My wife’s 2021 RT Sea-to-Sky has done about 15,000 miles in 3 years. A few weeks ago, we started to notice that the belt was squeaking on the rear sprocket – particularly evident when pushing the bike forward or backward without the engine on.
As it happens, it was due its annual service this week so we had it at the dealer yesterday and mentioned it to the mechanic. He agreed that the belt was certainly rubbing on the sprocket and in fact he declared that both needed changing quite urgently!
He said he had tried moving the belt away from the sprocket by the usual credit-card thickness, but it quickly worked its way back. He didn’t seem to know why this was happening but he felt this had caused both the belt and sprocket to become damaged enough that both need replacing – at a cost of close to $1,000!
Does any of this seem reasonable?
I’ve had a close look at the belt and it looks perfect to me (see photos) – though maybe the teeth are a little rounded, as you would surely expect after 15,000 miles. The sprocket does show very clear shiny marks equivalent to the shape of the belt teeth. I couldn’t really tell whether these shiny marks are where material has been rubbed away significantly though.
I should note that the workshop manager did admit that their senior Spyder mechanic was off sick and it was a junior mechanic that had worked on our bike.
In case it matters, the mechanic also noted that the original belt tensioner was no longer functioning because its spring had broken (and sadly he believes that the spring is not available separately). He left it with the belt tensioner roller simply resting on the belt….feeling it wouldn’t matter?
As it happens, it was due its annual service this week so we had it at the dealer yesterday and mentioned it to the mechanic. He agreed that the belt was certainly rubbing on the sprocket and in fact he declared that both needed changing quite urgently!
He said he had tried moving the belt away from the sprocket by the usual credit-card thickness, but it quickly worked its way back. He didn’t seem to know why this was happening but he felt this had caused both the belt and sprocket to become damaged enough that both need replacing – at a cost of close to $1,000!
Does any of this seem reasonable?
I’ve had a close look at the belt and it looks perfect to me (see photos) – though maybe the teeth are a little rounded, as you would surely expect after 15,000 miles. The sprocket does show very clear shiny marks equivalent to the shape of the belt teeth. I couldn’t really tell whether these shiny marks are where material has been rubbed away significantly though.
I should note that the workshop manager did admit that their senior Spyder mechanic was off sick and it was a junior mechanic that had worked on our bike.
In case it matters, the mechanic also noted that the original belt tensioner was no longer functioning because its spring had broken (and sadly he believes that the spring is not available separately). He left it with the belt tensioner roller simply resting on the belt….feeling it wouldn’t matter?
) it'd be best to remove it entirely - the OEM roller bearings have been known to wear out around 15-20,000 miles, so you're probably lucky that the spring on yours failed first, cos if it hadn't and the bearing wore out, that could destroy the belt - and even without the spring, there's still that possibility. So if you haven't noticed any belt induced vibrations, just toss the belt damper entirely and simply avoid that risk entirely! :thumbup:
hyea:
