Belts for Belt Motorcycles

[stevekleincustom]

I was asked in the thread started by slojo on getting his 12 HD twin ready for the Cannonball where I get belts for all my belt bikes. First... I am no expert on belts... But I have had several made by Slome Belting of Cleveland OH. Just Google them. Slome has been making belts of all kinds since 1938. They are great to work with and do not mind small orders from motorcycle enthusiasts. I believe the last belt I had made was around $200 bucks including big brother and UPS?

My first attempts were all leather belts which stretched about 2.5 inches on a 101.5 inch new belt length right away. That is past the rear wheel and pedal crank concentric adjustments. I later found an old article in a teens motorcycle magazine with a B&W photo from the HD factory that showed a large wall rack of belts being pre stretched at the Motor Company. Not having one of those contraptions around or knowing a stretch ratio per any given length... I punted and tried a man made belt material that would not stretch. Sorry... (Cannot remember the name of the material at present.) The issue here was it was too slick and would not create friction with the front engine pulley leather lagging. Punt again! I had Slome build me a laminated three layer belt with two outer layers of leather and a center core laminated in between that would not stretch so much. Bingo... It worked.

I can take side profile closeup pictures of all belts I have tried that failed and the final design that does work and post them if it helps anyone?

I would be interested in hearing where other belt bike owners get their belts made and what composition works best. Or if all leather is being used, how one knows how far a continuous belt will stretch before it reaches max tension and operates thereafter. I have to believe there is a fairly simple secret here. In the pre-teen and teen years, riders used their machines in dust, dirt, rain and mud conditions. Farmers relied on belt dressing to keep belt operated equipment operating. Did moto-cycle riders rely on the same? Belt dressing just attracts more dirt!

Thanks for asking and I will wait for others with more knowledge here hopefully than I have

[exeric]

The MECO catalogs of the day carried Spartan belt dressing. Your post is very interesting and I'm thinking a company like Slome Belting would be the wise way to go. I have a V-belt drive on my Merkel, with an Eclipse V-belt clutch and much like a chain drive, the V-belt must have some tension. I'm thinking it would be smart to go to the experts and take advantage of their experience. Thanks for the reference Steve.

[DanM]

YES, thanks Steve.

Is the lagging straight leather belting? And did you glue it on also?

THX!

[Rod K]

Steve...thanks so much for the input of ideas. A friend had a leather belt made for his 12single that stretched 6in. He kept cutting it down and having it resewed. I'm still working on the engine, so haven't had to face the belt issue yet.
The laminated belt idea sounds like it may be a solution. The lagging I applied with regular leather belting and contact cemented about 3/4 in wide strip in the center all the way around and then screwed it down. (don't know if cementing a good idea or not) The butt edges of the lagging were cut at a 45 degree angle and put on the pulleys so that the lead edge would be pressed flat as the belt passed over it......
Rod

[Ken Lee]

Steve , I use a continuous leather belt on my 1912 4B Excelsior single , I made this from an old farm stationary belt that had obviously seen a lot of service , I joined it by skiving the two mating surfaces and glueing with pva glue and sewing with 'cat gut' I had for a long case clock . this has seen a couple of thousand miles (the bike not clock) and it did stretch about 1-1/2 inches after a few hundred . I then shortened the belt and still running with it . Prior to using leather I tried a couple of different 'man made' belts with 'aligator' joining strips which always seened to break . I'm happy with the leather although it shows cracks and age it has given best service so far but I have a couple of spares if needed !! The front pulley is covered with leather , glued and screwed . Ken

[Slojo]

With as busy as I am building the Evil Twin this thread passed me by without notice.

Try Bethany at Bamco belting (864-269-9750) they have made several belts for me that are built from two materials. I don't know if they would last in a cannonball run . They don't stretch but when hot the do constrict so be sure to have a little slack in the length.

joe

[silentgreyfello]

I have ordered continuous leather belts and pre-stretched them myself. I measure the length by moving the rear wheel all the way forward, pull a string through the shieves and then slightly deflect the string with the belt tensioner. Mark the length and subtract 1.5". This is the order length.

After the belt arrives, I have a pole that extends from my rafter that I hang the belt on. On the other end, I have a 8' section of telephone pole that I place one end in the belt to give tension. Two weeks later, I put the belt on, and it is a bit tight, but stretches to where you still have a lot of belt tension remaining, plus an 1" of wheel travel (which gives 2").

This has worked for me, but I think I may try Steve's idea of the sandwich belt. I have also tried the synthetic belting, perhaps similar to what slojo mentioned, but didn't have good results. They were too "grippy". My experience has been that leather is the perfect combination of grip and slip. Plus, it looks right.

[silentgreyfello]

Oh yeah... I put belt dressing on the leather before hanging it with the weight.

[stevekleincustom]

To glue or not to glue

YES, thanks Steve.

Is the lagging straight leather belting? And did you glue it on also?

THX!

The engine and rear wheel pulleys on all my pre-teens have small brass machine screws with nuts to hold the leather lagging on. I guess one could put contact cement on both surfaces first. Not sure it would serve any real purpose though?