A couple of days ago, I removed both wheels/tires from the bike and had new tires mounted and balanced on them. I also changed out brake pads on my front and rear at this time.

Before I took off the rear wheel, I measured the gap between the head of the belt adjustment bolt and the screw boss on each side with calipers. When I put the rear wheel back on, I put the adjustment screws to the same measurements withing +-.002.

For reference, I purchased the bike with 5500 miles on it. I've ridden 6000 trouble free miles before dismounting/mounting the rear wheel. So I'm assuming the alignment was correct before. I'm also assuming it should be the same now. Also, I've ridden about 50 miles since putting the rear wheel back on with no problems.

Now I'm slightly second guessing myself because this isn't the way my service manual says to do it, which seems prone to human error. Any words of wisdom from you experts?

 

Sounds good to me. How is the belt tension?

 

Actually it seems a little tight, but it was the same way before. I don't have that special tool to check belt tension so I'm kinda just guessing. I dropped the rear 2" last year which I think tightened the belt tension a little. I probably should buy that belt tension checker tool thingy sometime! I inspected the belt and didn't notice any defects on any of the teeth. It's probably good.

Thanks for replying.

 

You could be repeating someone else's error.
Measure the distance from the swing arm pivot bolt center to the axle center, should be the same on both sides. The belt should ride close to the center of the rear pulley, a little space on each side and silent.
Al