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[Zelidar]

When accelerating under load - for example when climbing a slope with a passenger - there are between 3 and 4 resonance points which, for short moments, cause additional vibrations and a considerably louder noise. For my this is only annoying at low speed, > 10 & < 40 kph.

To compare I did a short trip with a 10,000 km old SR/F a few months ago and noticed the same sound behavior when accelerating, but much less loud. My SR/F now has 63,000 km and I think this is related with higher mileages and the use of a belt drive. I suspect this could also be noticeable on older Zero models.

Has anyone else noticed this? Can this be eliminated, or at least mitigated?

[TheRan]

Same thing on my DS and it does my head in, it mostly does it in the slow speed situations where I'd be riding around pedestrians so of course they turn around to see what the hell is making that god awful noise. I suspect it's also caused by the belt drive, I've tried aligning, tensioning, and cleaning it with a minor improvement but it's still not as quiet as when I first got the bike. It's one of the reason I want to switch to chain drive.

[Specter]

Did you try going on a diet so it's not under such a tremendous load? 

Aaron

[TheRan]

Not sure who you're referring to, but the funny thing is me and my DS together actually weigh less than an SR/f on its own.

[Zelidar]

Same thing on my DS and it does my head in, it mostly does it in the slow speed situations where I'd be riding around pedestrians so of course they turn around to see what the hell is making that god awful noise.

Thank you for sharing your experience on this.

When I want to stay as quiet as possible, like in pedestrian zones, I slightly lower the torque as I hit those RPM resonance points, just long enough to accelerate past them. Overall, this is just an annoyance and I didn't notice any impact on performance.

Belts were used on ICE bikes long before Zero existed, but I guess it takes powerful electric bikes such are the Zero's to start noticing that kind of noise.

[LeverCommaJohn]

Yes, I believe all Zero owners have experienced this to some degree. It drove me batty for the first few hundred miles on my SR/S until I discovered what it was. The belts have a resonant frequency, which can setup some nasty sounding vibrations. This is more pronounced at lower speeds, and tighter belt tensions. I don't think there is any way to eliminate it entirely, but best practices seem to be to run your belt on the lower end of the recommended range and ensure that the belt is riding in the middle of the motor and wheel pulleys. I even run my belt slightly below recommended tension and that helped the vibration noises immensely. I may end up going through a belt sooner, but I'll take that for reduced noise and load on the front motor bearing.

[Zelidar]

... but best practices seem to be to run your belt on the lower end of the recommended range and ensure that the belt is riding in the middle of the motor and wheel pulleys. I even run my belt slightly below recommended tension and that helped the vibration noises immensely.

Thanks for those tips LeverCommaJohn. For the lack of a better solution I will do just that, on my next dealership trip I will have my third belt mounted and also a little less tight than is today. I will report here the results.

[Zelidar]

To put this problem into perspective, the last two days I rode 660 km during about 19 hours. I had a blast. In comparison, I highly doubt that the totals of these annoying noises would be greater than 200 m and 5 mins. Overall I'm still glad to have a belt drive instead of a chain drive, good riddance to lubricating the chain and to those pesky black stains.

[Specter]

They make guards that keep the gunk from flying off the chains.  They also make a wax type lube that dries on the chain so it don't fling all over.  Im using that now on my bike and so far, everything been pretty clean and quiet.   How it works long run we'll see, but there are ways to keep chain spatter down, including not putting so much goop on it!

Aaron

[TheRan]

To put this problem into perspective, the last two days I rode 660 km during about 19 hours. I had a blast. In comparison, I highly doubt that the totals of these annoying noises would be greater than 200 m and 5 mins. Overall I'm still glad to have a belt drive instead of a chain drive, good riddance to lubricating the chain and to those pesky black stains.

My situation is the opposite, a lot of stop start riding at lower speeds. I was just reading the service manual and there's a section on belt noise and they actually suggest applying some dry silicone lube. I thought that lubing the belt was a no-no but I guess I'll give that a go.

[DonTom]

My situation is the opposite, a lot of stop start riding at lower speeds. I was just reading the service manual and there's a section on belt noise and they actually suggest applying some dry silicone lube. I thought that lubing the belt was a no-no but I guess I'll give that a go.

I would consider it a no-no. There was a guy here a few years back that thought it would be the thing to do. His belt broke shortly after.


I would let no more than water touch my belts.


BTW, there are hundreds of threads in this forum about Zero belts. For the most part, they last a very long time when nothing is done other than checking the alignment and play. Exceptions are they often break on potholes or when the wheel leaves the ground and the wheel speed increases before it hits the ground again.


 I decelerate over bumps that I can see, such as train tracks and such.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[Specter]

TheRan you really should not put any lube on a drive belt.  First it defeats the purpose of the belt, you don't want any slipping really, and secondly, without knowing exactly what is in the lube, it might be dangerous.  The chemicals in the lube could interact with the belt and wear it out or worse cause it to somewhat melt or burn and if you burnish the riding area where it engages the wheel, now you got a real mess to have to clean up / clean off before putting a new belt on.

Don't they make belt dressing that is supposed to stop pulley squeaking?  Not sure it'd work on a drive belt though.

Aaron

[EVFX]

I noticed some noises and buzzes at certain times on my FX.
Mostly it happens when riding around my neighborhood at slower speeds, sometimes it's the regen, sometimes it's just the perfect amount of throttle. What makes it stand out are the spokes in the wheels.
When it resonates just right it sounds like all the spokes are vibrating against each other in the rear wheel.
I keep my belt tension in the middle of the range.

[TheRan]

My situation is the opposite, a lot of stop start riding at lower speeds. I was just reading the service manual and there's a section on belt noise and they actually suggest applying some dry silicone lube. I thought that lubing the belt was a no-no but I guess I'll give that a go.

I would consider it a no-no. There was a guy here a few years back that thought it would be the thing to do. His belt broke shortly after.

-Don-  Reno, NV

TheRan you really should not put any lube on a drive belt.  First it defeats the purpose of the belt, you don't want any slipping really, and secondly, without knowing exactly what is in the lube, it might be dangerous.  The chemicals in the lube could interact with the belt and wear it out or worse cause it to somewhat melt or burn and if you burnish the riding area where it engages the wheel, now you got a real mess to have to clean up / clean off before putting a new belt on.

Don't they make belt dressing that is supposed to stop pulley squeaking?  Not sure it'd work on a drive belt though.

Aaron

The thing is this is coming straight from Zero, and they recommend dry silicone specifically. They say to use a very little amount and I can't imagine it causing any slipping, it's not a friction belt and for that to happen the tension would have to be extremely low for the teeth on the belt to ride up and over those on the pulley. They say it's mostly caused by friction between the side of the belt and the lips of the pulleys and to adjust the alignment before resorting to lube, applying it to the teeth of the belt is more an easier method to spread it over the pulleys. I've aligned my rear pulley and it's hard to see and tell but I think the belt still rubs on the motor pulley and that's much more difficult to sort out.

[LeverCommaJohn]

The thing is this is coming straight from Zero, and they recommend dry silicone specifically.

Not only has Zero recommended it, but Gates (the manufacturer of the belts) as well. The dry silicone is a repellant that will prevent debris from getting between the belt and pulleys, thereby preventing damage to the belts. However, I didn't find that it helped with the noise at all, despite what others may claim.