SuzukiSavage.com - Drive Belt

geo Full Member Offline I'm a Savage Posts: 204 Orlando Gender:	Drive Belt 01/18/08 at 22:13:39 How long will this drive belt last? If the belt is failing, will there be any visable clues? I'm really happy with this belt drive. No more are the streaks of oil on my jacket. The drawback: The belt drive does make it more difficult to change the rear tire.
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Drive Belt Reply #1 - 01/19/08 at 04:16:06 Mine has a hole in it from a small rock getting on the belt & running into the rear hub.. Still hangin in there tho.
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T Mack 1 - FSO

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Re: Drive Belt
Reply #2 - 01/19/08 at 16:05:57

I only have 12K but the belt looks good still. I looked in the Fact Serv manual and they don't have a suggested replacement interval. Just says to inspect every 2K miles.

Belt # is "Bando: 133U-14M 40.0"

I guess you know this but here it is anyway, Belt wear is fraying on edges, missing teeth, rounded off teeth, dry rotting, cuts or damage .....

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Savage_Greg Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Don't go around your ass to reach your elbow... Posts: 7844 SW Washington State Gender:	Re: Drive Belt Reply #3 - 01/20/08 at 07:12:32 Actually, I don't recall anyone ever saying that their belt broke. Maybe no one has kept the bike long enough, but I don't even think anyone has bought a used bike that needed a new belt. The worst one I've seen is Stinger's with pits and nicks from a little off road surfing and it still works at over 30K.
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T Mack 1 - FSO

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sold 2001 LS650 for
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Re: Drive Belt
Reply #4 - 01/20/08 at 07:43:09

Forgot to add, I was told to keep my lower belt guard. They said it keeps road debris from getting kicked up into the rear sprocket. This comes from the Harley crew I ride with, that have betls.

I'm not too sure if this is true because the lower guard is only one sided, and you would think that the crud that the front tire kicks up would being coming from the centerline of the bike Huh

.....

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Engineers design things, Technicians make them work.
---
30% of being mechanical is confidence/30% is knowing to go slow when needed/30% is looking repeatedly at what you have/10% is dumb luck Wink

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Savage_Greg Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Don't go around your ass to reach your elbow... Posts: 7844 SW Washington State Gender:	Re: Drive Belt Reply #5 - 01/20/08 at 07:48:29 I think that most of the crud that gets on the belt is actually picked up by the rear tire, and the engine sort of shields the lower part of the belt. Just look how much stuff ends up on top of your swing arm. Oh yeah, the lower guard is one sided...probably to keep your fingers out of it when you are backing up
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barry68v10 Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 955 Maryland Gender:	Re: Drive Belt Reply #6 - 01/20/08 at 08:23:47 The lower belt guard on the Savage helps, but isn't as protective as the one on Harleys...if I still had a belt, I woulda kept the lower belt guard.
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Savage_Greg Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Don't go around your ass to reach your elbow... Posts: 7844 SW Washington State Gender:	Re: Drive Belt Reply #7 - 01/21/08 at 11:07:15 barry68v10 wrote on 01/20/08 at 08:23:47: The lower belt guard on the Savage helps, but isn't as protective as the one on Harleys...if I still had a belt, I woulda kept the lower belt guard. Me too...and I haven't even gotten caught in my completely exposed chain yet...
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steely

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Re: Drive Belt
Reply #8 - 01/22/08 at 17:04:49

I design machinery for a living and the company I work for has used the Gates Polychain system of drive belts for years. We run some pretty stout machinery with them. I don't know if Gates made the drive belt for our bikes, but I don't believe that I have ever seen another manufacturer of this particular style of drive belts. How long will it last? I am not sure, it believe go at least 100k miles provided there are no nicks in it.

When I get some free time at work I am planning to go through the Gates catalogs to see if I can't just come up with a slightly smaller rear sprocket and belt that will work to lessen the gear ratio. If I can, I will have a sprocket machined to fit my bike and report on it.

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Onederer

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Re: Drive Belt
Reply #9 - 01/22/08 at 19:04:31

Kept properly adjusted, It's like a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know. Harley has used them since the 80's, and with excellent results, and over the years, thier belts have gotten narrower, near half the width the Savage currently uses(Done to fit a wider rear tire). The main variable (maybe?)between Harley, and Savage belt would be materials and quality. One huge difference, if it breaks, you don't have to dissasemble half the engine Shocked

, like big twin Harley owners do, just to replace the thing. If you ever take it off, 1.Put it back on running in the same direction. 2. Don't bend it backwards, or tighter than the front pulley would. Those things could, and have led to premature failure.

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Trippah

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Re: Drive Belt
Reply #10 - 01/22/08 at 20:26:53

steely, I think most of us would prefer a higher top gear for highway riding. Wouldn't that translate into a larger rear sprocket? To be clear as I am not mechanically inclined, we are talking rear wheel located sprocket. All of which is to say, if you can get a machine shop to make, and a belts to go towards improving the highway ride (A major reason for the chain conversions) it might be a significant seller.

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Reelthing Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Fish or ride that is the question Posts: 5397 Houston,Tx Gender:	Re: Drive Belt Reply #11 - 01/22/08 at 20:29:49 Trippah wrote on 01/22/08 at 20:26:53: steely, I think most of us would prefer a higher top gear for highway riding. Wouldn't that translate into a larger rear sprocket? pssst... smaller rear would lower the engine rpms
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Trippah

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Re: Drive Belt
Reply #12 - 01/23/08 at 05:19:20

Thanks Reelthing.thats what I'm talking about. I always thought the smaller the rear sprocket the more torque but lower rpms..Yeah I flunked wood shop too, couldn't get a three legged stool to sit evenly, it just kept getting shorter and shorter funtil it was lpsided wooden disk. If it weren't 8 am, I get a beer and think this thing trough a bit more Cheesy

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Jerry Eichenberger Serious Thumper Offline 2006 S40. OEM windshield, saddle bags, Sportster Posts: 2919 Columbus, Ohio Gender:	Re: Drive Belt Reply #13 - 01/23/08 at 06:31:16 Go out and look at the rear sprockets on a ten speed bicycle. The smaller the sprocket, the higher the gearing and the higher the forward speed for a given pedal rpm.
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Reelthing

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Re: Drive Belt
Reply #14 - 01/23/08 at 06:37:07

cheers

it's 5 o'clock somewhere -

back on subject looks to me like the rear pulley is likely to wear out first unless you get some damage/holes in the belt like I did - it was still going around but a near new one was had off ebay for like $15-20 so it was swap'd out - here's a pic of one with thats 12 years old and had 25k miles on it kept it for a spare - likely still has a lot of miles left in it

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