Yes, but you must be talking about "other" evil belt systems.

The one the savage has is pretty much maintenance-free* and, from what I keep hearing, bullet proof.


I like it because of the feel (bike feels like shaft-driven) and no oil/lube mess anywhere, including pants and jacket  
...But then again, the flexibility of playing around with the rear sprocket size just for kicks would be great, cause there is just so-much-torque in this thing.

(*Just check tension, must twist 90°, and apply beeswax once in a while). Anyway, just my 2 cents on the subject.

I will never disspute anyone's opinion, but like I said
use PJ1 and no mess. Defective belts happen just like plugs. As far as torque goes, all the high horse bikes are going back to chains because of belt failure, unless they show and don't go them. The reason I don't like belts is thaton a harley softail you have remove the whole tire swing arm shock(underneath) assembley just to change one. Thanks to a Harley mechanic(and myself for not checking his work) the rear axle was not aligned straight, and in 300 miles the belt was toast. Inall the thousands of miles I have ridden in 40 plus years I have only spit a chain twice. Both times it was the master link clip that came off, back on the road in 30 min.When a chain spits it usally shoots straight down off the tranny sprocket to the ground not hurting a thing. When the belt went south on me it wedged around the tranny sprocket cracking the inner primary cover(not cheap). I forgot to mention when you change the belt on the Harley you must also remove outer primary cover, clutch assemley,and inner primary to put it on plus the afore mentioned swing arm assemly if you own a softail.
   Just one more thing before I go. I have been viewing this site for  a long time and I think it is great. everyone is willing to help anyone, and share tips. Cudos for that.
  As far as the nonavailability of custom parts for the Savage goes, that's what keeps you a true biker and fabricator. Back when I started that is the only way you could personalize your bike. There was no JP Cycles.
 As long as you make it yourself it will always be different and yours.  Thanks again for a great web site.

compare a savage belt to a hd belt you would be suprised how much beefer the savage belt is.

[quote author=hutch link=board=RubberSideDown;num=1164738592;start=0#3 date=11/28/06 at 13:07:11]
The reason I don't like belts is thaton a harley softail you have remove the whole tire swing arm shock(underneath) assembley just to change one. you must also remove outer primary cover, clutch assemley,and inner primary to put it on plus the afore mentioned swing arm assemly if you own a softail.
Quote:


My brother says it's listed as an 8 hr. job.

Bugscraper wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:11:

$500 for a belt change ???
when i bought my o6 was compairing entry level cruizers( read lack of funds ietis) last 2 were the kaw vulcan ltd 500 and my ls650 the belt was the deciding factor..
my first street bike was a gt 550 ,3cyl ,2 stroke,4 pipes,
stop lite to stop lite screemer,i never thru a chain but i kept streaching them(this was late 70s),my  thumperclone(chinesse ct 70[90]trail) has a chain which helps when i change from trail to street tires/wheels/sprockets..this brings me to not being able to tinker(easily)with the final ratio on the ls...
am still having trouble "dialing out"the noise from the belt..tho it quiets down after 15 min or so...

I stopped at the local Harley dealer the other day and found out all the Harleys use belts. They have also changed to fuel injection. Gone is the chain drive.

Chains loose less horsepower, but belts are less messy, easier to maintain, and less noisy.

a little off topic, but out of curiousity, can you get a longer belt that will fit the stock savage setup? I'm putting 6" of rear stretch on my frame rebuild, and while I like the idea of going to chain drive, I'm curious if I could do it with the belt too.