Modern Vespa

Looking at some recent threads about Vespa drive belts and their replacement intervals, I came to think of riding at big highway speeds vs slower traffic and the effect that has on the life expectations of a belt. For example the recommendation to change the belt sooner if much of the riding takes place around 70 mph.

How about ambient temperature? If I spent the winter months riding at temperatures around the freezing mark, can I expect to get slightly more miles out of a belt?

I do not intend to extend or change my change intervals, but maybe I would have a slightly better peace-of-mind-margin due to my riding at below freezing temperatures.

Or maybe I got that all wrong and very low temperatures aren't that good for the belt life span.

I doubt the ambient temp is terribly significant for the belt life. There's plenty enough heat generation in there already which is why it sucks through to cool itself

If the air sucked through is about a 100 F°/30 C° colder, the differential between summer and winter, I wonder what effect if any that does have.

The ambient temperature will have an effect. Rubber ages with temperature.
" For every 10° above 60°C the belt life will be shortened by 50%. This means that at a working temperature of around 90°C, we would need 3.375 times more belts."
https://www.engineerlive.com/content/v-belts-high-temperatures#:~:text=Conventional%20V%2Dbelts%20are%20usable,will%20be%20shortened%20by%2050%25.
Every time the belt bends around the pulleys it generates heat and this is why at a lot of highway speeds riding the belt's life is shorter than in city riding where the belt runs cooler.
Riding in your cold ambient temperatures will be better for the belt, though I would not think you will notice a difference as the maintenance replacement is well within the max belt life. I would suggest you check/clean the transmission air filter to keep the cooling optimal.

That's interesting info. Thank you!

I am not planning to change the maintenance intervals, I was just wondering about the impact of ambient temperatures and the durability of drive belts.

It does appear, that with less thermal stress at cold ambient temps, the Piaggio suggested maintenance schedule might give me a somewhat wider margin of safety if I often ride in freezing temperatures.

Ambient air temperature will definitely make a difference. Where I live the average summer temperature is 110-112 degrees F. That's air temperature in the shade. I've gotten severe burns from just picking up steel tools that were laying out in the sun in that kind of temperatures. I'm sure I had a 4,000 mile belt fail because of that. It was severely melted. I no longer even try to ride in temperatures like that. Winter is riding season here.

sustained high speed is what shortens life span, ambient temperature has very little impact.

pushing anything past recommended interval is a gamble.

Service manual say's 12,000 miles for the BV350, I did it at 10,000. The SH should be changed at 15.000 I do it at 10,000. 10,000 miles is easier to remember. Pinch penny's at your own peril.

the super horatio?

changed the belt, rollers & plastic sliders on my 2018 last year at 2000 miles figuring I need a spare belt around anyway

You should ride more .

Breaknwind,

I do the same thing on belt replacement on both my scoots. I just dump them between 9-10,000 miles. My scooter group thinks I service to much. They also think the manufacture is pushing everyone to fill up the service departments profits. I just do not want to be 300 miles from home and have something fail that could have been avoided.

Bob Copeland