[MMRanch]

  The best apples to apples comparisons come out of the bicycle community, who is understandably a lot more concerned with wasting energy.
 

Hay , that is interesting ! 

I used to pedal my old 26" standard bicycle and dream of having a motor to do the work for me ,

I wonder if its the High Dollar or the Low Dollar bikes going Belt ? 
.................

I'm on my 4th tank of fuel with belt drive and all is well ... Going from 16/42 gearing back to the standard gearing makes it feel like I've got a lot more 5th gear power.   It runs up to 70 mph like it ain't nothing , I usually level off at 60-62 mph in our 55 mph zones because I know the speedometer has a problem .    I don't want to be the guy speeding or the guy running under the limit , on main roads that is . 

[axman88]

  The best apples to apples comparisons come out of the bicycle community, who is understandably a lot more concerned with wasting energy.
 
I wonder if its the High Dollar or the Low Dollar bikes going Belt ? 

I haven't seen any belts on department store bicycles, that's for sure.  I think that the big push in offerings in that HP range is targeted at serving the emerging E-bicycle market, and E "light vehicle" market, which is growing by leaps and bounds, even in the USA, but definitely much more so in Asia and Europe.

Going from 16/42 gearing back to the standard gearing makes it feel like I've got a lot more 5th gear power.   It runs up to 70 mph like it ain't nothing

I'm not surprised.  I've learned the hard way that reducing final drive ratio to reduce cruising rpms on small displacement machines may be OK for around town, but really takes a toll on power in top gear.  I guess maybe the factory guys know best.

Going up just one tooth on my Suzuki 250, from 15/41 to 16/41, a 6.7% change in ratio, reduced the machine's top speed by about 12 mph.  I swear I was riding at 75 mph before, but now it seems like I'm lucky to exceed 60.  This engine is rated at ~20hp, but it's a 1.18 oversquare engine, so probably quite a bit different in character from your 350.  The ratio change is great around the city, where I like having low gears with wider usable range for less shifting in traffic, but it really hurt me on the highway.  I haven't seen the torque curve for this little bike, but I'm feeling the loss of rpms in top end power.

Same thing happened with my RE Classic 500, although not as much top speed was sacrificed with for an even greater reduction in cruising rpm.

[Carl350]

      The problem with belt drives on bicycles is efficiently, cost, gearing & a dedicated frame. Not having a derailleur means hub gears (or crank but rare), OK for utility but not so great for "racing" type cyclists that favour every last tiny fraction of power, so they have stuck with chains & the ease of gear ratio choices.

     Some utility bikes use belts & hub gears with a limited spread of gears/ratios. Some touring bikes use belts & expensive hub gears like Rohloff that give a wide spread of gears similar to a derailleur, the slight efficiency losses over a chain/derailleur being offset by ease of maintenance & lower chance of accidental gear damage, both useful when touring.

.

     

[Leofric]

' I guess maybe the factory guys know best.'
 Yes, I think that is probably true for most things on motorcycles (apart from seats and screens ! ) 

[Tommy Wee]

Hi from Finland.
Just installed the Mmtechnics belt drive on my Classic 350. So far so good, have ridden it now for some 425 kilometres. Nice and quiet it is. Will see how it lasts, we do have a lot of nice gravel roads which are just perfect for the RE! Some rain now and then, too.

Same as MMRanch having no trouble installing it, just the last bit putting the wheel back being slightly troublesome doing it myself.

A question for MMRanch: what kind of belt tension tool you are using and where did you get it?

Tommy

[Tommy Wee]

Found the belt tension gauge, should have googled first! The local motorcycle part shop has one, I'll buy it next week and check again the tension more properly. There is around 20mm of movement now, near enough but I'll check it anyway.

Tommy

[MMRanch]

I was told 20mm of movement on the center stand with 10 pounds pressure by the 350cc belt supplier.
and
I was  was told 18mm of movement with my weight on the bike and 10 pounds pressure by the supplier of the 650 belt .

I've got the feeling they both are right ! 

I haven't put the 650 belt on yet because it evolves taking the swing arm off ... well I'm waiting until I need to replace the rear tire anyway.     I guess I'm just basically lazy  ?
The front CEAT tire lasted about 8,000 miles and was worn past the wear bars by a lot.
The rear CEAT tire is coming up on 10,000 and has plenty of wear left on it  

Maybe by spring I'll put the 650's belt on with a new tire ... wore out or not ? 

zoom by the fender there are two wear bars there ... if you can find them . 

[Leofric]

The front CEAT tire lasted about 8,000 miles and was worn past the wear bars by a lot.

You would risk getting a fine and points on your driving licence here riding around with a tyre worn like that. Not worth it, replace tyres before they become illegal.

[MMRanch]

Leofric

The tire police have too many other things to do here in TN.

Most of the time it's :  Don't drive like a trouble-maker , be polite and with-in 5 mph of the speed limit and there is never a problem.

Our local Shirreff's patrol are our neighbors here in little  Lynchburg TN.   Now in the larger city's it might be different ?     
I live such a blessed life that I'm forever praising the Lord for my world.   

That belt drive on the 350 is "So Smooth and Trouble Free" that I'm itching to put one of them on the 650 that I'm using only the rear brake only (trying to wear out the rear tire) to help bring them wear bars to the top of the tire sooner.   That chain need adjusting every six or seven hundred miles or it gets noisy .   I'll put the belt on while replacing the rear tire.   It's about 8K-miles now - two more thousand miles ...

[Isla]

I would be thinking about your safety rather than the Police MMRanch. The centre of your tyre looks very close to bald and the next step from that is the casing :-/

[Leofric]

I would be thinking about your safety rather than the Police MMRanch. The centre of your tyre looks very close to bald and the next step from that is the casing :-/

Yes, obviously that  as well . 

[MMRanch]

You fellers are RIGHT , it kind-of snuck up on me then I ordered a tire  and by time I received it ... I took a picture of it right before changing it.

Hay , I ordered a 110/90-19 to help correct the speedometer error.  Well , it worked .
The speedometer was a constant 3mph faster than the GPS speed.   Now the speedometer reads 61mph when the gps reads 60mph.   
When I replace the rear tire I'll put a 140/90-16 to replace the 150/80-16  for the same reason .   A 1.8 % increase in speed to correct the speedometer with.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=150-80r16-140-90r16

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=100-90r19-110-90r19

[Isla]

Glad you swapped the tyre  👍

You fellers...

...but....I beg your pardon?!

[MMRanch]

You fellers = Ya'll   

[paulmh]

Hay , I ordered a 110/90-19 to help correct the speedometer error.  Well , it worked .
The speedometer was a constant 3mph faster than the GPS speed.   Now the speedometer reads 61mph when the gps reads 60mph.   
When I replace the rear tire I'll put a 140/90-16 to replace the 150/80-16  for the same reason .   A 1.8 % increase in speed to correct the speedometer with.

Have I got this right - you changed the tyre to a non recommended size to make the speedometer more accurate?