belt vs. Chain drives

[ajo771]

when I was younger I had chain or shaft drives, and everyone said I needed belt drive that was the way to go.(I think the insinuation here was to get a Harley)

Now I have a belt drive and I see all these conversions to chain drives. Are chain drives better?

If chain drives are better then why does everyone want to get ride of the chain drive primaries and go to belt drive primaries?

Is it me or does it seem strange that we want to switch our belt drive to chain drive, and our chain drive to a belt drive on our bikes.

Who can shed some light?

 

[narow37]

chain can handle more power but can create more mess from slinging grease. not all chains will be that bad, a good o ring chain can be very clean

 

[lee]

pros and cons to both I think - as narrow says a chain maybe be able to handle more power although the modern belts are very strong - belts are probably quieter - chains can do more damage if they fail - some think chains look better for final drive and open belt drives look better than close primaries - Sul and the like know more about this stuff than I do and I'm sure they'll chime in - there is another thread on this on here somewhere

 

[Gas Man]

Please somebody that was around correct me if I'm wrong (sul... come on.. you know you want to... )

I believe HD went to belt final drives to do just like Lee said, eliminate noise. Of coarse back then they didn't have these nice O & X Ring chains. These chains have sealed in lubricant in the rollers. So for cleaning and lube... all you really need to do is clean them with either some chain cleaner or my favorite kerosene.

I myself have dealt with chains too long on sportbikes. I can't stand them. But you bring up a great point on the open belt drives but switch to chain final. But understand that belts weighting less therefor have less rotational mass and therefor less drive train power loss. Same reason why on sportbikes they go from 530 chains to 520 (smaller number being thinnner) cause they weight less.

That being said I think its safe to say (again please correct if nessc) that our final belts are only good to say around 120-125hp/torque numbers. Much over that and you are probably asking for trouble. For me, I hate chains so much I will use that as a guideline not to pass.

 

[lee]

120-125 - is that right? blimey thats lower than I would have expected - many of these bikes are getting numbers not far off that

 

[guglesm]

Not to bud in but I have heard of some guys with left side drive bikes putting chains on to get the weight closer to the centerline of the bike. They say that the chain is narrower and can help the balance of the bike.

 

[Gas Man]

I find that a bit "off" gug... but there is no dening that the chain is heavier than the belt and that it is rotational mass.