Chain vs belt drives
1 - 11 of 11 Posts
Joined
·
180 Posts
Alignment and tightness are critical to a belt. A little loose and you jump teeth, shredding them. A little tight and you could snap it. The belts for the sportster run around $175. You never clean a belt. You got to watch gravel with a belt. Performance harleys run a belt until you get +100hp/nitrous or you drag. I just lost a belt on the sporty and am contemplating a chain conversion.. I don't mind the maintenance. The wife gets too chatty and "oh yeah, I gotta go clean my chain".
I am sure everyone has their own opinion, mine is for a chain.
I am sure everyone has their own opinion, mine is for a chain.
Joined
·
5,525 Posts
It does work. I've never had a belt driven bike before and would like to know more. We did an engineering study on different types of belts with various components of kevlar/steel/rubber and other combinations at work and they hold up well on 2 pulley configurations subjected under high/low load and high/low speed. The scope didn't get into syncronized belt/pulleys configurations though, which I am leaning towards. :dunno
Joined
·
5,525 Posts
Thanks for the input. Now,:lao are you gonna clean the chain to the "ball and chain," or the bikes?Kenfz6 said:
Got this so far:
Comparison of Chain Drive vs. Our Belt Drive
CHAIN DRIVEBELT DRIVERequires lubrication every 600 milesNo lubrication requiredAlways has backlash, even when adjusted correctly.
No final drive induced backlash, even when accelerating or decelerating.
Requires replacement of chain & sprockets @10,000-20,000 miles (depending on maintenance). Average cost is $300 plus labor (average $150 in most bike shops) Total $450.
Our Belt Drive cost is ~$470-$530, a much more cost effective replacement when the life span of the belt, the lack of maintenance time, lubrication, and cleaning are considered. Life of drive belt estimated at 3-4 times that of an average chain. Many customers are over 50k miles as of this writing. Pulleys do not require replacement from normal wear. Replacement belt is less than $60.
If chain breaks, it can knot, causing damage to your engine, or even worse, can lock up your rear wheel.
If the belt breaks, it just comes off. Replacement of the belt is very inexpensive (see above).
Constantly cleaning grease and grime from your rear wheel, rim and hub. Maintaining whitewall tires is a nightmare!
NO MORE GREASE ON YOUR REAR WHEEL, RIM OR HUB FROM THE FINAL DRIVE! Beautiful whitewalls and your clean bike stays that way... CLEAN!
Typical chain efficiency is approx. 80% when new, and deteriorates throughout it's life.Typical belt efficiency is approx. 98%. Due to change of pulley ratios, the engine RPMs are reduced by 11%. This resulted in an increase of gas mileage by approx. 14% on our test bikes. The reduction in RPM's for a '95 or early '96 model will be greater...approx. 23%! (The early models used a 16t front and 46t rear sprocket)
Chain drives are very noisy, especially as they wear.
Our Belt Drive is nearly silent!
No final drive induced backlash, even when accelerating or decelerating.
Requires replacement of chain & sprockets @10,000-20,000 miles (depending on maintenance). Average cost is $300 plus labor (average $150 in most bike shops) Total $450.
Our Belt Drive cost is ~$470-$530, a much more cost effective replacement when the life span of the belt, the lack of maintenance time, lubrication, and cleaning are considered. Life of drive belt estimated at 3-4 times that of an average chain. Many customers are over 50k miles as of this writing. Pulleys do not require replacement from normal wear. Replacement belt is less than $60.
If chain breaks, it can knot, causing damage to your engine, or even worse, can lock up your rear wheel.
If the belt breaks, it just comes off. Replacement of the belt is very inexpensive (see above).
Constantly cleaning grease and grime from your rear wheel, rim and hub. Maintaining whitewall tires is a nightmare!
NO MORE GREASE ON YOUR REAR WHEEL, RIM OR HUB FROM THE FINAL DRIVE! Beautiful whitewalls and your clean bike stays that way... CLEAN!
Typical chain efficiency is approx. 80% when new, and deteriorates throughout it's life.Typical belt efficiency is approx. 98%. Due to change of pulley ratios, the engine RPMs are reduced by 11%. This resulted in an increase of gas mileage by approx. 14% on our test bikes. The reduction in RPM's for a '95 or early '96 model will be greater...approx. 23%! (The early models used a 16t front and 46t rear sprocket)
Chain drives are very noisy, especially as they wear.
Our Belt Drive is nearly silent!
Joined
·
5,525 Posts
The belt drive is much smoother than the Chain drive.
It works also on big-bikes as the picture prooves (Kilo-Fazer 143HP):
![]()
The benefit of having a cheap belt is swallowed by dismantling the swingarm
with every belt change (additional work).
The lifetime of a belt is similar to the lifetime of a chain. Mud and small parts
get between belt sprocket and belt.
Anyway, for the FZ6 a belt is currently not possible because of the size of the
front sprocket and the width of the belt not fitting in the frame.
I've asked the company in Germany and they've told me that they are still
investigating the possibilities.
CU
gerd
It works also on big-bikes as the picture prooves (Kilo-Fazer 143HP):
The benefit of having a cheap belt is swallowed by dismantling the swingarm
with every belt change (additional work).
The lifetime of a belt is similar to the lifetime of a chain. Mud and small parts
get between belt sprocket and belt.
Anyway, for the FZ6 a belt is currently not possible because of the size of the
front sprocket and the width of the belt not fitting in the frame.
I've asked the company in Germany and they've told me that they are still
investigating the possibilities.
CU
gerd
Joined
·
180 Posts
Here is some more reading on the xl forums
http://www.xlforum.net/forums/search.php?searchid=119343
One of their local "gods" is a guy named Stevo. He is an Australian mechanic who appears to know everything mechanical on a harley, and is well respected in that community. When his posts appears, everyone shuts up and listens. He may have some real good input from real life situations, and not from vendor biased ads.
http://www.xlforum.net/forums/search.php?searchid=119343
One of their local "gods" is a guy named Stevo. He is an Australian mechanic who appears to know everything mechanical on a harley, and is well respected in that community. When his posts appears, everyone shuts up and listens. He may have some real good input from real life situations, and not from vendor biased ads.
Joined
·
3,206 Posts
I've ridden a Buell Blast, which is a belt drive, and they have their fair share of problems but nothing to do with the belt that I ever heard of.
1 - 11 of 11 Posts
Join the discussion
Join now to ask and comment!