Belt Drive

[Phil260]

Hi,

I have never owned a bike with a belt drive before, so a couple of questions.

How long do they last?

How do you know if it needs replacing?

Is it worth keeping one at home as a spare, or do they harden or something if not used?

Cheers

Phil

[Urrell]

Some break with very little mileage while others seem to last forever.

The secret to long belt life is correct tension and alignment (and keeping stones etc. out of it).

The Sportster is one of the easier Harley's to fit a belt to as you don't even have to remove the wheel. I don't think many people keep a spare belt handy.

[Limey_Dave]

How longs a piece of string.
They mostly get killed by a stone getting picked up,more so if guards aren't in place.

Nice Rover by the way.

[poplargreg]

Round here they resurface roads by pouring on tar, adding pea gravel and letting the traffic do the rolling. This is pretty lethal if you hit a fresh patch on a bend when the stones are still loose and rolling around. For this reason and the likelihood of chips, I've always kept well away from roads like this.
Seems that they could write off your belt too

[Scotty]

Never had a problem in 20+years

[AgingHippy]

Originally Posted by Phil260

Hi,

Is it worth keeping one at home as a spare, or do they harden or something if not used?

Hey Phil

You are looking at between 145 and 190 for a belt, and if it lasts for 22000 miles you have a fair bit of funds hanging around doing nothing.

My belt went recently, and it was easy enough to get a replacement.

I would only carry a spare if I was driving my bike accross the Atlantic which, lets face it, is pretty unlikely to happen

Cheers

[Phil260]

Originally Posted by AgingHippy

Hey Phil
I would only carry a spare if I was driving my bike accross the Atlantic which, lets face it, is pretty unlikely to happen

Cheers

Yes, it's far too wet and much too deep.

[beuz]

I'm a daily rider, even in the winter on salted roads.
I've made 50 000 kms with each of my belts (about 31200 miles).
That's in extrem riding conditions.
My bro has 70 000 kms with his original belt. ( almost 44 000 miles).

That's for rigid mount sportsters...