i have an 05 road king with just over 50,000 miles on it. i have been friends for many years with a family that owns the local honda dealership and was just talking with one of them today, and we were discussing belt verses chain rear drives. he told me that the belts were likely to break after 10 years no matter what mileage or maintenance. he told me he had seen the belts break on trade in models he was moving around. i had not heard this before and wonder if i should consider replacing the belt to be a winter project. i do all my own maintenance so far.

 

With all due respect to your friend, I wouldn't replace it unless it needed replacing.

I check my belt every 10k miles for proper tension, excessive wear, cracks and damage to teeth. I also check the teeth on the rear pulley.

 

1998 Road Glide 40,000 miles original belt. Go on the evo forum. There are plenty of guys on there with older, and/ or more miles with the OEM as well. And chains never break I suppose.

 

75,000 miles on a 1994 Electra Glide Police .... original belt

 

I replaced my belt, while I was rebuilding my bike, from front wheel bearings to the rear... engine, swing arm bushings etc, etc, etc.... The belt was "fine" after 140,xxx miles...but it was stretched, and it was "time"

Almost exactly 1,000 miles after I was finished, I came to a stop, and caught a rock, just right... and broke the freaking belt.
And I am not the only one who has done so... so.. my advice is to check the bely, and make sure there are no chunks missing, and check the rear pulley to make sure it isn't damaged...
but don't replace the belt, unless you HAVE to...

 

That's the first time in almost 30 years of owning belt-drive Harleys that I've heard that! Certainly my first belt lasted many more than ten years and never broke. It did take a sharp stone and was damaged, but managed around 4k miles before I decided to replace it. Some owners have covered 100k miles on the original belts. Exposed chains cannot compete with with the qualities and durability of our belts IMHO.

 

Your friend has no clue what he’s talking about. What’s the dealership so I can make sure to never go there.

 

1996 Electra Glide, 151k miles, original belt ... 1996 Road King, 109k miles, original belt

 

 

I replaced my drive belt with 80,000 miles on it. There was a .25" crack in it where a very small rock had pierced it 40,000 miles back. If that rock hadn't pierced the center of the belt, the crack would have probably not occurred. The belt would probably still be on there.