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Toothed belt final drives on motorcycles - when did that start?

I know this is a car forum but I must be way out of touch with current automotive engineering thinking - I recently saw several large engined, exotic looking motorcycles parked up and I was surprised to notice that they all had a toothed belt final drive (as opposed to conventional chain and sprockets or shaft drive). There's a lot of anxiety expressed about regular timing belts in this forum - about how they can be quickly wrecked by incorrect tensioning etc. But how long does a toothed belt in a motorcycle drive application last? Obviously it must work, but you'd think it would be shredded after a few fast take offs.

Reply to
jukebore
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jukebore ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

AFAIK all Hardley-Ablesons and Buells use belt drives.

Bear in mind a normal chain needs replacing regularly - if not lubed very regularly, then perhaps within a few thousand miles. A quick google suggests the belts last quite a chunk longer than that - anything up to 50k or more.

Reply to
Adrian

*ding*

They're hardly exotic looking. More like plant machinery refugees.

Although, we can't forget the Kawasaki GPz305 and Z250 Scorpion which also had belt drive.

Still not in the slightest bit exotic.

Reply to
SteveH

snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) wrote in news:1hoco02.7d9brwb9a2xwN% snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk:

when I first got my Gpz305, I kept thinking the chain had broken because it was so damn quiet coasting into trafiic junctions etc.

Reply to
Tunku

When did that start? About 110 years ago. The earliest motorbikes had leather belt drives because that's how engineering and milling equipment was driven from steam or water power back then. If you broke down en route just slaughter a cow, make a new belt and off you go again.

Modern composite rubber toothed belts can transfer several hundred bhp. It takes about as much power just to drive the supercharger of a 6000 bhp Top Fuel dragster as a current F1 engine puts out. A belt drive handles that.

-- Dave Baker Puma Race Engines

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Reply to
Dave Baker

Thanks for enlightening me everyone - I stand in awe of modern toothed belt technology !

Reply to
jukebore

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