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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Does this belt need to be replaced?
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Message started by transam4life on 06/14/24 at 21:39:12

Title: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by transam4life on 06/14/24 at 21:39:12

::)While working on the motorcycle tonight I noticed that one side has a hole in the belt. It doesn’t go all the way through though. What would have caused this? A rock? Motorcycle has 25k miles.

https://ibb.co/PY5dBg6
https://ibb.co/gVMkhFz
https://ibb.co/J7Wp2DY

Should I replace or leave it alone as it doesn’t go though? I mostly ride around town…

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by Surviving Philly on 06/14/24 at 22:57:18

Word is the savage belt is extremely hardy.... Mine is in REALLY rough shape. I'm saying exposed cords in multiple places, chunks missing... I wouldn't worry about it.

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by ThumperPaul on 06/15/24 at 05:04:37

I agree with Philly that it’s probably ok especially if you are only riding short casual rides. My problem is that I’m a worry-wort, and knowing my belt had a gouge in it would always be in the back of my mind when riding.

For a rock or something to dig a hole like that, the belt somehow grabbed the debris and carried it around to the pulley cover and engine case area where it got wedged and forced a bite into the belt.

Fumbling around with the little spacer bearings that go on the bolts at the bottom of the battery box, I once dropped/lost one of those dang bearings. I search the floor for 15-20 minutes to find it. No luck, so I reassembled without the darn bearing. Finish what I was doing and went to push the bike backwards out of the garage and I hear this grind and the bike was hard to push. That darn spacer bearing managed to find its way into the belt/front pulley area. It left a nice dimple but it didn’t cut into the belt. Felt lucky. I guess the point of my story is to check your pulley and other components. At the front side of the pulley, there isn’t much clearance between the belt and engine case.

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by J Mac on 06/15/24 at 07:41:09

The belts are definitely tough. Look at my post from 2023. A couple of guys suggested I could leave it alone, and I have. I can't say I've put a ton of miles on it, but it's been fine.

https://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1676931685/10#10

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by zipidachimp on 06/15/24 at 11:25:50

Given our collective experiences with this belt, and the plethora of new, mid-size bikes, why don't more OEMs use them? Probably because changing ratios is a pain/impossible ?
Cheers! 8-)

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by J Mac on 06/15/24 at 19:56:49

Maybe somebody could create a design with the rear wheel axle in a 1-foot long slot. You could then try different ratios with the same belt. ;D

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by ohiomoto on 06/18/24 at 18:08:18

You could easily make significant gearing changes with the same belt by using different pulleys. You would need to change both front and rear pulleys as a set to retain the combined diameter of the OEM pulleys.

It would be hard and it would be expensive because I don't believe those pulleys exist. ;D

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by ohiomoto on 06/18/24 at 18:15:46

3036252A37252970282D2221440 wrote:

--------------------------------

I might keep an eye on the second pic because the damage is near the edge of the belt. These belts are tough and I doubt it would fail even if that edge is damaged...but, I would keep an eye on it for a bit.

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by verslagen1 on 06/18/24 at 18:27:45

595E5F595B594259360 wrote:

It would be hard and it would be expensive because I don't believe those pulleys exist. ;D

au contraire mon ami

the front pulley is available in the marketplace

and dave did modify a rear pulley to fit the savage... talk to him.

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by ohiomoto on 06/18/24 at 19:46:34

I knew Dave did the front but I don't recall the rear pulley.

It would be cool to have a full array of front and rear pully sizes available at affordable prices. I wouldn't bother, but to know you could tinker and tune the final drive ratio would be fun if you wanted to go down that road.

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by Ruttly on 06/19/24 at 05:41:24

Forget about it !
Ride !

Title: Re: Does this belt need to be replaced?
Post by Dave on 06/20/24 at 03:29:33

0E09080E0C0E150E610 wrote:

I knew Dave did the front but I don't recall the rear pulley.

Here is a link to the rear pulley conversion I have for sale. It was done long before the DragBikeMike double bearing cure for the wobble....so it has a bushing that was my cure for the pulley wobble. There are links in the thread to a couple other discussions about pulleys. This conversion makes for a big change in gearing.....my bike turns 3,500 rpm at 60mph and 4,000 rpm at 70mph. It likely does affect acceleration a bit - but I am not a drag racer so it works fine for me. The Kawasaki pulley is cast iron and heavier than the stock rear pulley. If you do a lot of highway riding at speeds over 60mph this is a very nice upgrade.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1516107628