So, got the bike back from the craptastic mechanics... Blah blah blah..

I took the beast out for a nice long drive and when I parked it, I noticed some wear on the edge of my rear tire. The wearing matches up with the location of the drive belt, which seems very close to the tire (VERY close). I can touch the tire with it by pulling it a little bit. I checked the alignment, which seems good. Tension on the belt seems good. The belt isn't 100% center on the sprockets, but is leaning away from the tire, not towards it. I'm going to swing over to the gas station and check/add air pressure.

Other than that, what could be the issue? I plan on switching to a chain, but due to the depletion of my bike fund, I figured I would put a few more miles on the belt first. With all of the other troubles from those mechanics, I assumed the alignment was off. But with those issues not being the case, I'm at a loss.

Any help or guidance is appreciated... By god I love riding this bike! Today was 77 degrees in PA and I decided not to ride it out of fear of this old belt flying off in the middle of nowhere!

 
Did your craptastic mechanics take the rear wheel off and swap the positions of the right and left hand axle spacers ???



Axle spacer dyslexia is a common trait seen in our Suzuki craptastic mechanics ...

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 03/13/12 at 17:22:07:


That'd be my first guess.

I'll check the spacers when I get home. I don't think the tire came off though. Can't imagine why....... All I know is that the motor came out of the frame, so the belt was at least removed from the front sprocket. So, they would have had to move the tire to get the belt initially off.

Can someone measure the spacing between the tire and belt on your bike so I can see what I should be shooting for?

And yeah, I won't let another mechanic touch my bike until I get some great recommendations from close friends.. For as long as they took to do the job, with all the crap I had to put up with, for the price they robbed me with, and for the broken bike I picked up, I would have just did the job my darn self.  

You live, you learn.

x1karr0usx wrote on 03/14/12 at 05:42:27:




Yes, they pulled the tire to get the belt off, & the pulled the front pulley & IF they didnt torque it right, itll eat itself later, Go make them fix it & dont leave the bike where you cant watch, if they balk at you being "in the service area for insurance re3asons, offer to sign a waiver, but the results of their work have been less than confidence inspiring & you want to watch, & if that doesnt suit them, you can take it somewhere else & let them pay the bill,. They havent earned the right to touch it unsupervised & youve already paid for it to be done,

Is this the same bike with the busted clutch cable mount pillar on the case? Ohhh, yea, I remember, yes it is,, Id sue them for complete repair. That clutch is DANGEROUS, not inconvenient, not less than attractive, its Dangerous,.JB weld, going thru hot/cold cycles, wont hold up. It IS gonna break, thats a patch, not a repair,

Routy wrote on 03/14/12 at 12:46:29:


Okay, I'm about 1/8" off the tire. I just noticed the tire size is 150/80-15, so I'm a nudge wider than stock. But, the alignment is good, front pulley looks correct, and rear spacing looks correct. Haven't had a chance to check the pressure yet, so I'm hoping that's all it needs. Didn't realize the guy I bought it from through on a 150 tire. Looks nice... Hopefully that isnt the problem though. Haven't run into this issue since I've had the bike, so I've got my fingers crossed on the tire pressure.

Would a chain conversion give me a little more wiggle room, or would it generally run along the same distance along the tire?

:'(