| Author | Message | ||
     Nillaice |
Sooo ... i've broken 5 belts on my uly. at least 3 were new belts. I assume the belt that was on it at 15k was the original belt. 2 were on sloppy downshifts, the last one was accelerating over some painted lines when it had rained. it takes me about 20 min to change it on the side of the road. I'm not saying I don't ride it like I stole it but these instances suck. even tho I have been carrying a spare belt on the bike, id rather not have to carry a spare and the tools. the only xb i've seen running a chain was at a track day and the corner of the engine case cracked and broke off at the idler pulley studs on a downshift. same day I watched an 1125 spilt out a black snake accelerating out of a turn. I guess i'm just looking at it for reliability concerns, not trying to change the gearing. ive not seen many XB's 'in the wild' with chain conversions ... makes me think it's not a popular/long lived choice. | ||
| Ourdee |
The belt is your cush drive. Belt doesn't spit oil and require more. Belt is install and forget, no adjusting. Belt is light and light to carry spare. Belt is quiet. | ||
| Hugie03flhr |
I like a chain for quick ratio changes and it looks cool but belts are easier to deal with. I've beat the crap out of big bore Harley's and Buells with only 1 belt failure. Due to a bolt getting caught between the belt and rear pulley for 1 rotation. Within a few hundred miles I dumped the clutch and the belt snapped. If you keep the guards in place to avoid anything from falling in, they last! | ||
| Nillaice |
Ourdee, you make some good points there. my counter point is that I broke the 6th belt this morning, although ... it was a used spare, it was very inconvenient. I'm not saying that the belt is with out it's benefits, but its hard to tout about the benefits of the drive belt system when I have to ask my friends/family/co-worers to pick me up/tow my bike around because I broke another drive belt. what is the initiation into the chain gang? | ||
| Arry |
If I had broken that many belts, I'd be disillusioned too. I'm wondering about circumstances - Have they been used belts, that you got cheap? - Were some of them non-Buell equivalents? Maybe you torture them pretty hard? Heavy loads? Or, just bad luck? I bought a new belt, when my bike had 10k, and have the original as a spare. Now have about 34k (24k on second belt), but I'm a pretty conservative rider (no more than a few wheelies per ride). | ||
| Tootal |
If I broke that many belts I'd be wondering if there was something wrong! At 50,000 I've never broken a belt. At 20,000 I pulled a good belt off and replaced it so I would have a spare but it's never broke. Makes me wonder if something on your bike is a little off. How tight is a new belt when you install it? Some folks have machined or filed out the mounting holes in the take up pulley to relieve some tension. You might try that and see how long the next belt last. | ||
| Nillaice |
yes, 3 of the now 6 belts were belts I had picked up for $25- $75 each off of the classifieds. the other 3 were new, genuine Buell oval stamped belts. a new belt is tighter than a gnats ass. the one that snapped this morning was looser than the a woman of ill repute, so i didn't have much faith in it and was ready for it to crap out. i was just running it unitl i figured out the swap, but it broke first. yes i do ride the piss out of it and it makes me smile. i can slip the clutch and detune the bike to only put out 50bhp, but then I'd not enjoy riding it as much as i do. i figure a new chain set up will run me about the same a new belt, and hopefully out last it. 46k mi on the belt breaking machine last time i looked lower than the tach needle. i guess I'm not drinking as much koolaid as i used to, or at least ready to try a different flavor of it. looks like there are (were) 30 some members of the chain gang on badweb a decade ago ... http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/299573.html?1187127972 | ||
| Tootal |
Does riding off road, feathering the clutch to loft wheelies count? Hell I even pulled a sideways wheelie to finish turning a switchback at over 10,000 feet! My point is that I might be 59 years old but my brain still thinks it's 25! Just ask my shattered heal from a couple of years ago! I don't baby my bike so before I went to the expense of swapping over to a chain I'd look hard for any issues causing belt failure. The benefits of belt drive are so great I'd hate to see someone swap when there's a reason for belt failure. However, if you do swap I highly recommend an o-ring or X-ring chain. | ||
| Nillaice |
I don't think there's anything wrong/misaligned on my uly. Belt tracks straight and evenly on the pulleys. No clicking when backing out of the garage. And each failure I experienced was simultaneous to an event and/or found rocks in the belt teeth and cracks in the belt back ... I've heard that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over but expecting different results. It seems like you guys are trying to talk me out if it instead of helping me accomplish my goal. I started this tread to see who all on here is still running a chain drive, but I guess I need to ask people directly. Sorry to disappoint everyone else on the forum here. I'll keep the pulleys if that will let anyone sleep easier at night. | ||
| Ourdee |
Do you downshift much using the engine to slow down? I was under the impression that it was a one to two thousand dollar batch of parts and work to switch to a chain on an XB. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. | ||
| Nillaice |
I usually try to drag the brakes and just tap thru the gears with the clutch lever held in. saintly did it for cheap about a decade ago. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/237450.html?1125186714 I already splurged and got an elastomeric tensioner ... off ebay  | ||
| Ourdee |
That chain was really done on the cheap. I am impressed. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/803527.html?1494075504 | ||
| Nillaice |
I ordered some PBI sprockets and an xring chain I'm trying to keep it under $200 and maintain the geometry the same out of respect to the design & engineering guys | ||
| Hugie03flhr |
What tooth count did you go with? | ||
| Nillaice |
25 and 60t for a 2.40 ratio Elastomeric chain tensioner was delivered and definetly won't fit. Thinking about trying to make a spring loaded idler wheel (copying the free spirits design) | ||
| Nillaice |
finally got around to it, and the sprockets I ordered were waaaaay to big to work. PBI wouldn't take them back so this is not a budget-build for me. the 25 tooth sprocket technically fits by itself and the tips of the teeth barely clear the tensioner mount studs but, like ... no chance in hell that you could get a chain around it. the biggest you can go on the front is probably a 23 tooth, but that's not leaving yourself much clearance. i'd think a 22 tooth up front would be ok, tho. the 60 tooth on the wheel fits, but the chain comes across at a steep angle so it'd probably catch the swingarm brace with driveline slack at full suspension geometry. the chain sits just fine with the 51 tooth sprocket and you probably could go smaller without interference, although I don't know why you would. I made my own tensioner but still struggled to get the chain tensioner to work right. tooth count is important not only for gear ratios, but also for setting up your chain link count/tensioner position. for example if your calculated link length is 120.01 then you can probably get a 120 tooth chain wrapped around it but once you take it off the lift, itll be waay to tight and if you add a second master link, it'll be so loose, you wont be able to take up the slack with a tensioner because it'll hit the bottom of the swing arm. anyone care to venture a guess how I know this? so after figuring out why you really need to go with a 21 and 51 tooth sprockets, I did. you should be able to get away with a 22 on the countershaft and a 48-56 on the wheel but im sure the geometry will be different between a uly and an XB_R because of the different length swingarms, or some other interference would occur. like I stated, picking the right sprocket sizes will determine your required chain length and help set the idler position. I would triple check your self with a chain length calculator before ordering your kit and still, keep your receipts https://rbracing-rsr.com/chainlength.html i'll add some pics but ive been keeping it coated with chain wax and it's been good for the last 1,000 miles | ||
| Nillaice |
This set up was working ok but I noticed a few scuffs at the trans mounting boss. Tried a non-oring chain (thinner) and it was fine until the chain ‘wore-in’? Started getting some chain slap against the bottom of the swingy. the tensioner spring was twisted and eventually snapped so I replaced it with a thicker (stronger) one that bottoms out against itself. Still gouging the swingy. I thought it was happening only at higher speeds but today I asked my co worker to follow me home and come to find out that it happens whenever I’m not on the throttle Gotta order up a new chain (DID O-Ring) and readjust/remake the tensioner. | ||
| Hugie03flhr |
Many have just used a chain slider to keep the aluminum from getting nicked up. Or a piece of Teflon | ||
| Tpehak |
I still run chain with no issues. Belt sucks. (Message edited by TPEHAK on May 11, 2020) |
