Belt drives overrated for street riding???

olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#1
#1
I read the arguments here and don't know what to make of a belt drive setup for street riding.

After removing the governor it was obvious the bike had a new roar. Racing down straightaways it felt like the bike had a lot more leg. Then after doing the governor thought it would be interesting to do a belt drive setup.

While the governor screams on the high end, it seems the belt drive is just the opposite. I just flicked the throttle on the first run with the belt and the bike stood up and ran off without me. I’m into the rawness of the belt but the top end feels like running a governed engine again unless the bike is in the flats or going down hill.

Maybe I’m wrong and tweaking the belt drive setup can get back some of that high end I don’t know. You’d think for as much as these go they’d come with a manual or maintenance guide.

Anybody see a write up how to tweak a belt setup tav2 type? Hey if you guys are installing these belt set ups bolt on without taking off the brace on the db that's gotta be tight.:thumbsup:
 
olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#3
#3
steven Durham said:
olajoe808 : With the system you have you should be able to achieve a 10% overdrive and if your belt is the correct one Comet part # 203589 and the parts are properly dry lubed. as for maintenance you should look at Go Kart Parts | Go Kart Supply Online Catalog they have a ton of good information all about the Comet systems and a section for trouble shooting it's use.
Steve :scooter:
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No they don't have a write up on it but they do have other useful information.
Thanks.
 
olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#7
#7
GTO said:
I don't know what your talking about. :eek:ut: And you hacked on the brace ? :eek:ut:
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Didn't you have the same issue your bike getting smoked by a smaller engine? Or was that someone else?

HACKED? How about precision metal removal? You know with them two other braces and that thing that goes through the wheel if that frame goes theres a much bigger issue like maybe an elephant trying run it over. If this keeps up may end up getting a welder but believe there are so many more priorities right now. minibiking is not one of them so this is stretching it here.

Btw i talked with my neighbor friend the guy with the old school collection Mark from Aurora, CO. You might know him I don't know his screen name but he says he's been here awhile. He just tuned up a db for a friend who can't stop riding now. he says the frame is stout. We talked about how people are getting into dropping fenders so that brace is not completely retired.
 
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G

GTO

#8
#8
olajoe808 said:
Didn't you have the same issue your bike getting smoked by a smaller engine? Or was that someone else?

HACKED? How about precision metal removal? You know with them two other braces and that thing that goes through the wheel if that frame goes theres a much bigger issue like maybe an elephant trying run it over. If this keeps up may end up getting a welder but believe there are so many more priorities right now. minibiking is not one of them so this is stretching it here.

Btw i talked with my neighbor friend the guy with the old school collection Mark from Aurora, CO. You might know him I don't know his screen name but he says he's been here awhile. He just tuned up a db for a friend who can't stop riding now. he says the frame is stout. We talked about how people are getting into dropping fenders so that brace is not completely retired.
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Sorry, I though precision was measure twice, cut once. :eek: Notice that the frame tubes are welded together at the bottom and those two "things that hold the wheel are under engineered? I would keep it away from dogs let alone elephants! The brace didn't have to be touched for the chain/Tav and had nothing to do with lowering fenders either, I prefer to have the strength there for flex since the motor mount is nothing to write home about.

No little engine "smoked" my DB , it has more power and speed with the Tav than a clutch, your sprockt looks a hair smaller than mine for top end too! I don't think I'm blowing "smoke" since you can see how us useless "old guys" do it in the picture. :thefinger:

LOL!
 
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george3

george3

Active Member
#9
#9
his smaller rear sprocket was the reason. move the engine forward more to clear? or clock the tav a bit. or spring loaded idler arm pushing down on the chain unstead of up, does the same job.
 
olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#10
#10
GTO said:
Sorry, I though precision was measure twice, cut once.
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I thought about this for a little bit and just wasn't familiar with the layout. I looked at offsetting the mount plate with the crank but then wasn't sure how that would affect the belt. Looked at notching the mount or hacking it so to speak but wasn't sure if the cover was going to stay on or not. Read here about raising this and that but moving the brace i'm sure for anyone with a welder is not asking much.

btw, the springs were set to low. I bumped it up a notch it made a difference going uphill have you tried bumping it up all the way. It was a bugger moving the spring up one i don't know if my woodworking clamps can hold it together to make it any tighter.
 
Randy

Randy

#11
#11
olajoe808 said:
I read the arguments here and don't know what to make of a belt drive setup for street riding.

After removing the governor it was obvious the bike had a new roar. Racing down straightaways it felt like the bike had a lot more leg. Then after doing the governor thought it would be interesting to do a belt drive setup.

While the governor screams on the high end, it seems the belt drive is just the opposite. I just flicked the throttle on the first run with the belt and the bike stood up and ran off without me. I’m into the rawness of the belt but the top end feels like running a governed engine again unless the bike is in the flats or going down hill.

Maybe I’m wrong and tweaking the belt drive setup can get back some of that high end I don’t know. You’d think for as much as these go they’d come with a manual or maintenance guide.

Anybody see a write up how to tweak a belt setup tav2 type? Hey if you guys are installing these belt set ups bolt on without taking off the brace on the db that's gotta be tight.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I thought you are the same guy that was building this for your 5 year old son? LOL..............

Randy:scooter:
 
olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#14
#14
Randy said:
LOL, didn't take you long.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Couldn't have done it without all the input that's left here. If it wasn't for this forum that bike would probably be parked out back next to the mower. I have to come up with trainings wheels and footpegs so a welder might be in the near future. That way I can also reattach the rear brace and keep some people around here from looking like this guy:thumbdown:
 
olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#15
#15
Randy said:
I thought you are the same guy that was building this for your 5 year old son? LOL..............

Randy:scooter:
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I guess that picture is misleading. For some reason the batteries don't last long in the camera and when swapping in new ones the settings reset. My son is almost 3-1/2.

This is him with our other little keikis.
 
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olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#16
#16
drove 200+ miles this weekend to stay up at a cabin with the db tied down in the back on a cargo carrier. got to the cabin trail head which is ~1.5 of off road rocky terrain. switched the cargo carrier onto a truck and just a few minutes into the trail the bike gets dumped and dragged well over 20'. the two parts of the bike that kept it safe was the handle bar grips and the tav cover.....well i guess the quick disconnect action of the zip tied tank definitely helped. if the tank was welded/bolted on probably would have been a much different outcome. even after the bike fell down and was dragged on its side the tav held solid through the weekend with more trail riding eventually completing a 20 mile run back to town. definitely not over rated for bruising and cruising.
 
minidragbike

minidragbike

Supporting Speed Nut!
#17
#17
You have to do a swap and check he speed for yourself.
I have done this a long time ago, and notice more speed with the clutch, but the TAV does take off a lot faster. The more modified the motor is the more it swings more towards the clutch favor.
 
olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#18
#18
minidragbike said:
You have to do a swap and check he speed for yourself.
I have done this a long time ago, and notice more speed with the clutch, but the TAV does take off a lot faster. The more modified the motor is the more it swings more towards the clutch favor.
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hey MDB I get you. some of your write up are doing a number on me. last week i started looking at some parson?? racing hondas the 390 with 30hp, oh man my wife would kill me. problem is my weight or lack thereof. my 6.5 clone with a couple of hop ups gotta be somewhere around 8-9hp and the sucker move. if the db frame was longer then it would be different but as is the tav for cruising works great. maybe one day if/when my kids get into it and we start doing the weekend get togethers for strictly street rides trust me i'm taking notes on your write ups...:thumbsup:
 
minidragbike

minidragbike

Supporting Speed Nut!
#19
#19
That's cool, and totally understandable.
Everyone I have to put a good thought into you guys head. When I say back when I use to ride a TAV it was like about 10 years ago. But the problem is that I don't think they have upgraded them much since then.

At the time the TAV was great, and I only had a stock 5hp briggs back then. Later on at the local race tracks we started drag racing them in the pits. Then modifications started, and the belts started slipping from more mods, and longer distance races.

If I was still living in San Bernardino I would have kept my TAV for the trails.:thumbsup:
 
olajoe808

olajoe808

Banned
#20
#20
minidragbike said:
That's cool, and totally understandable.
Everyone I have to put a good thought into you guys head. When I say back when I use to ride a TAV it was like about 10 years ago. But the problem is that I don't think they have upgraded them much since then.

At the time the TAV was great, and I only had a stock 5hp briggs back then. Later on at the local race tracks we started drag racing them in the pits. Then modifications started, and the belts started slipping from more mods, and longer distance races.

If I was still living in San Bernardino I would have kept my TAV for the trails.:thumbsup:
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perhaps the tav might just be as good as its gonna be. but the different applications if/when the the price goes down for even more recreational use that should be interesting. someone on here must have seen something like this a mini with dual tavs one on each side pulling its own sprocket
 
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