| Author | Message | ||
     Slaughter |
Blue is still slower | ||
| Doz |
To upgrade from the original setup (03 xb9r)to the new belt along with the new sprokets, I'll probably be going chain drive, cost is an important factor as well as reliability. I never knew it would make me ride as good as hammer...if I buy two will I be twice as good? | ||
| Cycleaddict |
dammit, and i thought belt drive was "one" of the unique features that made a "Buell" --- a "Buell" ! BTW, "real men" could give a shit what other people Do !!! | ||
| Nd_xb |
 I cant stop posting pics of my chain! I was "burned" by belt in the Mountains outside of Yellowstone at 11,000 ft. 45 minutes from civilization, and 2 hours from the nearest "Harley" Dealer that happen to have a Buell sign out front too. Guess what? THEY DIDNT HAVE A BELT IN STOCK. I rode my then wifes BLAST 500 miles @ 90 MPH all the way back to Minot AFB and jumped in my truck only to drive the 500 miles all the way back to the Beartooth pass and pick my bike up. Cane you say FRUSTRATING???? Fast foward to last month and I've had a new belt installed for about 3000 miles of Texas Hill country riding while I was TDY when I'm changing my rear tire and notice the new belt has 6 or 7 cracks that run from one side of the belt to the other. In preparation for another 2 or 3 epic journeys from the Missle Fields of ND to places like Las Vegas and Colorado Springs and Salt Lake city, all via the same 11,000 ft peaks of the Beartooth Pass that swallowed my last belt, I have elected to convert to a chain. I'll be honest, I liked the belt. In fact, as cool as the Chain looks, and as proud as I am to have something rare on a rare bike, I wish that the 06' belt conversion was cheap enough to be justified. But its not, and now I have a mod that 97% of all other Buellers DO NOT. THANKS. | ||
| Trojan |
We broke one of the new 2006 'lasts forever' belts in under 600 miles from new. There was no stone damage or any other 'outside' interference. The belt just delaminated and fell apart. The belt was on our race bike (Chain kit hadn't arrived early last season for our bike), but that should not have caused it to break, especially as race tracks are much smoother than normal roads and less harsh on belts. I had to phone around 4 different H-D dealers before I could find one that had a belt in stock, and it was a 140 mile round trip to pick one up and GBP140 (US$275) for the belt plus fuel etc. I could have bought a chain for less than 1/3 of that price at the track. I sent the belt away to Buell UK so that they could examine it, maybe offer an explanation and hopefully prevent it happening to somebody else in the future. So far (almost a year later) I have not even received an acknowledgement that the belt has been received by them, although I know it was because the package was signed for. I wasn't looking for any warranty claim or compensation, just a reasonable explanation. Previously I have run chains on our 2002/2003 race bikes, and on this particular bike since the belt breakage, and have never broken a chain or had any issues with it. Running a chain also allows for a huge range of gearing changes that is just not available with belt drive. As a final thought, I had a customer on the phone yesterday asking if we stocked belts (we don't). He had been waiting for 4 weeks for a replacement belt from a large main H-D dealer and had been off the road all that time. With a chain he would have been back on the road in under an hour. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
 REAL MEN RIDE BLACK BIKES!!  | ||
| Spatten1 |
Nd_xb: Where did you get that tensionser and how much? Can you show a close-up picture? | ||
| Nd_xb |
 Scott, The tensioner is %100 Saintly Cycles. PM Him anytime. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Thanks. I saw the black bracket and thought you had a different tensioner. Saintly is the man. | ||
| Nd_xb |
Oh, right. Your way up on the Chain gang list!! The black bracket is from cheepo muffler lower fairing mounting solution ala Jardine. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
I would be the very last guy on the entire planet to hi-jack a thread, but.............. Do we have any new candidates for listing on the Chain Gang Roster?  | ||
| Nd_xb |
Jon, If it helps recruit potential candidates, I'll continue to post pictures of my 3 week old conversion!   | ||
| Mesafirebolt |
Well...I like the belt, it looks cool, is quiet and knock on wood, mines been doing fine with over 15,000 miles. I've even picked up a few rocks in it (Inevitable in Arizona) that I've had to dig out of it. The belt is one of many reasons I have a Buell, I hated the clean and lube routine on my last bike, along with the mess it leaves behind. I guess if it gives up on me at an inopportune time, I might change my mind. BUT your bike is your own, Mod it at will... | ||
| Hogs |
HEy Guys, So Tell me something, who has the best price for the idle gear and the sprockets, the chain is no big deal can pick that up anywheres? Then maybe ya can add me to this list... No plms. with belt 30,000 klms. BUT I always like chains, and easy to play with gear ratios... (Message edited by hogs on May 22, 2007) | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
ND XB - I will put you on the list. Hog - It ain't quite that simple. Saintly has the whole deal, it works, and the price for the whole set up is not a whole lot more than a new belt. I would start with a pm to him. just my .02ยข | ||
| Sneth |
it looks people are trying to stand out in the buell community, yet at the same time they are blending in with the rest of the world. more so, than people that have just been burnt by a broken belt... either way. enjoy the chains... and enough with the useless information spamming.. sheesh. | ||
| Buellfighter |
"We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. We wanna be free to ride or machines without being hassled by the man!...And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time. And that's what we are gonna do. We are gonna have a good time... We are gonna have a party". And thanks to chains, we are!!  | ||
| Spatten1 |
I did the Buell track day last year at Pocono. I had to laugh when I saw a broken belt lying on the ground at the staging area. I was still running a belt then... | ||
| Slaughter |
Belts and chains... kinky Kind of a matter of personal preference. I don't make fun of the way you live - you don't make fun of my lifestyle, agreed? | ||
| Spatten1 |
I can't agree to that one. My bike was shredding belts and blew out the drive gear bearing. If I did not convert to chain I would have had to push the bike off a cliff or sell it to someone else, which would screw them. Neither was an option for me. I could not still be riding my Buell with my belt problems. Saintly's stories of belt issues are worse. If your belts hold up, you are very lucky. I'd rather run a belt, but it is not an option for me if I don't want to push my bike home or rebuild the engine again. | ||
| Mesafirebolt |
It really seems like its only certain bikes that have repeated belt issues, doesn't seem to matter how many are put on or what else they do they shred or break. I wonder what gives??? | ||
| Slaughter |
(oops - was trying to sound funny 2 posts up - wasn't trying to even make a statement about chains - I have one each - belt and chain - S3 and XB) | ||
| Spatten1 |
I should have seen the sarcasm Slaughter, my bad. The recent thread about the bent swingarm piviot bolt may be a clue to our problems, makes me wonder..... | ||
| Slaughter |
See - chains are bad - in this picture, you can see where my chain broke my tensioner/idler pulley - tore it out of the crankcase... of course the bike landed upside down on the rear at about 120!  (Message edited by slaughter on May 22, 2007) | ||
| Trojan |
But I notice that the chain didn't break. A liberal application of chain lube and it'll be fine  Not sure about the rest of the bike though. | ||
| Spatten1 |
LOL, you two are killin' me. | ||
| Slaughter |
Yeah - the Penske shock got torn apart in tension, the swingarm crushed the crankcase when it swung forward, but after all that, the chain didn't break (though I'll use a new one just on general principles) I do need a new bike - everything in the picture is broken. Gonna be a few months before I'm racing again. Sux to be financially handicapped. | ||
| Sokota |
Free Spirits belt tensioner.....? Trojan curious if the Free Spirits tensioner was used on the race bike during the brief time it ran a belt. | ||
| Tq_freak |
Slaughter - off topic but what pipe is that? is that one of thouse rare Bison (sp?) pipes? | ||
| Spatten1 |
It looks like a DG pipe for an RD400. |
