Manawatu weekend rides

[Owl]

I spoke to a mechanic at City Honda today and we talked about belt drives and he said it's so common for belt drives to snap if a stone gets flicked up by the wheel and into the guard.

Is this the reason the major manaufactures haven't converted to belt drive?

Not really! Harley's are made by Americans for Americans and they don’t face the same issues that we have here. The belt drive is great in its home market i.e. quiet, smooth, reliable, low maintenance and possible to achieve 70,000-90,000 miles on a single belt. It just doesn’t fare too well here with our crap roads!

[Elysium]

Hmmm I'd rather stick a to a true and proven chain that requires dirty work to clean and maintain, which is a reuqired ritural to appease the machine spirit of the bike.

[banditrider]

Hmmm I'd rather stick a to a true and proven chain that requires dirty work to clean and maintain, which is a reuqired ritural to appease the machine spirit of the bike.

But once you've had a shaft drive (had to put "drive" in there so the perverts wouldn't get excited) you'll never look back...

... nope, still sounds a weeny bit rude (damn, shouldn't have mentioned "weeny" either)!





...and I still've got a chain to look after

[Elysium]

So why don't smaller capacity bikes have drive shaft?

[banditrider]

Heavy & loose a bit more power in the drive train. Not an issue on cruisers or big bore tourers.





Though a lot of scooters & most quads are shaftees...

[Owl]

Hmmm I'd rather stick a to a true and proven chain that requires dirty work to clean and maintain, which is a reuqired ritural to appease the machine spirit of the bike.

Chains break too Elysium!

[cowboyz]

yep. Ive snapped a chain. There is nothing quite like coming out of a corner and losing all drive while your bike hits the rev limiter REALLY fast! Looked behind me to find chain bouncing down road. I was lucky. Heard nightmare stories about chains taking out the casing on the way out.......

All in all, no one could have picked wrecking 2 belts in 3 mths. That is some serious bad luck there.

[banditrider]

Heard nightmare stories about chains taking out the casing on the way out.......

Seen that happen to an XT200.

[NZsarge]

yep. Ive snapped a chain. There is nothing quite like coming out of a corner and losing all drive while your bike hits the rev limiter REALLY fast! Looked behind me to find chain bouncing down road. I was lucky. Heard nightmare stories about chains taking out the casing on the way out.......

Yep, been there and done that..... on someone elses bike no less..


All in all, no one could have picked wrecking 2 belts in 3 mths. That is some serious bad luck there.

Yep, seriously bad luck.

[Horse]

Well, starting to develop a slightly more positive outlook than I had on Sunday night. Plans are afoot - I figure if I'd have to park up the bike for about 6 weeks before I can afford to fix it, I might as well have a go at replacing the belt myself, as that'll probably take just as long.

Garage space has been arranged thanks to a friend, and a service manual has been ordered (which I should buy anyway). The procedure looks a bit daunting to me, but it'll be a good learning experience.

Thanks again for the support; I'll start a thread somewhere here (probably in the cruiser subforum) once things get underway for real.

[NZsarge]

Well, starting to develop a slightly more positive outlook than I had on Sunday night. Plans are afoot - I figure if I'd have to park up the bike for about 6 weeks before I can afford to fix it, I might as well have a go at replacing the belt myself, as that'll probably take just as long.

Garage space has been arranged thanks to a friend, and a service manual has been ordered (which I should buy anyway). The procedure looks a bit daunting to me, but it'll be a good learning experience.

Thanks again for the support; I'll start a thread somewhere here (probably in the cruiser subforum) once things get underway for real.

Sweet, did you look into the cost/viability of converting to chain drive? The part I like the most about that is that in theory you would'nt have a major dismantling job on your hands every time it needs replacing.

[Bonez]

Well, starting to develop a slightly more positive outlook than I had on Sunday night. Plans are afoot - I figure if I'd have to park up the bike for about 6 weeks before I can afford to fix it, I might as well have a go at replacing the belt myself, as that'll probably take just as long.

Garage space has been arranged thanks to a friend, and a service manual has been ordered (which I should buy anyway). The procedure looks a bit daunting to me, but it'll be a good learning experience.

Thanks again for the support; I'll start a thread somewhere here (probably in the cruiser subforum) once things get underway for real.

Sing out when you start. I'll bring the some beer and supervise. One thing I'm good at, apperently. Be interesting to see how the bike comes apart for future reference .

[yod]

good on ya Horse, just take your time and you'll get it sorted

how much labour/expense was involved in having it replaced at the shop last time? I assume it was at least a few hours to make it worth doing yourself?

[Elysium]

How much $ do those belts go for?

[manwithav8]

Good on you horse.. If you get it sorted yourself you will have a huge sense of acheivment...

Let me know if you need some heavy duty tools, I have almost everything you could need, including really big hammers...Also car axle stands if that would help...Only thing I ask is that you don't then onlend them to cowboyz, he tends to look after them a little too long hahahaha

Just sing out mate...