800 chain to belt conversion

[Oaksong]

I know scootworks sells kits that do this, but I found a site that says how to build it yourself:

VULCAN 800 D.V. BELT DRIVE SYSTEM

That is for the vulcan 800, but I bet that it is a similar job for many such bikes (like my marauder), and it costs about the same as a new chain+sprockets set.

The only downside is the time, the work, and some of the special skills/machining.

[Oaksong]

anybody have any idea what it would take to pull this off?

[inspiron]

It looks like something that should be done by a professional, IMHO. You'll need all kinds of parts, because a drive belt is wider than a chain. I'm not sure about the 800, but looking at my bike (a standard), there would be some serious modifications necessary. Getting the damn thing aligned would be the toughest part...

[Oaksong]

well, there is a pro belt drive mod for my bike, but it is 600 bucks. Way more than I want to pay/have on hand.

[cycloptic1dr]

i would get the pro drive belt kit instead of triing to make one your self. unless you have a ton of machine exp. you would have to notch the frame to make clearance and alignment of the belt.

[DrBob]

Looks pretty straightfoward to me...provided you have a lathe and know how to use it. This is certainly outside the realm of 'do it yourself' if you don't have a lathe. But they sell the complete kit for slightly less than $600, which is not a bad price at all. Installing it is not hard if you have decent mechanical skills, and if there is a kit offered then there is no notching of the frame required. There are kits on the market for Marauders and various Triumph models also. I installed one on a Marauder, and all you have to do is grind off a small tab on the sprocket cover and bolt everything together.

[Oaksong]

Originally Posted by DrBob

Looks pretty straightfoward to me...provided you have a lathe and know how to use it. This is certainly outside the realm of 'do it yourself' if you don't have a lathe. But they sell the complete kit for slightly less than $600, which is not a bad price at all. Installing it is not hard if you have decent mechanical skills, and if there is a kit offered then there is no notching of the frame required. There are kits on the market for Marauders and various Triumph models also. I installed one on a Marauder, and all you have to do is grind off a small tab on the sprocket cover and bolt everything together.

how did you like the performance of the belt drive mod, (I assume scootworks, are there others?). The2.2 drive ratio seems low, like acceleration would suffer a lot.

[DrBob]

acceleration suffered a bit on the marauder, but it was smoother. it was a customer's bike and I only put maybe 20 miles on it so I can't give more than a general impression. it was the scootworks kit, and I was not very impressed- the belt was not very thick and it was not a modern carbon-fiber, so it did not seem very robust. He was back for a new belt in about 15,000 miles- a small fraction of the life of a modern OEM belt.
personally, I would have saved the $600 plus what I charged for the installation and left the chain. with the addition of a $50 chain tensioner you can have nearly the same smoothness, be free of adjustments, and still have the advantages of a chain- easy to fix or change, and real cheap & easy to change sprocket ratios.

[Oaksong]

Originally Posted by DrBob

acceleration suffered a bit on the marauder, but it was smoother. it was a customer's bike and I only put maybe 20 miles on it so I can't give more than a general impression. it was the scootworks kit, and I was not very impressed- the belt was not very thick and it was not a modern carbon-fiber, so it did not seem very robust. He was back for a new belt in about 15,000 miles- a small fraction of the life of a modern OEM belt.
personally, I would have saved the $600 plus what I charged for the installation and left the chain. with the addition of a $50 chain tensioner you can have nearly the same smoothness, be free of adjustments, and still have the advantages of a chain- easy to fix or change, and real cheap & easy to change sprocket ratios.

The main thing I hate about the chain is the maintenance. If I could find an efficient way to cut that down, I would just do a socket change and be done with it.

[DrBob]

I put an automatic oiler and an automatic tensioner on my chain-drive shovelhead. I haven't touched the chain since the last time I put a rear tire on the bike- probably 5000 or more miles ago.

[Oaksong]

Originally Posted by DrBob

I put an automatic oiler and an automatic tensioner on my chain-drive shovelhead. I haven't touched the chain since the last time I put a rear tire on the bike- probably 5000 or more miles ago.

Sounds great! What oiler and what tensioner did you use?

[DrBob]

They were both specific to that model Harley, but there are a number available for metric bikes. Do a search of this site first- there have been several threads about them. They are very popular with sportbike riders.