Modern Vespa

This is the drive belt after 5,000 miles,
I could have gone further but Santa
Barbara Rally was coming up and I had
planned to ride up so I had Massimo change
it out for me. 8)

I had mine changed, @ 4200 miles, and, surprisingly, aside from some glazing, it's like new.

I changed mine at 8k and ride the piss out of my GT. WFO on the interstate and hard off the lights. Not a crack or split anywhere when I changed it.

AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
I plan on leaving the belt thats on it till it brakes.
I want to see how far it will take me, I start off fast
full throttle from every light, cars in my rear veiw mirror.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV

Please allow me to try to talk some sense into you.

When your belt does go, you could be left stranded miles from home. You could be in the fast lane, making a turn in the middle of an intersection, passing, or in another place where having your rear wheel lock up could prove to be fatal. Don't be stupid. Often belt failure just means coasting to a stop. Occasionally it doesn't.

cheers

I had a drive belt shred with very low miles on it, in the car pool lane , at 70+ mph, not fun.

Check for 'wisps' every time you ride. Just takes a glance, could save your life.

I recall someone on this forum, while on a club ride, had a belt come apart and subsequently load up in the casing locking up the rear wheel at speed. It caused him to loose control and resulted in a significant accident. Might want to rethink the whole 'drive it to failure concept', then again it's your a*s.

Care to elaborate? I'm a relatively new owner and was thinking belt degredation or failure was more of an inconvenience rather than a potential life threatening event. What should us newbies be on the lookout for?

I had a belt go in a very fast corner.
last reading on the GPS was 66mph, when the rear wheel locked up momentarily and stood me up.
I went off the road, and flew through the air for a long time. Like long enough that i had time to think, twice, "wow, I am STILL fu%^&ing going!"
That destroyed my favorite scoot.
Then I got on another scooter and blew the belt on it passing a semi at about 70mph and had to move my weight back to push through the "chunks" i could feel passing into the clutch and gettin shredded more and more as i coasted back around the truck and over to the right hand side where I could get on the brakes and stop. That was that.
Luckily, no locking up right next to 18 wheels of doom going 60mph a couple feet away... That would have been really sucky.
The drive belt is the weak link in the modern vespa. treat it with respect. I will be swapping mine out more often than I need to.
Nothing to fear, but just swap it if there is even a chance of it messing with you. That will keep the ride fun.

If you have passed the suggested service interval for a belt change (and many of us do), when you approach your scooter just take a glance at the underneath rear of the transmission cover where there is an air vent. If the belt is thinking about giving up the ghost it will have thoughtfully shred some of the outer strands of Kevlar - these will be wafting in the breeze, almost like cobwebs. So if you see what looks like grey candy-floss (US = cotton candy? Dunno) being excreted at the rear end - get the belt changed in the next few hundred miles and do absolutely NO fierce accelerations in that time.

Why do I say grey? Although the Kevlar starts out yellow, by the time it has ground against the bits that tore it off it will be dirty grey, promise.

I saw the wisps once and didin't know where it came from, but after I learned I was able to warn Anna with her X9 in Sept 2007 while up in Santa Barbara.

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How many miles do they recommend for the kevlar belt?
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I don't know off-hand for the GTS250ie without checking, but the X9 250 Evo has a 18,000km (12,000 mile) suggested belt interval. My first lasted 15,000 miles before I chickened out before a 1,400 mile France trip - but it still looked pretty good.

As it is checked at every service (along with the rollers), changing it is only the cost of a new belt, no extra labour cost at the dealers - and it is easy to do yourself with the appropriate tools if out of warranty.

One caveat - those bikes that have an idler pulley between the variator and the driven pulley - check the surface (should not be worn or have excess 'black' on it) and the bearing on that. The belt really dumps on this pulley on throttle-off, and if not in pristine condition can lead to the 'teeth' on the belt being ground away - another possibly nasty cause of failure.

I'm approaching 8K on mine, and 3 weeks ago had the dealer pull the cover off and it's like new in there. I'll change out at 10K regardless, but YS, are you doing to it? Slow down, enjoy the scenery

I think you're living on borrowed time. Seriously. Short of having threads of kevlar hanging off the belt, you generally can't tell, visually, that a belt is going to go soon.

*************************
I have Massimo do all my work, I just don't want to
miss something I took off and not have it go back on.
2 more yrs on my Piaggio warrinty. I would like to get 10,000
miles on one belt.
***************************

Change the belt. It doesn't take that long, about 3hrs, or pay someone to change it.
There are just some things you shouldn't push.

Belts almost if not always fail at speed when they are stretched and hot. Rear wheel locked at speed is NO FUN.

You can't change your head when you crack it on the pavement.

I had my rollers and belt changed at 12000 kms just in case. I didn't want to take a chance with the belt going suddenly without warning.

Thank you Brian. I believe Jess was right behind Joel when his belt shredded on a curve during the Cannonball. Apparently Joel is lucky to be alive.

Yeaup. You should see his bike.

As Jess noted, there is no way just by looking to see if a belt is good, only if it is bad. D'oh.

Belt failure sucks a fat one.

I agree....and suspicioned I was due. They said "no" I didn't. I'd rather be safe than sorry. Is 8K the factory replacement interval? I thought so...

I think it's been downgraded to 7500 miles, but don't quote me on that.

I was. He is. I thought for sure that CB was over only one day in, due to the death of one of the riders. "Spectacularly fatal" is how I'd describe it. Was quite surprised to find Joel standing up in a hole in the desert where he landed, yelling "Fuck! Where's my bike?!?"

Change my first belt at 5900 miles and noticed on my idler pulley a build up of belt on it and a ridge, after that I lost take off and top end. So at 10,000 miles replaced the belt, rollers and pulley and the top end and take off came back.

Def the weak link with the GTS, why is it that Harleys tranny belts are built proof, take on more torque and are exposed to the elements and our belts so wimpy?

Manny

What makes this weak link wear more? City driving or highway and can some one explain why?? Timothy

Highway driving for extended amounts of time will weaken the belt more so than city driving. Extended amount of time at Highway speeds cause the belt to heat up and weaken the rubber.

Piaggio has set the interval of belt replacement to cover all types or riding. You will hear of people riding their belts for 12k or more, some people have belts break at 5k or less. There is no set formula for riding type vs. belt longevity. Be aware, your belt will more likely fail at high speed than it will taking off from a stop light. and it is also likely that your rear wheel will lock up when your belt goes...

Aftermarket Kevlar belts have not proven more reliable or longer lasting than the stock belt. This from first hand experience from multiple mechanics on here that see many bikes and the wear and tear they go through.

Change your belt if you see cracks, or change it at the regularly scheduled interval.