Change Secondary Belt Drive To Chain Drive On My '79 Bonneville

Triumph Motorcycle Forum - TriumphTalk

Help Support Triumph Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Glenn

Bonneville T100
I changed out my chain drive many years ago to a belt drive because the original chain drive was not very good. The belt drive was so smooth and the belt was not that expensive. Now I am thinking about going back if I can install a modern O Ring chain system. Is this doable? I am thinking about doing this because the rear belt prices have become rediculous. My Gates Poly Carbon belt is close to $200.
 
I changed out my chain drive many years ago to a belt drive because the original chain drive was not very good. The belt drive was so smooth and the belt was not that expensive. Now I am thinking about going back if I can install a modern O Ring chain system. Is this doable? I am thinking about doing this because the rear belt prices have become rediculous. My Gates Poly Carbon belt is close to $200.
I remember you doing the conversion. How long does that $200 belt last? That would be the deciding factor for me.
 
I remember you doing the conversion. How long does that $200 belt last? That would be the deciding factor for me.
I will be better to answer this when the new belt comes and I ride the bike for an extended period of time. The one that just broke had been on the bike for several years but I do not think that it had all that many miles on it because the bike was at my friends for several years. It was making a strange noise which he found out was caused by wore camshaft bushing. While it was there we solved another problem by replacing the Amal carbs with JRC carbs because the Amals were too tall and were sitting almost on top of the starter positive terminal. There was only about a sixteenth inch clearance. I put a rubber terminal boot to create some insulation bit was forever concerned that if there was contact between the two parts eventually it would wear through and eventually cause an arc to occur between the bottom on the Amal carb (-) and the positive starter terminal (+) which would create a bad electrical issue. So, the bike was not ridden and the belt that broke did not have a tremendous amount of miles on it. If the belt lasts for 30,000 miles then it is worth leaving it on. If it breaks within a couple hundred miles then that is a problem. I will have to get back to you on this.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top