Re: snapped belt
Hiya,
I sympathise with anyone who has belt drive problems with Buells. I hear about these things but have never experienced it myself. I have a 2005 XB12 owned from new. It has done 20,000 miles on one belt (due for renewal and has defects, but still works fine). Early buells have a shorter wheelbase I believe, maybe the suspension travel calculations were correct for the early Buells and therefore the belt stayed the correct tension through the travel range. My suspension is set quite harsh. Is there a possibility that the later longer wheelbase Buells factory suspension calculations were not made correctly? Add to this the possible off road extra movement of the Ully swinging arm - and maybe a soft suspension setting, ... and having a pillion on board, could the belt go bang at a very tight spot? If a stone gets trapped and goes around the rear sprocket that causes damage - I have seen that. Maybe, disconnect the rear shock at one end and manually raise and lower the swinging arm and see if there is a tight spot anywhere. There is no adjustment factility on a standard XB, and my belt still feels tight after 20K! No idea what to do for a cure except whack up the suspension spring pre-load and don't take passengers. If its any consolation, the early XB Buells would rip up the rear wheel bearings. Wheel bearings were modified later. Early ones had black seals, later ones had red seals I understand. But the belts lasted even if the bearings failed. Take care, Cheers, Tony.
