I've had 11 Harleys and the last 8 have had belts. I've never even had to adjust one of them. I'm happy with the belt drive and yes, I do ride my bikes.

 

Think about it...a stone...imbedding itself into a Harley belt......
going I-don't-know-how-many-RPM arond the drive srocket.
You think it is going to stay there more than ONE
revolution (not even)?
The number of belts I have seen broken was once.
Several may have seen the same one. Last year at the Iron Horse.
Some guy was in the burn out pit....rev'ing way too high and
"SPROING!"....he over rev'ed! Low and Behold......his belt broke.
It may have been due to break.....he could have picked up a
pebble in the burn-out pit? Who knows?
When you get to about 80 thousand miles......check your drive belt
AND stay out of burn-out pits (UNLESS YOU WANT A STANDING OVATION!).

Chuck

 

The drive belts have Kevlar tensile reinforcement and will last a very long time...as long as the reinforcement structure is not compromised by "creasing"...no sharp bends made in them. If you bend one of the belts sharply it can cause the reinforcement to "crack" or fray which weakens the belt. If a gravel or any other debris gets between the sprocket teeth and belt teeth, it can cause the sharp bending of the tensile member and even though you may not see any surface damage, you could have a premature failure. Also, proper tension and alignment are critical in order for syncronous belt drives to reach their design life.

 

I live on a half mile gravel road, and put 50 k on my fatboy, driving it in and out every day. My belt still looks great...But my rear sprocket is kind of beat up. I do run my belt a little looser that the dealer would. I have lost 4 tires in 4 years do to nails and screws in the gravel.

 

I broke one on my Sporty.
So rare, dealer had to order it in as they never see them break.

 

My belt broke on my Sportster at around 20,000 miles. [:@]

 

Lost the first belt on my Sportie around 16,000 miles.Replacing my second belt now,at 26,000 miles.My rear pulley is showing bad scoring marks on the trailing edge of the teeth.The same marks are embeded into the belt.On the belt,some of the cogs are missing and others are badly worn.I don't ride on gavel roads.

 

just broke one on the wife's sportster...has about 25k on it
i believe it was my fault though..it was cold [30 degrees or so] had the choke pulled all the way out ... and kicked it down into 1st...hard!
no big boom or anything... just didnt move..
glad it happened in my driveway... not down the road!

 

God I hope not, then you'll see another 10% power reduction from the crack to the rear wheele...

That was my least favorite thing about my Suzuki

 

I have never broke a belt. I check them often. Something broke your belts. Alignment,pulleys, road debris, etc. I doubt you would get two bad belts in a row. Mechanic friend told me I would wear out pulleys first. On this drive shaft issue. Rode motorcycles with drive shafts. I don't like the way a drive shaft changes the bike. I have choose belt before chain but never would I choose a drive shaft. I would not buy a HD with a drive shaft. Hell I don't really care for the v-rod with the water cooled revolution motor. Each his own. Opinion ----everyone has one----mines the one I go with. Had to do spell check--eyes tired and old.