Experience with belt drives in Thailand

ray23

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Oct 14, 2005
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Looking for information on how well they do here. So if you've been riding with one please share your experience
 
Oct 17, 2006
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Having run a lot of HDs and run a shop for the Harleys in pattaya I can say with authority that belt drives work well in Thailand but there are provisos, ........keep the belt guards on to protect from stones , on very long trips carry a spare belt ,so mechanics can replace it if neccesary. Belts usually last 30,000 miles some have gone 50,000 miles but faliures can happen usually caused by incorrect fitting , TOO TIGHT , TOO LOOSE or the dreaded stone .

Extra tuning of motors has caused belt faliure but stronger after market belts are available.Buells have bike with 100hp running belts with great effect.Victory,Kawasaki,Yamaha and Triumph in USA have big cruiser models with belts so its not just HD.

Jerry
 

ray23

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Oct 14, 2005
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Thanks I'm taking a very serious look at the Vulcan 900 never road with a belt drive. Issan being Isan good chance of picking up a small rock. I thought about adding a lower encloer for the belt guard to minimize risk. Your thoughts?
 
Oct 17, 2006
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My Honda Silverwing 600 has a belt transmission and the load is 500+ kg with sidecar and everything. so much more than the load the bike has designed for. 60.ooo km
Only when I went up , not have seen the GT Rider map warning of a extremely steep incline on Doi Ankan, the belt started slipping.
Inexperienced with the bike at the time, first trip from Phuket up North, my mistake in addition to the over-load was probably that I tried to chase up the hill instead of keeping the rmp steady at around 3000 rpm.
Prove of that theory=
there 2 or 3 125cc bikes that had no problem going up with 2 light weighted people on board.
My self-esteem suffered almost beyond repair.