[Ducati] 50% Less Maintenance.............

[George Betzhold]

Ah, belt replacement........
Tom - When you pull the belts on your '03 SS, what do you see that indicates
this is a timely replacement? My limited experience with Ducati belt drives
is colored by my rather extensive experience with industrial belt drive
systems.

Within the industrial setting, Kevlar belts are the gold standard. They are
enormously robust. If there is a failure, it is generally a result of
improper installation or an incorrect engineering assumption. Actual belt
life in the industrial setting (in run hours) extends well beyond the hours
it would take your bike to do 10,000 miles. (10,000 / 45 = 222.22 hours)

Certainly, there are smaller sheave radii to be considered and the added
stress of the adjusting sheave pushing on the back of the belt causing
destructive flexing. That being said, our belts work in a relatively
friendly atmosphere (unless you are running open covers and often ride in
really dirty settings. When I replaced the belts on my 90 Sport at 10,000
miles, IMHO, they looked good enough for another 10,000. My gut feeling is
10,000 miles waaaay on the safe side.

But, in the end it all comes down to peace of mind doesn't it? The price of
the new belts is very cheap in relation to the consequences of a belt
failure. As I see it, what we are missing from this discussion is the actual
experience of the owner of a bike that has actually had a belt failure. It
would really cool to do a failure analysis on that.

George Betzhold
Scottish Woods Log Cabin Resort
Murphy, North Carolina
828-837-5678 Call for reservations
www.scottishwoods.com
Skype ID - bevelsport



-----Original Message-----
From: ducati-bounces at ducati.net [mailto:ducati-bounces at ducati.net]On
Behalf Of Tom
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 8:23 AM
To: Ducati Owners Group
Subject: Re: [Ducati] 50% Less Maintenance.............


>>So, can you use the new schedules on older bikes?

> you can do whatever you like, it's your bike.  we won't be recommending it
> because we have to back the recommendation up with dollars should we prove
> wrong.

I was mainly wondering about the belt replacement interval.

My 2003 SS1000DS likes belt replacement every 10k km it seams, which means
every year, but my ST2 seems happy with 20k km/2 years.  Just wondering if I
start doing less than 10k/year if the belt replacement can go 20k, of if I
have to replace every 2 years.

Tom



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