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[fredx]

Hey all,

I received my SR/F today, and quickly fell deeply in love with this bike.  However, with just 54 miles on the odometer, the drive belt broke this afternoon.  Luckily, I was just a mile from home, so I was able to walk it home and dejectedly put it in the garage.

I phoned the dealer.  He was shocked.  I hadn't been doing any crazy riding; it seems to have been a manufacturer defect in the belt.  He phoned Zero.  They also were shocked.  Apparently, this is unheard of.  I'm just lucky, I guess.   

Anyway, everyone's moving quickly to get me a new belt, and it sounds like the dealer is going to come to my house (35 miles away) to install it.  So although I'm really, really bummed to have this super-sweet new bike already out of commission, I'm happy with the response so far by both the dealer and Zero.

Until this happened, I was thoroughly enjoying the bike.  It feels compact, super-quick, very stable, and well planted.  It's so easy to ride!  Going back to my Yamaha Super Tenere, it all feels so huge, heavy, and complicated.  The SR/F is a total delight for zipping around my local roads!  I can't wait to get a new belt on it.

 - Fred

[MVetter]

I mean... it's not unheard of. It's more common that people would hope. Many Zero owners have snapped belts, but not all. I remember when the SR/F first came out seeing test ride videos of people snapping the belt. My brother, an exception to the norm, has snapped nearly a dozen belts but he drives like a maniac. I think most owners will probably never snap one. It's a solid bike and I'm sure it will serve you well for years.

[DonTom]

See here.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[princec]

This thing about the crappy belts on Zeros is one of the main things holding me back from buying one.

I used to have a belt drive bike (two of them in fact, F800STs) and I loved it. Belts are great. But Zero's belts seem to be particularly rubbish. I notice they are half the width of everyone else's belts, and don't employ a tensioning wheel, and don't have any protection from stones. Surely this stuff is elementary? It should have been addressed years ago as it seems to be the second most common failure mode for Zeros.

Cas

[NEW2elec]

Sorry to hear that.  Nothing like a broken new toy.  There have been a few of these new SRF belts break but for now it's unclear if it's a defect or poor tension form factory or dealer.  They may end up needing a few hundred miles of "break in" in Eco just to limber them up.
But that's just a guess.  Likely a tension issue.
My old 13 still has the original belt with over 33k miles.  My 17 has over 16k and still going.  So it can't just be a bad design just something wrong.

But yes Princc there should be some cover protection.

[DonTom]

I would suggest on a new Zero SR/F to check to see how tight the belt is and if it is in proper alignment.  I think I heard somewhere that the SR/F belt can get tighter (instead of the normal looser) in the first several hundred miles. If it gets too tight, it will snap, so check it often as the bike is new.

The belt  should be checked  often on any belt driven bike when newer, even if just a fast check by hand.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Crissa]

But Zero's belts seem to be particularly rubbish.

There doesn't seem to be any statistical information for that.

-Crissa

[Evilthor]

Hey all,

I received my SR/F today, and quickly fell deeply in love with this bike.  However, with just 54 miles on the odometer, the drive belt broke this afternoon.  Luckily, I was just a mile from home, so I was able to walk it home and dejectedly put it in the garage.

I phoned the dealer.  He was shocked.  I hadn't been doing any crazy riding; it seems to have been a manufacturer defect in the belt.  He phoned Zero.  They also were shocked.  Apparently, this is unheard of.  I'm just lucky, I guess.   

Anyway, everyone's moving quickly to get me a new belt, and it sounds like the dealer is going to come to my house (35 miles away) to install it.  So although I'm really, really bummed to have this super-sweet new bike already out of commission, I'm happy with the response so far by both the dealer and Zero.

Until this happened, I was thoroughly enjoying the bike.  It feels compact, super-quick, very stable, and well planted.  It's so easy to ride!  Going back to my Yamaha Super Tenere, it all feels so huge, heavy, and complicated.  The SR/F is a total delight for zipping around my local roads!  I can't wait to get a new belt on it.

 - Fred

Take heart Fred. It does happen.  And there are belts out there that have a higher amount of carbon fiber that last a bit longer. It is the same with brake pads, you can definitely upgrade to a better belt.

[GS-A-Day]

The belt on the SRF I was riding broke 2 miles into a test ride. That was last fall, I was hoping they would have gotten better belts by now.

[NoMoreIdeas]

I wonder if there was too much tension on it to begin with. Mine was pretty tight when I picked mine up new.

[dittoalex]

Zero bikes need to be ridden in Eco mode to not snap belts on traction loss over road debris, paint, or bott dotts, but that's okay because you'll get better range in Eco mode than trying to limit yourself at the wrist with a higher-powered mode.

[princec]

In all my 30 years of riding I've never actually ever seen of anyone having a chain break. I know it happens but I've never seen it, and I've done literally hundreds of thousands of miles on bikes myself let alone all my many biking friends' miles. I've heard tales of friends-of-friends-of-friends who have managed to snap chains, which would then turn out to be because said chain was 20,000 miles old and never oiled etc etc. But I can find several actual videos of people on Zeros snapping their belts doing absolutely nothing weird at all. It's just not good enough, and there are no excuses.

Cas

[Fran K]

In all my 30 years of riding I've never actually ever seen of anyone having a chain break. I know it happens but I've never seen it, and I've done literally hundreds of thousands of miles on bikes myself let alone all my many biking friends' miles. I've heard tales of friends-of-friends-of-friends who have managed to snap chains, which would then turn out to be because said chain was 20,000 miles old and never oiled etc etc. But I can find several actual videos of people on Zeros snapping their belts doing absolutely nothing weird at all. It's just not good enough, and there are no excuses.

Cas

The Zero design has no primary reduction hence has a quite small front sprocket and large rear one.  Conventional motorcycles have a clutch that can slip and in most all cases for street bikes have some damping in the drive line even the shaft drive ones.  I have read on here the SRF newest model is pretty easy to change out the belt.  The design does have inherent advantages, silence being one.  Does Zero bikes have a cush hub?  Perhaps some of the issue is just the size of the front sprocket.  The belts are bigger than they once were, it was a pretty hard sell seeing the belt and having the salesman and literature stating horsepower.

Harley did have a belt primary perhaps 30 year ago that I recall and stopped.

[princec]

BMW's belt drive is excellent... wish they'd just copy the whole thing and then I can just get on with moaning about electronics failures instead.

Cas

[fredx]

I mean... it's not unheard of. It's more common that people would hope. Many Zero owners have snapped belts, but not all. I remember when the SR/F first came out seeing test ride videos of people snapping the belt. My brother, an exception to the norm, has snapped nearly a dozen belts but he drives like a maniac. I think most owners will probably never snap one. It's a solid bike and I'm sure it will serve you well for years.

Thanks for all the feedback, folks.  This does seem to be pretty darn rare; the dealer said Zero asked if I had the broken belt, because they'd like to send it back to Gates for evaluation.  I went back last night to the spot where it happened, and found the belt.  Sounds like Gates is getting this one back!   

It's just gonna snow yet again this coming week, so I'm not losing much riding.  Just missing playing with my new toy!

 - Fred