The belt on my low mileage '93 FLSTN (<14K) is original and appears to be in good shape from a visual inspection. Curious to know if anyone has a drive belt with this many birthdays and no issues or is it time for a change just due to the age?

 

Jolly good question! The only belt I've actually had to change resulted from stone damage, after about 12 years, nothing to do with age, so despite having owned my 1990 bike from new I haven't had to give that a thought. It'll be interesting to see what others say.

 

Mine is that old or a year or two older. Once I stopped doing wheelies, I stopped going through belts. The one one the Sporty goes back to 87 or 88. No problems. (knock on wood.)

 

The Dr. in the old days.

 

I'm new to the whole belt drive thing. I've had the same thought on my '90 FXRS. One of these weekends I'm going to pull the wheels and take them down to my local shop for some new tires. I'm wondering if I may as well do the belt while I'm in there.

But then I start thinking about pulling the swingarm, and then I start thinking about new swingarm bushings, and it starts feeling like a project that could get out of hand. Its not my nature to fix things that aren't broken.

So I'll probably just leave it. It looks new. Whatever those guys made them from is some tough stuff. If it snaps somewhere and leaves me hanging, I'll know that was the wrong call.

FWIW, belt drive is one of the reasons I bought this bike. I think its the ideal system. Better than chains. Better than shafts.

 

It took me three belts to stop doing wheelies. At that age, you should at least examine it closely when the wheel is off. Use a magnifying glass to look for little cracks. That industrial plating on the pulley tends to flake and embed into the belt. Those can turn into a broken belt in a flash, and it sucks to push a bagger.

 

The only belt problem I ever had was on a used 2001 Fatboy that I bought in Austin, Tx. on the way to the 3 sisters. Rode the sisters without issues but when I started it the next morning outside the Leaky Inn, I dropped it into 1st and the belt snapped! Indy in Ingram, Tx. got me fixed up and said that the HD shop had the belt way too tight! I should've checked it myself but you know what they say about hindsight!

 

I got a picture of me in the old days. I should post it. It was taken "the next morning" at a camping weekend memorial run-party. Me and a bunch of the other guys there. My friend had it blown up to poster size for his house. Then I went to sea one year and when I got back, I was a celebrity. My friend had given the poster to the local biker bar and it hung over the bar. That was over 30 years ago back in "shovelhead daze" and I think the poster still floats around biker bars in central Texas.

 

Hmm... if that is true I've probably seen it, lol.

 

I ask 2 Harley shops what they thought and they think it is a 'must' change, don't guess I should be surprised at that response. I'm going to try to get some good lighting and a magnifying glass on it as someone suggested.

We all know, the only time that it's going to take a dump is when I'm leaving for a trip. But is sure is a purrrty little thing :-)