Makes And Models > Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+

FX, belt replacement interval?

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AbnormalWrench:
So I've been riding my 2022 FX over 2000 miles and am really enjoying it. I converted to chain for a while, but found it too annoying and switched back to belt. I am using it for commuting on weekdays and also using it for dirt biking on the weekends. I have two sets of rims for street and dirt and switch between them. I know getting air is the death of belts, and have been careful to avoid that, but I was curious, would it be a good policy to replace the belt once a year as a precaution? I would really hate to have the belt break on a weekend trip while in the middle of no where. Has anyone used a belt for an extended time off road?

I haven't ridden a lot off road with the belt, I converted to chain early and only recently converted back to belt. I tend to ride pretty aggressively off road, but don't get much air on the woopies or play with jumps. 

I was getting 40 miles of hard riding, but recently only got 30 miles after switching back to belt drive. But the temperature dropped quite a bit at the same time, so I'm sure that effected it too.

AbnormalWrench:
A video I thru together using my dash cam recently, which I still had the chain drive. For those curious

2020_SRS_Commuter:
This isnt an answer to your question directly, but on my SRS I changed the belt at 26k miles for the first time, and it looked great on the bike. No bad teeth, damage, feathering, whatever. I was a little unsure why I was doing this, except for the recommended service interval.

It was only until it was OFF the bike that I could see how fxored it actually was. Each and every valley between teeth had a deep crack in it. Under tension this was impossible to see, but without tension where the belt could be bent slightly backwards, so to speak, the evidence was clear.

AbnormalWrench:
After a year and 1/2 riding off road, I feel I can answer this question pretty authoritatively. Switch over to chain.

In a year of riding mixed street/dirt, I broke 3 belts, which is roughly $220 per event. It is a pain in the butt to change out the belt on the trail, not too surprisingly. But something that might be less obvious, the belt drive pulley is aluminum and the dirt and sand chews up the drive pulley really fast. It eventually creates issues with drive lash and belt slipping. It will depend on what you're doing, but my sprocket wore out surprisingly quickly.

As already said, it just isn't worth it. Just convert to chain. It is better in every way, if you can live with the noise. The noise is annoying, no doubt.

Specter:
Another thing to keep in mind, modern belts do not necessarily show the wear like the old fashioned ones used to.  It's not like you can see it unraveling and like a tire going bald with chords sticking out etc, often times the wear is not visible until it just breaks.  This goes doubly for timing belts too, where one breaking can end up in a destroyed engine.

Aaron

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