Re: Of belt drives and rear end failures

[Timo Viitanen <Timo.Viitanen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bruno Valeri wrote:
> It may sound like blasphemy today, but belt drive may the the way of the
> future
> for both reliability and durability.
> 
> Even for BMW.
> 
> It offers the traditional advantages of shaft drive (no maintenance) and
> chain (lightweight, efficient).
> 
> For example, Buell feels so confident on the belt that they do not specify a
> replacement service interval on the Ulysses.
> 
> If it does fail, it is nowhere near the show stopper that a failed shaft
> drive is.
> Plus replacement is relatively cheap.
> 
> I have a review of the Ulysses up
> http://pages.videotron.com/mcrides/road-test/buell/ulysses.htm
> 
> Now we need to know if it will hold up to its intended use.
> 
> 
> Bruno
> Montreal, Canada
> Road test reviews
> http://tinyurl.com/a34cf
> 

All of the belt driven bikes I know (not too many) use special belts 
that have to be ordered from the bike manufacturer. They do not use 
industrial standard size belts. So the ordering will take weeks or in 
worst cases months (depending on the bike brand) and the prices are 
approx 400-600Euros (500-740USD).

So it is as catastrofic, as slow to get the parts and not so cheap. 
And one bit of stone in wrong place will cause the failure 
automatically... :(

/Timo (R1100RT)

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