cam belts

[hmmmnz]

are there any bikes out there, bar the rotax lumps that use cam belts???
i really like the idea, especially on air cooled engines, it makes things very easy
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Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[Kickstart]

Hi

Most Ducatis use belts (all that I can think of for the last 20+ years).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[neatbik]

Ducati

[Kickstart]

Hi

There are a few others. Think Gold Wings do. The Gilera singles from the late 80s / early 90s (eg, Nordwest) used belts as well. The small Moto Morini V twins used a short belt.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[stinkwheel]

Rather than belt drive, Gear/bevel drive probably the ultimate I suppose. Kawasaki W650 and VFR750 spring to mind. Some Ducatis.

Knowing the Japs, if they ever made one with a belt drive, they'd put it in the middle of the engine just to be fucking difficult.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Pushrods FTW
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[Kickstart]

Hi

Trouble with gear and bevel drive is the cost of making it, and the difficulty with tolerances. Try skimming the head on a VFR.

But belts have a short life, especially on bikes (and become a pain to change when you start putting variable valve timing gubbins somewhere between the crank and cams). Personally I prefer cam chain drive as with a reasonably designed tensioner it is almost maintenance free.

Seen split link cam chains used in cars and lasting ages (150k+ miles).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Kickstart]

[Kris]

My Pan European has one.

Suggested mileage between changes is 80-90k.


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[Rockhopper]

And on the latest Ducati's you need some very gucci tools to change and tension the belts as they don't have timing marks any more.

[stinkwheel]

I still remain to be convinced that there is any good reason to put the camchain in the middle of a modern, water-cooled engine. Stick it on one end, then it would be a 10 minute job to change a camchain.

I refuse to believe it would put a massive off-centre stress on a solid metal cam which has more support (for its size) than the crank does

Yes the engine would be wider at the end but it would be narrower in the middle.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Charlie]

I still think it is because they purposely make it harder for the average Joe to service allowing the dealers to earn more money.
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Past: Honda x8rs, Honda City fly, Honda Hornet 250, Honda VFR750, Yamaha xt600e.
Current: Honda CBR929RR & Yamaha XT660Z Tenere

[Kickstart]

Hi

Think the argument is that the cams need to be stronger and heavier to stop them twisting slightly along their length. However I tend to agree that would be a price worth paying for making them easy to change. Suspect noise might have something to do with it as well (ie, keep the noisy chain in the middle of the engine), and the ease of supporting the cam either side of the driven sprocket.

That said, no real reason why the cam chains themselves should be so short lived. Seems silly that one of the faults people had with the GPZ900R was that the cam chains only lasted about 20K, while some seem to regard that as an achievement these days. My old FZ is still on its first cam chain and tensioner at 68k.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing