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[vchampain]

Two months ago, the belt of my Zero 2013 S broke for no reason in the middle of the Champs Elysées - it only had 3000 km or so, only riding on the streets of Paris (not really a "tough" environnment). After some discussions, Zero accepted to supply the belt, but I had to pay to have the bike transported to the dealership and the dealer had to do the service free of charge.

Today, I had the same issue : with an almost new belt, after rolling on a small pothole the belt broke and I was left in the middle of the traffic without any possibility to keep a safe speed. There was a noise as if the suspension was too weak, and the tire touched the frame.

Did anyone have the same issue ? My feeling is that either the rear suspension is too weak (which causes the tire to touch the frame, which causes a violent brake and an excessive tension on the belt) or the tension on the belt has been tuned to tight (which makes it fragile and breaking in condition it shouldnt).

Any idea ?

[Doctorbass]

This belt require an alignment with in 0.25 degree angle  diff  for the parallelism between the motor and the wheel sprocket. otherwise all the torque will only be on one sid eof the belt and not shared on all the width.

These Gates belt are really robust but as the manual say you have to be carefull with them! don't twist them etc... these are made with carbon fiber inside and these have very strong tensil strength but you have to take care of them in all other force than tensil!

Doc

[vchampain]

Thanks ! The belt has been set at the dealership so i suppose it has been done correctly. The unusual suspension noise twice happened just before the belt broke. And thise noise happens all the time on pothole or when rolling down from sidewalks...

V

[Biff]

The noise you heard may have been "ratcheting" which is when the belt skips over teeth. It sounds like a loud clunk/pop as there is a lot of force required to make it skip, and the noise resonates through the large rear sprocket.

Ratcheting can be caused by an improperly installed belt (usually too loose, some technicians think that it should be loose like a chain if they aren't familiar with the belt on the Zero, it should be quite tight).

By any chance when you hit the pot hole were you applying full throttle, or did the wheel leave the ground and spin up quickly before contacting the ground again?

-ryan

[Le Z Turbo]

Salut Vincent,

On my DS I'm having many problems and no more dealer in my area.
I had changed the tire and as I was putting back the rear wheel I was surprise to see that I had a huge difference in belt tension when I was turning the rear wheel with the bike on a stand. The tension all other a full wheel turn was going from 20kg to 50kg !!!

Right now I'm writting an website where I will explain all the defects, mods, DIY repairs and maintenance. But for my belt tension problem I had to unscrew the rear spocket, re-screw it 90° from the initial position and verify the distance wheel axis-spocket during all the tightening of the screw. Has I was progressively tightening the screw I had to rectify the position of the spocket with a mallet. Now my belt tension is almost constant

[Le Z Turbo]

And for the rear shock, mine was leaking oil from the rebound knob and so the bike was just a bouncing monkey on bumps..
Asked for a warranty replacement at the beginning of 2014, still waiting....
In the meantime I'm using a DNM shock, a little longer unfortunatly....

[Le Z Turbo]

You also have to check your rear wheel alignement with the left and right marking at the rear wheel axle nut. If not align the belt will either rub on the lip of the rear spoket (only one side has a lip) or either the opposite, the belt will not be entirely sitting on the spocket (photo)

[vchampain]

Thanks a lot ! I'll forward this to my dealer.

I was accelerating on the pothole. But I also have the same effect when rolling down the sidewalk to the street while accelerating. And the belt does not look having a too low tension, or sitting on the side of the spocket. It sounded more as if the rear shock was too soft and the wheel touched the frame or something like this.

Too bad you had so many issues. I know some dealers are having lots issues and spending lots of money on aftersale issues, most of them are small but the real problem is that solving them takes lots of time, with sometimes incredibly inapropriate answers - for example when my new belt broke they refused to replace it in the first place. My hypothesis based on what I was told is that the EU hub in the Netherlands is really mismanaged, and takes commercially & legally stupid decisions that harm the brand big way. Also, when talking to the Zero HQ they were everytime very quick to find a good solution.

I hope you'll be able to have your shock replaced !

[vchampain]

PS : What is the adress of your website ?

[Le Z Turbo]

Oh my website is not done yet. I have many photos of the different things I have done on the bike like the ones I put here, I'm thinking it will be great to regroup them.
I think your shop is ATS in Paris, I've been there to visit while I was a tourist in Paris. Very nice people.
Aaron from Zero US is trying to do something for me but I and my ex-zero dealer haven't heard from the NL or the French commercial at all.

On my DS even with the shock fully compress the rear will is not able to touch the frame. Don't know if it's the same with the S model

Lauremt

[vchampain]

I suggest you escalate to the US team - there is obviously something wrong with EU aftersales teams. Either they have too much on their plate and/or low incentive to deal with defects/problems in a correct way.

I finally got my XU back, and i'll bring it to Lyon end july/early august. Tell if you're around !

V

[Le Z Turbo]

Oh yeah, I remember now that you will put the XU in Lyon countryside, in the Beaujolais wine county isn't it ? It's just nearby my home.
I'm sending my phone in PM ! Oh, and you can speak french on the phone ! I'm using english here to be polite with all the forum members from so many different countries !

Laurent

[Le Z Turbo]

I'm working on the website.... it's taking so much time !! it will be on http://zeromotorcycles.free.fr
No comment on warranty issues on this website, just D.I.Y. works !!!
I already have http://tandems.free.fr and http://automower.free.fr but I'm having trouble keeping them up to date. I still have a familly and social life !!!

[Le Z Turbo]

Another thing come to my mind Vincent: Haven't you had your motor spoket repaired because it was getting play on motor axis ? Maybe the shop didn't put back the front spocket right ?
Just an idea...

[vchampain]

Good point. I'll check !