Buell Belt Life

[TheBeerGuy]

Out riding this weekend and my buddie's drive belt broke on his xb900r. It's an '03 with 8800 miles on it. Anyone else know of any problems with early malfunction/breakage of drive belts on these? He's wondering if this could be covered by warranty.

I've got about 10,000 miles on mine, and another guy we ride with has over 25,000 on the original belt on his road king.

[Sprung]

Originally Posted by TheBeerGuy

Out riding this weekend and my buddie's drive belt broke on his xb900r. It's an '03 with 8800 miles on it. Anyone else know of any problems with early malfunction/breakage of drive belts on these? He's wondering if this could be covered by warranty.

I've got about 10,000 miles on mine, and another guy we ride with has over 25,000 on the original belt on his road king.

The early 03's were weak. I think the replacement interval on the 03's was 15,000 miles. I upgraded my belt and sprockets to 06' spec. It is supposed to be a lifetime belt. I ridden Buell Xb's over 20,000 miles on road and track and never had a belt break. Other's have broken them on a regular basis. Hard stunting seems to stress them (no surprise there). I think it's pretty much a non-issue now.

[t9r]

I had about 10k miles on my 03 XB9r when I noticed small cracks in the belt. I knew it might happen some day so I upgraded my bike to the 2006 belt and the 04 pulleys and guards. Some last longer than others but life span is limited.

Good luck.

[plasterhead]

Originally Posted by t9r

I had about 10k miles on my 03 XB9r when I noticed small cracks in the belt. I knew it might happen some day so I upgraded my bike to the 2006 belt and the 04 pulleys and guards. Some last longer than others but life span is limited.

Good luck.

dont understand why belt life is short...harleys belts 100.000 miles with no problems..atleast the belts that where on evo lasted that long

[Barbsnewrider]

How did it break? sometimes you can tell by the break how it might've happened. Are the belt guards still on there? Rocks are a b***h. They can just break I guess, but one strand of the belt can suspend a full bagger in the air, no problem. Ya know, if ya really wanted too, lol.

[ultraplusrotax]

Belt life.
160,000 km on an Electra Glide of my friend, he recently sold it, the bike still runs strong.
my Ultra Classic: 75,000 km, no signs of wear, nor cracks.
I know that Buells are more pushed than my travelling Ultra, but consider that the Ultra weighs twice a Buell.
If you have bad luck, the belt could break any given moment, mostly because of a little stone.

[59660]

This is my first post here on this Buell oriented portion of V-Twins, but I have been riding for some time now, and thought I'd throw in my .02.....
My 00 M2 is still on the original rear belt, with 50,000+ miles... Every Oil change I take a toothbrush with a little belt dressing (Automotive) and scrub it down, and then wipe off the excess. I watch my belt every morning when I roll the beasty out of the house, and that also helps keep the belt gremlins away.
I also believe that most folks mis-read the manual for belt deflection, and set them far too tight. (Those pulleys get hot when set too tight, and they grow, and then they get even tighter, and they put undue strain on the tranny output bearing, not to mention that belts aren't designed to stretch, so when things are too tight they totally stress out the belt, which most certainly causes failure.)
So, IMO, the best chance you have is to take care of your belt, cuz it's a bummer when they break.....

[hugie03flhr]

Originally Posted by GPFuzz

This is my first post here on this Buell oriented portion of V-Twins, but I have been riding for some time now, and thought I'd throw in my .02.....
My 00 M2 is still on the original rear belt, with 50,000+ miles... Every Oil change I take a toothbrush with a little belt dressing (Automotive) and scrub it down, and then wipe off the excess. I watch my belt every morning when I roll the beasty out of the house, and that also helps keep the belt gremlins away.
I also believe that most folks mis-read the manual for belt deflection, and set them far too tight. (Those pulleys get hot when set too tight, and they grow, and then they get even tighter, and they put undue strain on the tranny output bearing, not to mention that belts aren't designed to stretch, so when things are too tight they totally stress out the belt, which most certainly causes failure.)
So, IMO, the best chance you have is to take care of your belt, cuz it's a bummer when they break.....

Doesn't the XB9 have a tentioner pulley for belt adjustment? I have had belt go many thousands of miles but it only takes one pebble to snap that sucker I have been riding my 02 M2 w/ 8000 miles and the belt shows no sign of wear

[59660]

Originally Posted by hugie03flhr

Doesn't the XB9 have a tentioner pulley for belt adjustment? I have had belt go many thousands of miles but it only takes one pebble to snap that sucker I have been riding my 02 M2 w/ 8000 miles and the belt shows no sign of wear

I guess the flow of my post didn't go as I planned...Certainly the XB's are all self adjusting, and the only thing XB owners can do is to make sure they have the best belt they can get their hands on, and keep it clean, and inspect it regularly for any damages...

The rest of us H-D and Buell Tuber riders can adjust our belt's tension, along with cleaning and inspection, to give them their best chance at longevity.

I know a fella who used to test ride for H-D at Talledaga, and he told me some of the belts on the test bikes went 100,000 miles...
I'm shooting for it, I figure another 5-6 yrs...............................

[xxxh00liganxxx]

i broke a total of 3 belts on my 03 xb9s and when i looped it and totaled it (lol) it had a total of 13,3xx miles on it.... :-)

[Tom Witfield]

Guy showed me how loose the belt was. Said not to tighten it by the book,it would last longer loose like he had it.