As it was, I needed to re-adjust the belt tension and replace the lower belt guard (using some lock-tight blue on the replacement screw). The belt was not visibly damaged, the pulley had minimal damage -- something like two stone nicks. The belt tension, however, was pulled from the 6mm specified slack to around 80mm! I think I'm also going to get some of the aftermarket stainless mesh grills to keep stones out of the radiator cowl, and pay more attention to rattles.
On further investigation, I found there are some engineering shortcomings in that lower belt guard. It was designed such that one little screw could loosen from vibration and the entire guard will drop off its mounts. There are no sheet metal tabs against the hex flats, back-up cotter pin, clip, safety wire, or even a second screw through a closed slot.
If the belt guard did drop off, it would pass between the belt and pulley with an inverted-U channel. That would virtually guarantee that the guard would get trapped and pinched between the pulley and belt. This would, at the very least, either lock up the rear wheel with damage to the $99 guard, the $239 belt, and the $99 pulley (plus labor) or snap the belt and damage the pulley. Naturally, the possible catastrophic result is death or serious injury to the rider along with totaling the $17K+ bike.
It seems to me that a good Design FMEA should have caught this likely scenario from one little screw in the suspension/driveline loosening, and the risk could have been mitigated with secondary locks or travel limits.
Additionally, a redesign of the lower guard to wrap as a U channel from the outside of the belt would have allowed the guard to drop off. Or, alternatively, the channel riveted seam from metal to plastic could be shifted to have the top of the channel as plastic that may shear off without locking the rear wheel. In that alternative, it would need to be tested to make sure the wheel would not lock.
This entry was submitted by David T. Humphrey and edited by Rob Spiegel.
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Had a friend in college that had his rear wheel shredded when the license plate bracket came loose on his Honda Magna. Again, not typically what you would look for as far as safety, but on a motorcycle EVERYTHING can be a problem.
I am sorry to say, I've been there. I have had chains come loose on my bikes and lock up the rear wheel AT SPEED. It's a scary process, and requires outstanding balance to try to stay upright (or climb on top of the sled if it falls over).
This is no as uncommon as you might think. While Harley's use a belt to try to smooth out their chunky engine, it is not immune to locked wheels. More common is a broken chain or chain off gear. The root cause is a loose chain, a worn chain, a stretched chain or an unlibricated chain. It can come off the gear and jam, or come off the gear and break.
Actually, the root cause is operator error. Chains DO stretch, particularly when first installed. It is cumbersome to tighten the chain, but it is the rider's responsibility to maintain a safe bike--including the chain.
No, I was having an upload issue . . . the file did not load correctly. I was trying to share a drawing of the "belt contamination guard" application that I later attached as a PDF to an E-mail to you.
That video comment should be deleted as it has never worked, but I don't know a way to do that in your software.
I'm getting a message that "this video is not available." Not sure if it's becuase of my browser or whether everyone is barred from viewing the video. Please check it out.
It sounds like you're the designer. Who else would EXPECT that they would know of ANY issues?
This belt guard did have at least one failure. The design of the CVO belt guard is different. It looks to me like the less attractive black plastic belt guard is designed so that it would not wedge between the belt and pulley; even if, the screw fell-out allowing the guard to drop onto the belt.
I don't know the CVO V-Rod production numbers with this metal lower belt guard, but even one total failure could constitute a fairly significant MTBF for the number of years the CVO V-Rod has been built. How many times did this start to fail when the owner or shop caught it and tightened it? The V-Rod came out in 2001. The CVO V-Rod came out in 2005.
I work in the medical equipment industry. Not hearing of a field failure does not prove or guarantee that no problem exists.
I have pictures of the physical part and downloads of the Service Manual page showing the drawing of how it mounts. I can transform this into DOC, PDF, JPG, HTM, or other formats; however, this post does not seem to allow anything other than TXT format which strips the graphics from the file.
I have tried to post the Service Manual drawing in this video comment upload. We'll see if it works.
One thing to consider for the safety of all riders, is that you can post an issue on the NHTSA website. Sending a copy of this to Harley may assist with getting some response from their team.
I was one of the lucky few that purchased a 2006 VRSCR Street Rod. In my first 3/4 mile ride, my jeans caught on fire, causing some decent 2nd/3rd degree burns. Within a week of posting on NHTSA, sending a copy to Harley and the dealership, I had a heat-shield installed, and eventually a recall ensued. Luckily I was not riding at 60mph, as fire usually causes panic, and panic causes accidents.
Glad to hear your V-Rod issue didn't cause injury or worse. It's my opinion that the V-Rod models, although beautiful and a great concept, have been very poorly executed from an engineering standpoint.
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