a mate was stranded on the side of the road for hours with a broken rear belt 93 fxr

 

same here, abuddy snapped his literally as he was to get on a ferry from England to France on a friday afternoon on the first day of his holiday trip,it was the end of the trip,
it was taken to the local Steaship who took 45 days to do it & cost him close to £800 ($900+) to fix plus the cost of the ferrys & his holiday,... if it was a chain he could have fixed it in 30 minutes & not lost the money or holiday,

 

Oh boy. I’ll keep to facts - avoid opinions Re the belts. My genuine experience running a dual belt aftermarket set up on what was when purchased a stock ‘79 FXEF. The conversion: Primary was a phase 3 - 2” enclosed primary belt and the rear a Super Max rear belt conversion. The work was done in the early 1980’s and I put over 35000 miles on that setup. The primary belt did not like oil contamination. The integrity of the belt teeth was compromised. I sheared off teeth when the main seal needed replacing. Oil impregnated the teeth. Very plain to see how they failed. Being enclosed I did not notice when the seepage began. I always carried a spare primary belt and tools. Overall I liked the belt primary for its smoothness. It’s also easy to replace roadside. I remember we had to cut the inner primary for belt clearance for the rear belt. The rear belt was a dream once sorted out. My FXEX required the swingarm be cut in two places, welded and a spacer fabricated for the rear axel. Now the Max rear was taller than the stock sprocket and I lost my off the line git-go. Remedied by swapping the 1st gear from an FLH box…3rd came along with it I remember. So it was first through third gear only in town. Shifted into 4th only on the freeway. Cruising at 75 mph all day with lower vibes made it a good all arounder. At one point I picked up a piece of sharp gravel that had lodged into the belt between teeth. When I removed it there was a so very tiny hole. I ran it that way another 7,000 miles before it left go. I do remember I was in the inner city bar hopping with the guys when it went. Our clubhouse was in the city and I pushed it back, coasting silently on downhills. Changing the rear belt was something I never wanted to deal with. My friend had a motorcycle shop on his property where worked pre unit triumphs, old Harley’s and anything odd. He did all those mods to the shovel plus much more. I rented a room from him and his Mrs for a couple of years, very
handy for getting stuff done on my bike. What I learned that I apply today is if the shovel is complete and stock as purchased I’ll leave it stock. If it was a basket case I’d probably consider belt drive mods. My current 1976 shovel has a completely stock primary and secondary chain set. I run the ramjet retainer and I’m completely happy on the back roads. If I do get up on the freeway it’s a short 5 miles or so at 65. It has way more power than my old one but with stock gearing I’m mostly conservative how I ride it on the highway. Accelerating up to speed is big fun on the mild stroker set up.
I claim no special expertise mechanically but my words are what I lived through. Materials change things improve. Perhaps todays belts can deal with oil - I do not know and stay cautious on that subject.
Super Max - a pioneer in belt drives for motorcycles. Excellent read. https://www.supermax.net
I wish you success whatever you choose.

 

Belt on my '81 FXB has a compensator, basically just a rubber isolated system not the ramp and springs like the chain primary

 

I like the twin belt drive on my '81 FXB and BDL still sells a replacement belt for the original belt. I did pull a 42 year old belt in 2 with 100 ft lbs on my torque wrench. I don't think many old stock shovels are pumping out that kind of torque. And when I did, ordered the BDL replacement belt, went on easy as expected and I have put over 10K miles on that new BDL belt in the stock enclosed primary belt case that is unvented with no heat issues using the new Barnett Kevlar Clutch plates and new BDL belt. (Be Sure to Grease the clutch hub on a belt drive while you have it apart)