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[TheGap]

The belt of my bike is currently firmly rubbing the shouldered side of the rear sprocket.

I've found this helpful post which touched the exact topic in my question and where Doctorbass gave an excellent response in his last paragraph:

If your belt is too close to the rear sproket shoulder, then you can remove the motor sproket and remove one of the spacer behind it. this is about 1.5mm thick and there is 3 of these . Then your belt should be  1.5mm far from teh rear sproket shoulder.

I have one more question though and rather than necroing a thread from 2014 I thought I'd better start a new post.
--> does this fix still apply for the Zero 2017 SR?

[DonTom]

The belt of my bike is currently firmly rubbing the shouldered side of the rear sprocket.

Remove nothing and try this:

Lift bike off the ground with a black widow lift.

Try loosening  the axle nut and then align the belt to the RIGHT side of the sprocket, so the right side of the belt is right on the right edge of the wheel sprocket.

Then tighten the axle bolt to spec. which will change the position of the belt. Rotate the wheel a few times and see if a credit card edge will now fit between the belt and shouldered side. When a credit card fits between the belt and the shouldered left, with the axle nut tight to spec., consider the job done. Check 360° to be sure it stays at a credit card spacing all the way around.

You want to correct that right away. I would not even want to ride the bike without that credit card spacing space as I expect it will quickly damage the belt.

Remember to hold the bike when you bring the lift down. Test ride and see if the belt still has the credit card spacing.

-Don- Reno, NV

[dennis-NL]

Agree, remove nothing, just some alignment is needed.
While adjusting rear, rotate wheel a few times.
If belt is always 1mm of shoulder it's perfect.
Tighten all bolts and, to be sure, rotate again and do a small test ride.

[togo]

> Lift bike off the ground with a black widow lift. ...

Only use a center lift if your garage has a level floor!

(You can imagine how one learns this lesson)

[DonTom]

Agree, remove nothing, just some alignment is needed. While adjusting rear, rotate wheel a few times. If belt is always 1mm of shoulder it's perfect.
Tighten all bolts and, to be sure, rotate again and do a small test ride.

A credit card is  0.76 mm in thickness, so a credit card should feel a bit on the loose side between the belt and the shoulder.

Anybody know of anything more handy to use than a credit card to measure the 1mm?

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

Agree, remove nothing, just some alignment is needed. While adjusting rear, rotate wheel a few times. If belt is always 1mm of shoulder it's perfect.
Tighten all bolts and, to be sure, rotate again and do a small test ride.

A credit card is  0.76 mm in thickness, so a credit card should feel a bit on the loose side between the belt and the shoulder.

Anybody know of anything more handy to use than a credit card to measure the 1mm?

-Don-  Reno, NV

How about a 1mm thickness gauge as is sold in sets at any motorcycle or auto store to check ICE valve clearances. I have four of those gauge sets in my tool box.

[DonTom]

How about a 1mm thickness gauge as is sold in sets at any motorcycle or auto store to check ICE valve clearances. I have four of those gauge sets in my tool box.

I was just thinking that also, but I didn't think they went up to 1mm, I will have to check mine.

I use .006" & .008" for my ICE bikes adjustable valve clearances which is only 0.1524mm and 0.2032mm. Perhaps I can use two 0.5MM or whatever, or just stick with the credit card, which should be close enough if it's just a little on the loose side between the belt and  sprocket shoulder.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

How about a 1mm thickness gauge as is sold in sets at any motorcycle or auto store to check ICE valve clearances. I have four of those gauge sets in my tool box.

I was just thinking that also, but I didn't think they went up to 1mm, I will have to check mine.

I use .006" & .008" for my ICE bikes adjustable valve clearances which is only 0.1524mm and 0.2032mm. Perhaps I can use two 0.5MM or whatever, or just stick with the credit card, which should be close enough if it's just a little on the loose side between the belt and  sprocket shoulder.

-Don-  Reno, NV

If your individual thickness gauges don't go to 1mm, you can stick enough of them together to make a 1mm thickness. Assuming, of course that you have a thick set of gauges like I do.    My single thickest gauge is .89 mm and one more gauge placed next to that one will make 1mm, if you think that .9 mm is not thick enough. I believe I bought my set of gauges from Sears Roebuck many years ago.

[TheGap]

Thanks for all the great tips.
With the odometer at about 13000km (and thus my next scheduled maintenance) I'm going to provide the info from this thread to the shop where I've bought my bike.

Since day 1 when I got my bike I've made that remark to my original dealer. I've also asked another garage shop (where I changed my tires) to take a look at it and see if they could do something about it ... but it always remained the same and the belt always makes an annoying groaning sound.


For reference I've attached a picture of how it looks now.

[Richard230]

Thanks for all the great tips.
With the odometer at about 13000km (and thus my next scheduled maintenance) I'm going to provide the info from this thread to the shop where I've bought my bike.

Since day 1 when I got my bike I've made that remark to my original dealer. I've also asked another garage shop (where I changed my tires) to take a look at it and see if they could do something about it ... but it always remained the same and the belt always makes an annoying groaning sound.


For reference I've attached a picture of how it looks now.

That spacing looks OK to me.  My feeling is that as long as you have some distance between the edge of the belt and the cog wheel flange that does not vary when the wheel is rotated, that should be good enough.  My belt tension was set right at the upper limit of tension when it came from the factory and it made noticeable groaning at low speeds when new.  However, after about 500 miles the groaning slowly disappeared.  Either that or I got  used to the noise. 

[TheGap]

That spacing looks OK to me.  My feeling is that as long as you have some distance between the edge of the belt and the cog wheel flange that does not vary when the wheel is rotated, that should be good enough.  My belt tension was set right at the upper limit of tension when it came from the factory and it made noticeable groaning at low speeds when new.  However, after about 500 miles the groaning slowly disappeared.  Either that or I got  used to the noise. 

There's an edge ... but I don't see any spacing. Certainly not when keeping in mind that the lip is slightly chamfered (see exaggerated picture I've attached).

I'm at around 13000km (~8000miles) and I still hear the groaning at any speed faster than turtle.
Whenever there's any real torque exercised on the rear sprocket I hear the belt groaning and vibrating

It's the last real annoyance I have from my zero ... the fact that, even for an electric motorcycle, it still makes too much noise

[BamBam]

You don't have to be that precise.  You can just eyeball it to make sure you have a noticeable gap so that the belt never touches the sprocket throughout its rotation.  The other thing you should do is loosen up the belt so that it is at the low end of the tension range.  Refer to the Unofficial Service Manual for the tension range.  I actually keep my belt a little below the low end of the range with no adverse affects.  Both of these things will help to eliminate the groan.  Groan should pretty much disappear after about 1,500 miles.

[SebfromBE]

Hi all,

This is a nice thread! But I have possibly some dumb question to ask on the procedure!

Setting: Zero S 2017 - belt snapped and changed at 5000km. Now make some vibration noise (especially when low on tension) at specific speed range or when turning.

When looking at the belt alignment, it is clear fully close/touching the edge (left) of the rear sprocket. I also notice that it is more aligned towards the right edge of the front sprocket. Anyway I tried to follow the procedure here.
-Loosen rear wheel axle
-loose tension adjustment nut and adjust tension
- make sure that both sides are at the same 'mark'
- then try to 'push the belt to the right edge (which is possible)
- but then as soon as I make the wheel turn, the belt comes back in its original position (touching edge).

I tried to modify the left/right tension adjustment nuts (but not too much, since I believe they should overall be aligned). Without any visible difference in belt alignment.

Is there something stupid that I am missing?

Thanks already all for your help!

Seb
-

[dennis-NL]

...
I tried to modify the left/right tension adjustment nuts (but not too much, since I believe they should overall be aligned). Without any visible difference in belt alignment.
...

But it's not only adjusting nuts, also push the wheel axle against the nuts firmly, so the axle will actually move a little diagonal.
Than rotate the wheel, it really should impact belt position now!
It's even possible the belt runs of if too much adjustment, just play with it a few times in the garage too see impact of changes.

[SebfromBE]

Thanks I will try tonight and let you know!

I indeed didn't try to push specifically the axle to force it in place...