always wanted a Monster, never quite got one, but...

[the lodger]

Mick. Love your bike. What is it please.

[mickj]

Originally Posted by the lodger

Mick. Love your bike. What is it please.

Thanks for that mate, its an MZ1000sf. When the Berlin wall came down the MZ company got an injection of cash so designed and built these, with the help of Porsche the engine was designed from the ground up and the bike released in three models, an SF (Super Fighter), an ST (Super Tour) and an S (Sport) with only 1566 bikes built in total before the company fell into bankruptcy. They all have basically the same engine, frame, suspension, wheels and brakes etc. The main differences being the ECU Handlebars and fairing. My SF is one of only 8 in the UK not all of them are on the road.

[buzzer]

Question... is bike building a form of self isolation?

As I am going to leave the belts open I thought it best to at least have a token grill to stop big stones flicking up… particularly off the front wheel. Its still a risk I know… I made this grill out of Stainless steel mesh, and 6mm stainless tube. I needed to cut a slot in the tube to make it neat, so I made a jig and used a 0.9mm cutting disk. it worked rather well! just got to polish it now.

Also fitted new belts... I have used the app on my phone before for tensioning and its very good. takes any guesswork out of it. after fitting the belt on the horizontal cylinder I tensioned it using the app… and on the vertical cylinder I tensioned it to the good old trusted method of twisting it 90 degrees on the longest run to what years of experience told me felt right… when I checked it I was VERY close, which was quite pleasing.

[Darren69]

Yes, it is in so much as bike riding is self isolation too! I was gonna suggest you could cut the ones I have down to just cover the vulnerable areas at the front as they have already been drilled to expose the pulleys, but you seem to have your own solution in hand. I do wonder if the grill is fine enough to stop any belt damaging stones getting through?

[FrankenDesmo]

Incredible work buzzer

[buzzer]

Originally Posted by FrankenDesmo

Incredible work buzzer

thank you!

Sometimes it doesn't go to plan...* it would not start...* I spent a good few hours trying to understand why...* *I had taken the tank off a few times to change things and had put a clamp on the fuel pipe....* and forgot!

[FrankenDesmo]

That makes me feel better about when I do very similar daft things!

[the lodger]

It's good to know he's human after all.

Completely open belts, even with a bit of oven grille in front? Not so much a risk as a potential disaster that could ruin a decent motor...

Nick

[slob]

I’ve been through gravel traps with open belts on a 2v without problems, equally I’ve seen a friend’s 4v motor lunched after a single stray stone punched through a carbon belt cover. Flip a coin ...

[350TSS]

^^^ 2 valves good, 4 valves bad?

[slob]

I didn’t mean that, I just meant luck can be a bit random

[Darren69]

4v do have bigger covers with a flat area at the front, but still very unlucky.

[Mr Gazza]

I really like the open belt look on this particular bike, showing all the Silver. Covers are going to make it look heavy and clumsy. Personally I would have made a fairly tight fitting stainless strap over the front of the front two pulleys.. like a flat mudguard if you like. With minimal visual impact.

I think there is a good argument for leaving the belts uncovered; if a stone does get under a belt it is very likely to be spat out after the first revolution and probably only go round one pulley. However a foreign object in an enclosed cover cannot escape and could be moving at speed and ping into the belts several times.. furthermore it could well go unnoticed unless it made a lot of noise and continue to deteriorate in a damaged condition, whereas open belts are immediately inspectable and any fraying or holes will come to light very soon during one of those longing looks (don't deny it ).

emzedder had a nasty experience when his balls dropped, and his belt tensioner bearing broke up too, which is more relevant! I know that the bearings are inside the belt loop so the balls are fed into the pulleys to some extent, but I can't help thinking that many more of them might have dropped away into space if they were not enclosed.
Happily emzedder is a very sensible chap and noticed the damage before a belt failure.

I have a vague recollection of someone conducting a test on polyurethane drive belts, when they first started to become popular.. They were feeding gravel into a Norton or Triumph belt conversion and failed to damage the belt or pulleys, just to prove a point over chains.. Cam belt is a slightly different scenario, I agree, but I think they take more punishment than we think?

[Darren69]

Yea, so do I and I would do exactly as you suggested for the same reason with a cowl type cover and ditch the grill. And if I can't sell these carbon covers I may do exactly that. When I've fitted my Kaemna or DP pulley kit because my stock pulleys look sh1t.