1912 Excelsior belting

[Ken Lee]

Paquette , If you use two thicknesses 'glued together with the joins 180 degrees apart (i.e. opposite each other) then cannot a continuous belt be made to work ? failing that the normal joining link is called an ''Alligator steel belt link'' , like teeth gripping each end of a belt in a 'u' shape one fitting between the other like a comb joint and a pin inserted to hold all together , I'll try and attach a photo , Ken

[Paquette]

Ken--I see no reason why it should not work. Let me do a bit of checking to see if I can find somthing simular to the alligator connector, or if you know where they can be found---

[Ken Lee]

Paquette , I have 'Alligator' links so do not worry about that , it is only used with a belt that has to be joined .
I was only wondering if you could make a continuous belt by just using an adhesive ?? dont go to a lot of trouble as am still only thinking what to do but thanks anyway , Ken

[Paquette]

Ken--I don't think that a belt would hold up just with adhesive. The longest strap of leather I can get is 90 inches, so it would take 6 pieces of leather ( 3 laminated to 3) to make a belt longer than 90 inches. It seems to me that flat head rivets used at the joints would work to hold all together----

[Ken Lee]

thanks Paquette for all your help but I think there would be too many joins and I do not trust flat rivets in belts as have tried them before and they have not held very well , I am going to a place tomorrow that supplies flat belts that I have found and they are only about 5 miles away from me , I need a spare fairly urgent as am not too happy about venturing forth without a spare !! I'll no doubt end up with a synthetic belt again but would still like leather but think trouble and cost may turn me in the direction of synthetic fabricated ones . Ken
Hold fire for the time being , I don't want you wasting your time but I do appreciate your help after all I only innitially wanted to know what others use and how tight or loose they are

[camsaure]

excelsior belting

Hi Everyone, Excelsiors still interest me as I had a couple of them about thirty years ago. Sold my last one in early to mid 90s, I still regret it though. The one of interest to this thread was a 1910 single that I purchased from the son of the original owner. It was a basket case,somewhat disassembled by the son for paint/restoration, but had been in heated shop/storage since the 30's. The belt was still supple and appeared to be very serviceable. I doubt it was the original belt as the M/C was used for rural mail delivery in it's first life. If I recall correctly it was constructed of 2 or more layers of leather(I don't recall how many), the joint was a long "skived" tapered joint. If I recall correctly it was stitched along both edges all the way around. the stitching recessed slightly in a groove to prevent wear to thread. I suppose the stitching was to prevent stretching. Not sure but I would think the layers were also glued. The construction somewhat reminded me of the construction of horse harness "tugs" or traces though obviously not as thick. Cam

[Rod K]

Cam..Your post has jogged my memory. A few years back I visited a friend that has an
orig. 1912 HD single( 2nd owner ) He had the belt it came with hanging on the garage wall.
As I recall it was 2 ply leather , sewn on both sides, just as you described. The stitching was sunken into the leather. There was no visable seam, so I think the seam was glued??
A long skived, tapered seam, would make sense.
Maybe a road trip is in order. It's a days journey to and from, but I could get pictures of the seam and stitching, meas how far the stitching is in from the edge and legnth of stitch.
It would be good information to have for reference if nothing else.

[silentgreyfello]

2 ply continuous belt

Competition Distributing carries the two-ply continuous belt. I have bought several over the years and have been pleased. I think Lonnie is working on a two-ply belt with a kevlar center so that it never stretches. To my knowlege, they are the only ones making the belts for early motorcycles. Here is a link to their belts...
http://www.competitiondist.com/cat33.htm

[talbot-2]

Flat Belts for all types of engines

I contacted John at Competition Distributing and he stated that they no longer stocked flat leather endless belts for early motorcycles.

So I suggest contacting the following makers of flat endless leather belts for all types of applications. They make them for antique farm engines, traction engines, forge blowers, sawmills, woodworking machines, vintage automobiles, etc. They also can make them for early belt drive motorcycles.

www.leatherdrivebelts.com
(John) telephone 847-384-1146

AND

S. R. Sikes Company, Inc.
3715 Oregon Avenue Ste 5
Minneapolis, MN 55426
telephone 952-931-9905.

[William McClean]

What type of Leather ?

A while back I as approached by a vender of leather that was hawking Buffalo leather as preferrable to Bovine leather. He stated that back in the day for industrial aplication when belts were used to transfer power in machine shops from pullies that were attached to axles overhead , down to the tool that was to be used , the Buffalo hide was the top choice because the cellular structure of the leather does not stretch like hide off a Holstien or an Angus does.

I seem to recall that belts for farm equipment were made of several layers of canvas that had been glued and sewn.

[Ken Lee]

Hello , I'd forgotten about this post till was browsing ! I have been running round on the Ex with an endless leather belt that I made from an old industrial leather belt , I had to cut down the width and managed to make two from the length , this was joined in a few places already and I had to skive and join to make it endless with about 5 inches overlap , I used PVA glue which after a couple of years and 1500+ miles is still good , I also sewed a double row of stitching of the join going lengthways , using 'cat-gut' , soaked in warm water then stitched , it tightened when dry ! This is still giving good service BUT it stretches after a days ride by about one and a quarter inches which hasn't been a great problem yet . It shrinks back after a day or so but not completely , so after many miles it does need shortening , which is another job to do , just as well I made a spare at the same time ! this started life a good quarter inch thick but over the miles has lost a few thou .

[1914THOR]

Early leather belt

I like the topic, so has anyone figured out the best place to get the flat belts for early motorcycles? I also would like to get one, and I heard that Antique Motorcycle Works was the company working on a belt that was suppose to hold up and not stretch excessively. I want the look as well as the function. So it should be leather, two ply, recessed stitching on both sides, 3/16 thick overall, and 1 3/4 wide (at least for my application) I'd love to here more ideas out there, or just a confirmation of the place to go, and the belt to use.

Dave
AMCA#1388
WI
dmk441@yahoo.com

[silentgreyfello]

I had heard Joe Gardella (slojo) was working with Lonnie Isam, Sr. (Competition) for a belt with a sandwich of kevlar in the middle. Also, I was at Matt Smith's (Antique Cycle Works) last week and he has a belt that has something in the middle to eliminate stretch. He did a little testing, but I don't know if they are ready for market yet. As for the continuous leather belt, I just bought one from Competition last week, so maybe they are back in the belt game, or they had stock for belt drive HD's at least.
Competition 605-720-1903
Antique Cycle Works 503-655-5428