belt teeth as support. Like a weird sideway master link-ish thing.

To be fair, our roads in NZ South Island are pretty rough at the moment due to the earthquakes and alternate routes and detours needed, quite often on roads never designed to take the load so getting cut up. It is getting better. I had full covers on my Ully, not sure about the others. I purchased my bike 25,000ks ago and had no history of any belt replacement so I took the precaution of taking a spare...good move as it turned out. I have ordered a new belt as a spare to carry in my backpack.

[GregoXB]

To be fair, our roads in NZ South Island are pretty rough at the moment due to the earthquakes and alternate routes and detours needed, quite often on roads never designed to take the load so getting cut up. It is getting better. I had full covers on my Ully, not sure about the others. I purchased my bike 25,000ks ago and had no history of any belt replacement so I took the precaution of taking a spare...good move as it turned out. I have ordered a new belt as a spare to carry in my backpack.

I ride cobblestones and pothole ridden roads frequently with no problems yet after 24k miles....but if the roads around you are really that bad you wight want to consider upgrading to a free spirits belt tensioner. If that does not work then you can try this:
c4.jpg

[Mesozoic]

Is it a good idea to upgrade the older model bikes with the updated Veyance belt? I've got 30K miles on mine and it seems to be fine, but really would like to avoid any issues. Doesn't a belt replacement also necessitate a sprocket replacement too?