I'm very seldom on gravel, and when I am it's only a couple hundred feet or so. Problem is, my lower belt guard is cracked again and needs to be rewelded. My buddy is going to weld it up for me but if it cracks again I may just nix it.

Or, is there a better belt guard out there than these flimsy ones made from recycled Pabst Blue Ribbon cans?

 

Never had a problem with my 17 yr old guard.
If you are 400 miles from home and your belt is destroyed from a rock or anything else on the highway you will be wishing the guard was on. Sometimes cool don't get it.

 

Who said anything about cool? My 17 year old belt guard has cracked twice now.

 

that aint cool

 

I would keep the guard. Replace it with another if the one you have keeps breaking. The belt isn't hitting it or something, is it?

 

Any idea what is causing it to crack?


Hey...and go lightly on the PBR comparison

 

I wonder if a plastic guard from a touring model would fit on there. My lower guard is 25 years old and nearly 100,000 miles still nearly perfect.

 

I took my lower belt guard off last year, haven't had a problem since then. Been down plenty of dirt and rocky roads, it was rubbing on the belt.

 

Yeah, PBRs have seen me through a lot over the years.... Just had one the other day after a long time...

 

With belts its the lower guard that does all the good work, helping to keep out shrapnel that can spoil our day, so I would definitely keep one. Have you looked on Ebay, to see if you can find a replacement? Or see if a plastic touring one will fit, as FB suggests.

I've ridden belt drive Harleys since 1990 and despite using my guards all the time I picked up a sliver of flint some years ago. I picked it out and monitored the belt, which lasted around 4k miles before the wound started to show distress, when I replaced it. However a pal visited on his brand new Buell Firebolt one afternoon, having only ridden it home from the dealer. He took the '#&%$' guards off as soon as he got it home, so had only travelled a few miles since. Sure enough he had picked up a rock, split the edge of the belt and damaged the rear pulley.

So if you are confident that your Gods are on your side, by all means leave them off!