I'm assuming that the secondary belt is good for X amount of miles, and/or X amount of years. Is there a basic rule-of-thumb that anybody knows of for the secondary belt?

I've tried every key-word combo that I could think to search with and still can't find an answer.

Thanks!

 

A friend of mine has a '98 Road King with 80,000+ miles .... all on the original belt.

He's not planning to change it anytime soon unless he has problems.


I think the secondary drive belt is similar to the serpentine 'fan' belts on cars. Another friend who is a mechanic said he read somewhere that those are designed to last 200,000+ miles.

.

 

My 87 has the original belt with 54000 miles and I plan to reuse when I get the bike back together.

 

80k on mine, bud has 105k, no issues. No rule of thumb, change where you feel comfortable. Me, I carry a repair belt and will ride the stock one until it breaks, then replace.

 

56k going on mine. Nothing like a chain which does not last nearly as long.

Drew

 

Wow, I had no idea they would last so long. Mine is 13 years old with about 50k miles, thought it might be time to replace since I have the bike apart. Sweet, I'll spend that money on other parts I need.

Many thanks all

Enjoy!

 

83,000 on mine '00 FLTRSEI, and I'm buying the Emergency Belt before my first long trip this year. I posted this question awhile back and learned, ( supposedly,) that the Kevlar belts through 2003 are good for 50,000, and the carbon fiber belts since are good for 100,000. As you can see, alot of us ignore that!

 

100K +. The newest version are even stronger. Of course that is if you don't eat a rock with them. HD put the idler pulley on the XR1200 from it's Buell parts bin. With an idler pulley the belt just spits out rocks with no problem. Don't understand why they are not on all HD bikes.

 

Keep them adjusted properly and assuming you're not drag racing weekly (or daily), should last 60K + all depending on your riding style. If the belt becomes too loose too long especially under too much power it can (and will) slip and strip the belt. Too tight will also cause premature wear on both the belt and pulley. I blew up a narrow 1-1/8 belt at 10K on a hot-rod motor but probably because it was too loose and I didn't notice.

I'd like to know who is making H-D's belts these days. They do seem better made.

 

It would be hard to abuse the belt with a stock 1997 Evo motor, they're total f'ing dogs. Thing couldn't do a burnout if its tire was on fire. Almost all easy freeway miles so I guess I'm good for a while.

Thanks