Total Motorcycle Community Forums

storysunfolding wrote: Do you find any issues offroading with the rocks poking through? Some Stroms were outfitted with belts aftermarket and reported this problem.

So far it has not been a problem for me, but my off roading on the Uly is mostly limited to light gravel and dirt roads. Other Uly riders have pushed the Uly much farther than I have off road, and I am not aware of any problems with rocks. I'm sure some have, but then again, I'm sure more than a few chains have met an early demise due to rocks. If you ride off road enough, you are going to break things. But I'd say changing a belt is easier than patching a flat tire, which happens frequently off road.

For 100% off road use, I'd still lean towards a chain, but for most everything else, the advantages of the belt outweigh the downfalls IMO.

There were rumors that when Buell was doing R&D on the Uly they had a test rig that would fire gravel into a spinning belt and pulley system. I don't believe they would have chosen this system if they considered it a problem.

I like belt drive the best, shaft drives can have alot of wheel hop. The only one that did not hop was a BMW.

XB08 wrote:I like belt drive the best, shaft drives can have alot of wheel hop. The only one that did not hop was a BMW.

wheel hop is from the shock/springs or swingarm & bushings not the drive system...

I have owned 3 goldwings and a VTX1800F all with drive shafts, done wheelies and burnouts with no wheel hop...
how did you get wheel hop????????????

I would like to know.

Chuck_theHammer wrote: I have owned 3 goldwings and a VTX1800F all with drive shafts, done wheelies and burnouts with no wheel hop...

You did wheelies on a Goldwing? I'd pay to see that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsPjNYY5GvM
You can deposit by paypal!
On the shaft drive/belt drive problems commented on earlier...
On my Volusia they did the shaft backwards from most shaft drive bikes so that it didn't rise up like most shafties do on acceleration. It seemed to work for me at least! I honestly didn't notice a difference on hard acceleration between my Volusia and any chain-driven bike I've ridden.

On the belt for dirt... One of the Education Managers down at MMI is a trials rider and has a Uly he takes off-road. He hasn't had the belt skip a beat on him yet. I've been told by other instructors that most people wouldn't take dirtbikes where he takes his Uly to put that comment into perspective.

RockBottom wrote:

Chuck_theHammer wrote: I have owned 3 goldwings and a VTX1800F all with drive shafts, done wheelies and burnouts with no wheel hop...

You did wheelies on a Goldwing? I'd pay to see that.

I have never personally seen it but my friend said he saw a guy pull and sustain a wheelie on a GL1200 at the Marcus Dairy Bike Sunday. This was back in the late 1980s/early 1990s when doing stand up wheelies, burnouts, doughnuts there on the main streets at Marcus Dairy Bike Sunday was "allowed" and was a common sight.....right in front of cops who watched on the sideline.

My friend had a GL1500 and on very smooth surface he would give it a handful of gas and dump the clutch and it would peel out and screech the tires like a car.....but he never did get it to wheelie.