I have been looking at motorcycles for a few months now. I figure I'll be getting on in the next month or so. I had decided on a superglide when Harley came out with the $179 a month deal. A friend of mine just bought a new yamaha and told me about bike at the local dealer that was a new 05 hold over. The price was good but it wasn't the bike I wanted. While talking with the dealer (not a Harley dealer) I explained where I lived and that I had 2 miles of dirt road just to get in and out of my house. The dealer said that I should stay away from any bike with a belt final drive. I don't put a lot of faith in the advice of someone trying to sell me something so I figured this would be a good place to get a real answer. I thought the sportsters they ran on dirt tracks had belts so I wasn't worried but I would hate to make this kind of investment and have issues.

Will running 4 miles of dirt road every time I ride tear up the belt? Do any of you have a similar situation?

 

No idea but I would say there is a very good chance he is lying to ya. I have found every metric dealer in ohio I have been to lies and every Harley dealer has been brutally honest and friendly with me.

 

Belt drives and dirt roads were not made for each other. Depending upon how "clean" the dirt road is you may be OK. But it is true that rocks and debris thrown up from dirt or gravel roads can cause serious problems for a belt drive.

Just because the guy sells metrics does not make him any less honest.

 

It's a maintained county road with 1/4 mile of dirt driveway. There are some fairly packed down tracks in the road but I think you would kick up dust if you walked fast down it. I guess it may be time to start looking for a nice shaft drive bike.

 

Damn near died on a brand new shaft drive bike with 36 miles on it back in the day, dealer forgot to put lube in the rearend it locked up doing 65mph and I skidded it for a long ways without dropping it. The rearend was red hot and locked up so tight we had to lift the bike to get it off the road. By the way it was a 850 suzuki (Ya I know) never will I ever own a shaft drive again the dealer couldn't fix it so the only other bike he had that wasen't shaft drive was a 1100 when he asked if I would take it instead (after I threatened a lawsuit) I jumped at it worst mistake ever that damn bike would do 180mph stock and get there as fast as you could shift it. I trashed that bike in 6 months but had a great time doing it even offered to the cops to try and catch me but they wouldn't even try.

 

I'm not sure I want a shaft drive but I don't want to have problems with a belt drive bike. Is there any way to keep the belt protected?

 

If you take it slow on a dirt road, you shouldn't have any problems with a belt. With chain drives, they'd chew up small pebbles sometimes, but the dust would get into the chain lube and make a nice mess. With belts, you don't have to worry about the dust, only the debris that might find its way between the belt and sprocket. Typically pebbles picked up and tossed by the front wheel are what can end up getting caught in the belt. Just go easy and you shouldbe fine.

 

That gives me hope. I was curious if it was that big of a deal. It's 2 miles so it won't do me much good to be in a hurry. The difference between 50 and 25 for 2 miles isn't much.

 

I agree that a belt and dirt roads are not th ebest combination but then again, just go easy and keep an eye on it. If you get 25,000 miles out of it instead of 50,000 - oh well; it's not the end of the world. Also keep an eye ont he sprokets. If you cannot see the front on, just moniter the reay one and assume that the fornt one is worse.

 

So it's more of a prmature wear issue instead of a catistrophic failure. I can live with that.