Belt eating chip seal

[ButterSmooth]

There are two seasons in Oregon: "Winter" and "Fire/road construction". I last rode about 5 days ago because we've been having 95° days complete with thunder storms. When I last rode, there was fresh chip seal (Macadam) right at the beginning of the 200+ mile ride. I neglected the bike for a few days after the ride and finally today I looked things over.

The belt had a scraped up appearance with grooves over the entire length, on the toothed side. Upon further inspection there were small stones glued to the rear pulley with tar -- that wonderful chip seal. I spent about an hour with various scraping tools removing the rocks, most of which shattered when scraped. They were in dry, cured tar and were difficult to remove. There was only one stone trapped in the front pulley, thankfully.

The belt is a little frayed looking and the scars are probably 1/32" deep. You can feel them with you fingernail. I'm going to run the belt at least til my next tire change, which will be in about 1500-2000 miles. If it's deteriorating further then, it will be replaced.

The Kuhmo Ecsta PS-31 rear will have about 9000 miles on it when it needs to be replaced. 1.5mm to the wear bars. It's been great for traction, but the life time was a disappointment. I'm not sure what I'll replace it with.

Did I mention that I really like shaft drives?

[Mikey]

A shaft would be a nice thing in my book also, sorry to hear about your run threw the chip seal!!! Our town tried that on a few of our roads in town, first time I had ever seen the stuff, it's like riding on marbles!! Good luck with the belt!!

[pegasus1300]

I HATE chip seal. I ruins any vehicle that goes over it until the trafficfinially mashes it down,which is whst the road dept should have done in the first place. This year, while I was in Deadwood, the state road chip sealed it's portion of a road thru Spring City and wonder of wonders they rolled it down themselves and it is now a great new surface. In another part of our county they are also doing US 89 from Fairview to the County line. I have not noticed this method before but they are scraping up the old surface,grinding it up and mixing it with new tar then laying it back down and rolling it out. Don't know long ot will last but it is really nice right now..
Sorry about your belt. I think I would just get a spare and then keep a close eye on it to see if the damage progresses any further. I have been convinced here that as far as belts go if it isn't broke don't fix it. Yours isn't broke just damaged a little. Watch it to catch it if the damage starts to spread. Then it is broke.

[ARtraveler]

Good information about the chip seal. Sounds like a good idea to avoid it if you can when it is fresh and sticky.

They have done a few of our riding roads here. We did them when it had already dried and was packed down. No loose gravel issues on our F3's. If I see the wet sticky stuff, going to turn around and ride elsewhere.

[pidjones]

In 2019 we rode the GL1800 along US 70 from near Knoxville to Globe, AZ (sign says "END 70"). Through Texas almost the entire road was shot-and-chipped 2 lane with a 75 MPH speed limit. Yahoo! It was light rain the whole way so instead of tar we had grey/brown scum on the black bike and yellow trailer. At least that washed off (eventually).

[2dogs]

Damaged my belt in the same manner. I was in a long line of traffic waiting to go through a constriction zone when a flagman motioned the waiting traffic to proceed. What I and other vehicles were not aware of was that the flagman mistakenly moved us through an area that was not prepared or finalized to receive traffic. We all were so tightly packed together that there was no way to see what we were approaching and there was no way to avoid the situation. We just had to file through the area with no chance to avoid it. I could hear the crunching particles as they revolved through my belt and sprockets. At the end of the construction zone, I pulled over and inspected my damage. I later contacted the construction company in person with a bill for damages and was politely given a check to cover that amount in the spot. How unlucky and lucky can you be all at the same time? The cost was $350 for a new belt. The sprockets after cleaning showed no damage.

[KX5062]

Damaged my belt in the same manner. I was in a long line of traffic waiting to go through a constriction zone when a flagman motioned the waiting traffic to proceed. What I and other vehicles were not aware of was that the flagman mistakenly moved us through an area that was not prepared or finalized to receive traffic. We all were so tightly packed together that there was no way to see what we were approaching and there was no way to avoid the situation. We just had to file through the area with no chance to avoid it. I could hear the crunching particles as they revolved through my belt and sprockets. At the end of the construction zone, I pulled over and inspected my damage. I later contacted the construction company in person with a bill for damages and was politely given a check to cover that amount in the spot. How unlucky and lucky can you be all at the same time? The cost was $350 for a new belt. The sprockets after cleaning showed no damage.

That almost exact scenario happened to my wife and I outside of Wilber, WA several years ago. No sign or warning, just stop and go traffic suddenly appearing. Once we were caught in the mess, then they had a sign. Those idiots were just laying the material onto the roadway and weren't even compacting it, they were letting the vehicles do it by driving over it. The Spyder belt didn't survive and needed to be towed to Spokane.

[ButterSmooth]

The majority of roads in Central Oregon are chip sealed. It's very common in most places. How can we have a final drive system that isn't compatible with most roads? My very first bike, a '63 Honda 50 sport had an enclosed chain, so it isn't a technical challenge. Many ISDT bikes of that era also had enclosed chains -- Bultaco, MZ, etc.

If BRP isn't willing to take the leap to a shaft (which they know how to do), why not enclose the belt?

So, who has the best aftermarket chain guard?

[UtahPete]

Are there any specific routes in Oregon we should avoid on our trip there later this month?

[ButterSmooth]

Highway 26 east of Prineville is being sealed this week, but should be fine by the end of the month. I'd check on ODOT's web site and look for construction. It's usually half paving (which means a long wait) and half chip sealing. They do roll the chip seal, but that's not good enough. To make sure we get our full share of enjoyment, they usually partially pave and then cover that with chip seal.

[2dogs]

That almost exact scenario happened to my wife and I outside of Wilber, WA several years ago. No sign or warning, just stop and go traffic suddenly appearing. Once we were caught in the mess, then they had a sign. Those idiots were just laying the material onto the roadway and weren't even compacting it, they were letting the vehicles do it by driving over it. The Spyder belt didn't survive and needed to be towed to Spokane.

We were in our car traveling behind a group of, if I remember correctly, 6 two-wheelers obviously on a group ride when we all came to a construction zone. It quickly became stacked and packed and we couldn't really see what was being worked on until we started moving again. By the time I saw all the motorcycle's brake lights coming on it was almost too late. The bikers were not about to travel over the freshly laid chip seal. All six riders, some two-up, were trying to turn around and no one wanted to wait for them. Luckily I was able to block the traffic behind me giving them just enough room for about two of them at a time to turn around. Boy, did I catch hell! People were honking their horns and flipping me off and the flagman was try to wave all of us on through. It was a tense moment for a while.

[2dogs]

The majority of roads in Central Oregon are chip sealed. It's very common in most places. How can we have a final drive system that isn't compatible with most roads? My very first bike, a '63 Honda 50 sport had an enclosed chain, so it isn't a technical challenge. Many ISDT bikes of that era also had enclosed chains -- Bultaco, MZ, etc.

If BRP isn't willing to take the leap to a shaft (which they know how to do), why not enclose the belt?

So, who has the best aftermarket chain guard?

I installed an aluminum belt guard from MR. Gadget. It was an easier install than I thought, but I guess he doesn't make them anymore. Can't find the link.

[cruisinTX]

There are two seasons in Oregon: . . . .

. . . . Did I mention that I really like shaft drives?

This cannot possibly be that difficult for a company that already makes vehicles with drive shafts like their four wheelers. In fact, a good engineer should be able to design a retrofit drive shaft for those willing to sacrifice what small amount of HP they would lose in the process. I would be ecstatic about something like that seeing as how these critters have way more power than is necessary anyway.

[robtdonna]

Al the Rykers are shaft drive, so there is that!

[ButterSmooth]

Al the Rykers are shaft drive, so there is that!

And, I've actually been thinking about one. Lots of nice gravel roads around here.

[Plarimer]

I was coming south out of the Black Hills a few years ago and I came around the curve right into a newly laid chip seal road. I went off the road following no braking power, up over a pile of chips and Into the grass where I was able to finally brake. A very scary experience on a 900 pound Harley.

[blacklightning]

I had damage with my belt on the northern half of the BRP about 3 years ago. To me, the chip seal has a better chance of doing damage than a typical dirt road.

[spyder01]

Ive driven thru a fair amount of chip sealed roads as well as some dirt and gravel roads with no damage yet.I do have the Spyder Pops belt guard and I do check the belt a lot.I think the next time I do an oil change Im going to try to extend the guard a little with some thin plastic or aluminum and also try to rig up some kind of protection for the bottom of the air bag.