Roadholder 370 - October 2018

47 RGM belt drive conversion - long term test (Pt.2) Phil Hannam B y the beginning of August, I had ridden 1,000 miles using the RGM set-up and overall had been most impressed with the kit. Previously, after 500 miles of use, I had checked it over and apart from a slightly over- tight belt, it was absolutely fine. On inspection the belt had no signs of wear on either the teeth or sides. It was tracking in exactly the right position, i.e. slightly inside the centre line of each pulley. The alternator had not moved at all on its studs and still gave 8 to 10 thou clearance all over. There has been no obvious wear in the clutch mechanism. The cable adjustment is the same and there were no signs of belt or alternator debris inside the primary cases. However, there was about 5ml of engine oil lying in the bottom of the inner case. Definitely not gearbox oil as, on my bikes, I use fully synthetic which is a very strange green colour. Clearly, this oil has come through the crankshaft seal or alternator carrier mounting screw's holes. Interestingly, at the 1,000 mile check, there was a repeat story but once again the amount was trivial and easily mopped up. The clutch action, following the fitting of this conversion, is just wonderful. Possibly slightly better than a standard Commando in terms of lightness and smoothness of movement. I just love it. The downsides of the kit (and most similar kits) … you really do need to fit gearbox adjusters on each side of the mounting plates. Otherwise, the rear chain/brake can pull the gearbox back a millimetre or two and possibly mess up not only the belt tension, but also its tracking line on the pulleys. The belt I got with the kit was listed as being 980mm long. On my 650, it was definitely 20mm too long, resulting in the gearbox having to be pushed much further rearwards than I wanted. This in turn totally messed up the length and tension of the rear chain, which then became one whole double link too long for the wheel position adjusters. When I removed a link, it then became too short and I had to grind 2mm off my adjuster ends The conversion kit The 1,000 mile check