New tires = belt tension adjustment

[Jetfixer]

Talk about learning a lesson the hard way. I finally decided to get the Federals and Altimax mounted and put on the fully sintered brakes that have been laying around for a couple of months. I watched Finless' videos a hundred times and then realized that there are numerous differences between his bike and my 15 RTL. All went well until I decided to check my belt tension after reinstalling the rear wheel. (I did not move the adjusters. Per the videos, I was able to just slip the belt off and back on). It was astronomically higher than it should be. So I did what seemed like the right thing to do and started messing with the adjusters. I got it dead on perfect using the called for Gates Sonic Belt Tester. Then I decided to check the tracking. I started the bike, put it in gear and let it spin a little. The tracking was slightly off, so I tweaked the adjusters again, got the tension perfect again, and started it up again. Well the belt tracking was perfect right up until the "Brake Failure" and "Limp Home Mode" indications came on. Great. It was right about this time that I found myself on the floor again staring straight up at that very nice belt tensioner that I installed quite some time ago and forgot about completely. This time, I held the tensioner up off the belt and would you believe that my belt tension was now astronomically low! I swear if I had had a stupid hammer within reach I would have hit myself with it for being so stupid. So needless to say, I repeated the entire process until it was correct.

[RinconRyder]

I am pretty sure something like that has happened to the majority of us.

SOLUTION: Keep heavy and/or sharp objects away from the maintenance worker.

[Peter Aawen]

Dunno why you feel so much like you were 'being so stupid' by doing something like this? The reality of it is (if we are honest enough to admit it to ourselves as well as others) that if you ever start playing with complex mechanical devices like our bikes or cars, there WILL be a time when everyone does something equally forgetful!

Maybe it wasn't the belt tensioner, but it coulda been; just like it coulda been forgetting to put the sump plug back in before starting to refill the sump with fresh oil; or putting the timing chain back on 180 degrees out; or spending hours trying to get those bloody new back brake pads to fit properly before remembering to slacken off the park-brake cable first..... or any one of the myriad of other little things just waiting to trap us!!

So like I said, the reality of it is that you've just made the step that brings you into the same class as every other spanner spinner ever, be it home handyman level or F1 guru - EVERYONE does something like this at least once!! It's how (& how much!) you learn from it that shows your true mettle!

[RinconRyder]

Spanner spinner.....I love it!

[Roadster Renovations]

We've all been there at one time or another....

[agedbikeman]

Dunno why you feel so much like you were 'being so stupid' by doing something like this? The reality of it is (if we are honest enough to admit it to ourselves as well as others) that if you ever start playing with complex mechanical devices like our bikes or cars, there WILL be a time when everyone does something equally forgetful!

Maybe it wasn't the belt tensioner, but it coulda been; just like it coulda been forgetting to put the sump plug back in before starting to refill the sump with fresh oil; or putting the timing chain back on 180 degrees out; or spending hours trying to get those bloody new back brake pads to fit properly before remembering to slacken off the park-brake cable first..... or any one of the myriad of other little things just waiting to trap us!!

So like I said, the reality of it is that you've just made the step that brings you into the same class as every other spanner spinner ever, be it home handyman level or F1 guru - EVERYONE does something like this at least once!! It's how (& how much!) you learn from it that shows your true mettle!

All I wanted was new front brake pads so I fitted them, the book says "swap the front wheels round to extend tyre wear" so I did, then noticed the arrows were facing the wrong way, so I swapped them back again, Then I noticed I forgot to take the shims off the old pads and put them on the new ones. at least I have an excuse OLD AGE!!!!!