Ok, so I'm new to the forum, not so new to riding but never had a belt rip out while slowly pulling out of a parking space in 1st. Here's the deal, I was parked on level ground in a temp-controlled lot, started the bike, let it warm up, and then got on and shifted into first and started rolling toward the exit. All of a sudden, a little pop and the bike loses the belt. No idea what happened, I was jut slowly letting the tension out of the clutch. Anyway, I pulled it back into the parking spot, turned it off and jumped in a cab home since I have to be back at work in 8 hours. Now the bike's stuck in a parking lot and I need to figure out what happened and what I can do to get it out of the $30/day parking space prior to the holiday weekend. Will my local service (IL Harley in Berwyn) send someone down to help me get it out of there (unfortunately not on street level - underground) and back to the shop? Bike's currently in downtown Chicago and I'm in the west suburbs. Bike has maybe 8500 miles on it, nothing heavy, summer only and I've owned it since mile 1, so no idea why the belt snapped like it did. Any help appreciated.

 

Some HD dealers do have a pick up service. You should call to check to see if they do and if not there is always U-Haul if you don't have a pick up truck or you don't know of any friends that have a pick up truck. Ha! It's times like this that separate your good friends from your acquaintances. As for the belt, it could be a few things. Do you store the bike outside? Sun damage (UV damage) could shorten the life of the belt. You could have picked up some debris that cut into the belt. It might have been over tightened and that will help to kill the belt too! There are too many variables to really say without inspecting the belt first hand. Check both of your pulleys before installing the new belt as a few broken teeth on a pulley will also eat through a belt in no time too! Good luck with your bike and ride safe out there!

 

I'd check to see if someone cut it on you. Most belts out live the bike.

 

You should know somebody with a pickup. Four guys can lift the thing into the back pretty easy I would think.

I would not put a new belt on until you found out what went wrong with the old one. They should last WAY longer than 8500 miles.

 

Gotta love Progressive Insurance, free roadside assistance with my policy got me a free tow to Illinois Harley. That takes care of the "getting it out" problem, now comes the, "what the hell caused the belt to break" issue. I talked to a service guy at Illinois Harley and he seemed to indicate that any little debris getting under the belt can break it. Doesn't provide me with much confidence in the $500-$600 I'll be spending to have them install a new one.

To answer earlier questions, bike is stored in a temp-controlled garage, so no long-term weather, hot/cold or UV exposure. I don't ride on gravel, all paved around here, though construction zones provide plenty of pebbles. I also don't drag-race, burn-out, or "pop the clutch". I'm pretty much your boring "I just like to ride" casual biker that cruises here and there and occasionally rides to work on nice days. Last service was end of summer 2008 for a 7500 mile service. It currently has 8200 miles on it so not much since then, probably 100 of those miles have been put on so far this year.

The belt didn't look "cut", it wasn't a clean break. Also, the bike was parked on its own (no other bikes around) in a relatively secure garage in a decent area of downtown Chicago and was parked in an out-of-the way spot in that garage. Unless someone with ill-intent just randomly walked to a far corner of the garage and decided to cut a belt, it's doubtful. Also, the tear was in one place but jagged, easily could see it being forced broken by a rock or something, or an over-tightened issue, not sure.

I'm not mechanically inclined when it comes to the bike, so all work will be done by "experts", which means my local dealership service dept. They've done all the work in the past. The money for a new belt won't kill me and I'm actually relatively happy this happened where and when it did as the bike was in a secure place and I wasn't on the expressway or anything. That said, I do have 2 relatively important questions that the experts here can hopefully tailor to a "casual" biker like myself.

1. How do I keep this from happening again, assuming the cause was debris?
2. If over-tightened caused the break, how will I know it isn't over-tightened again when I get it back with the new belt. I usually assume the service dept knows more about motorcycle service than I do, but I'd like to verify.

P.S. - Thanks for the info so-far and thanks in advance for any more advice to come.

 

My belt snapped in a parking lot also. Thankfully it wasn't a pay lot. My bike also had approximately 65,000 miles when the belt broke.

 

My 1st belt snapped around the 8000 mile mark. Same thing, in first gear, the belt shot out behind me. 4 belts later and 79,000 miles, I'm switching to 530 chain. Parts will be here next week.

 

You'll be surprized at the number of belts that do break !!! and if you have to replace a rear pulley after rock damage you'll be surprize at that cost too.

 

Belt=$300 Canadian, rear pulley=$280 X 3= $1740. The old pulleys make an interesting clock. No more belts for me.