[Spire_Rider]

Cross posting from Burgmanriders.com for any ideas thanks in advance

Bike is a 2008 AN 650 AK8 executive, picked it up feb and at the time it had done 40,554 miles, since then I have done about 2,000 miles doing general day to day commuting and day trips out here and there, riding sensibly, never thrashing it.

A few weeks ago travelling down the motorway at 70+ mph , all of a sudden lost all power on throttle, managed to get onto hard shoulder safely, had been riding "A" roads and motorway for 90 miles without a break, then spent the rest of the day having bike recovered home ! The bike ran and all electrics worked without any strange noises, just had no transmission to back wheel at all.

My neighbourhood trusted garage, have found that the CVT belt has failed, bikes currently done about 42500 miles, garage has found that a replacement belt is quite expensive and have also recommended that two "nylon" gears need replacing as well.

Garage has been told by their supplier that the CVT belt failure is quite common on the 650's and gave one story of the CVT belt failing, again, a few months after replacement and that the belt can fail due to other contributing factors ? I've been reading the forums here and at http://burgmanriders.com/ for hours and it seems (?) that the CVT belt can fail or NOT at any time after about 20,000 miles for no real reason ?

Guess the belt and gears need replacing, but the reason for the post...are there other areas that can / ought to be checked seeing as most of the bike is stripped i.e. the mechanic discussed that an issue in the gear box could have contributed to the belt failure, but stripping and checking the gearbox would be a lot of work and may not be an issue ! and any recommendations on preferred suppliers / stockists of parts in the UK, although guess I need to replace with authorised SUZUKI parts and not aftermarket ones !

Any constructive ideas / comments greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance

Steve

 

[LeDude]

It happens, it is a wearable part and its life span can vary from bike to bike.

take a look at these two DIYs to educate yourself about what goes into reparing a CVT failure.

If you are not doing the work yourself, have them check the bearings and make sure they replace all the parts that are required to be replaced as part of the rebuild.

good luck


CVT-Repairs

CVT- Special Tools

 

[DanB]

the mechanic discussed that an issue in the gear box could have contributed to the belt failure, but stripping and checking the gearbox would be a lot of work and may not be an issue !

If you replace the cvt belt the transmission has to be removed and opened up to access for belt replacement. There's no way around this. The main bearing should be inspected as well as the stopper bolt. When the 2 halves of the tranny are separated you can see the belt and nylon gears. I replaced mine recently at 44K. There is a specific break in for new belt also. There was nothing preventative you could gave done to prevent this. Just the nature of the beast. Good luck. I bought my cvt belt at bikebandit.com. Cost was about 343.00. You'll need seals and o-rings too. If you need a specific parts list let me know.

 

[MJR]

My neighbourhood trusted garage, have found that the CVT belt has failed, bikes currently done about 42500 miles, garage has found that a replacement belt is quite expensive and have also recommended that two "nylon" gears need replacing as well.

It is possble for a belt to just fail as LeDude said. What reason did they give you as why the nylon gears needed replacing?

Garage has been told by their supplier that the CVT belt failure is quite common on the 650's and gave one story of the CVT belt failing, again, a few months after replacement and that the belt can fail due to other contributing factors ? I've been reading the forums here and at http://burgmanriders.com/ for hours and it seems (?) that the CVT belt can fail or NOT at any time after about 20,000 miles for no real reason ?

Personally in my experience I wouldn't describe belts failing a common problem on the 650 and one has to keep in mind that this is a wear item that at some point might require replacement even though the factory doesn't recommend a interval.

Guess the belt and gears need replacing, but the reason for the post...are there other areas that can / ought to be checked seeing as most of the bike is stripped i.e. the mechanic discussed that an issue in the gear box could have contributed to the belt failure, but stripping and checking the gearbox would be a lot of work and may not be an issue ! and any recommendations on preferred suppliers / stockists of parts in the UK, although guess I need to replace with authorised SUZUKI parts and not aftermarket ones !

Yes there are some things to check. First would be the input bearing and I would probably recommend replacing while your in the CVT as insurance. You should replace all the seals and o-rings that are available. The other big thing to check in the primary pulley assembly. There are two halves to the pulley that move in/out to change the belt ratio. Within this are two keys that keep the pulley halves from moving independantly of each other. If the keys fail then the belt can be twisted along it's length which could lead to a belt failure. To test this one would see if the halves could spin opposite ways.

 

[DanB]

What reason did they give you as why the nylon gears need replacing

Wondered about that too, especially since the cvt hadn't been removed yet and inspected. Not sure on this but those gears are probably the least likely to fail.

 

[Chérie]

Cross posting from Burgmanriders.com for any ideas thanks in advance

Bike is a 2008 AN 650 AK8 executive, picked it up feb and at the time it had done 40,554 miles, since then I have done about 2,000 miles doing general day to day commuting and day trips out here and there, riding sensibly, never thrashing it.

A few weeks ago travelling down the motorway at 70+ mph , all of a sudden lost all power on throttle, managed to get onto hard shoulder safely, had been riding "A" roads and motorway for 90 miles without a break, then spent the rest of the day having bike recovered home ! The bike ran and all electrics worked without any strange noises, just had no transmission to back wheel at all.

My neighbourhood trusted garage, have found that the CVT belt has failed, bikes currently done about 42500 miles, garage has found that a replacement belt is quite expensive and have also recommended that two "nylon" gears need replacing as well.

Garage has been told by their supplier that the CVT belt failure is quite common on the 650's and gave one story of the CVT belt failing, again, a few months after replacement and that the belt can fail due to other contributing factors ? I've been reading the forums here and at http://burgmanriders.com/ for hours and it seems (?) that the CVT belt can fail or NOT at any time after about 20,000 miles for no real reason ?

Guess the belt and gears need replacing, but the reason for the post...are there other areas that can / ought to be checked seeing as most of the bike is stripped i.e. the mechanic discussed that an issue in the gear box could have contributed to the belt failure, but stripping and checking the gearbox would be a lot of work and may not be an issue ! and any recommendations on preferred suppliers / stockists of parts in the UK, although guess I need to replace with authorised SUZUKI parts and not aftermarket ones !

Any constructive ideas / comments greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance

Steve

Already several good comments here on subject, if replacement belt fail again within few month after replacement it not the belt but poor quality of repair and mechanic who perform repair and lack of knowledge he or they have. FIND SOMEONE ELSE than you can really trust or perform repair yourself. Do not let them fool you, CVT must be taken apart to do repair correctly and for belt to last more than a few months.

No aftermarket part exist for the CVT repair, except perhap aftermarket bearing, all other part must be obtain from Suzuki.

 

[MaxMi]

It happens, it is a wearable part and its life span can vary from bike to bike.

Would like to add : Its life span can vary depending on how the bike was ridden in its past. Behave and it will compensate you.

 

[Spire_Rider]

Fantastic information and feedback, thanks everyone, just what I was looking for

Steve

 

[DanB]

I was told by the infamous Buffalo to follow a proper break-in on new belt for 600 miles. Don't go over 4000 rpm's and don't ride at a constant rpm. Rather vary rpm's and use manual mode too to shift it up into overdrive if you're doing allot of city riding. Now have 300 miles on new belt and following proper break-in. Have a trip coming up in 2 weeks to Arkansas so have 300 more miles to go on break-in.

 

[Chérie]

Remove CVT stopper bolt and examine bolt, if it look like right side one (damage at end) this sign of problem in CVT for long period.

 

[wilythek]

For LeDude,
you show your 650 on the flatbed tow truck at your "CVT REPAIRS" link above. I've never seen a bike held down in the front like yours is in that picture, with the straps coming down from the handlebars crisscross left to right etc across the glove box and on to the anchor points.

Can you comment on the plus or minus of anchoring it that way?
Thanks, Bill

 

[MJR]

Sounds like a canyon dancer? http://www.canyondancer.com

 

[wilythek]

It's not a Canyon Dancer, I have one.. Go here to see what I'm talking about,

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1n4d0f0AhGsfNlAilwXJD3tlZxnLhxtoth8ei4jLDj7c

Bill

 

[MJR]

It's not a Canyon Dancer, I have one.. Go here to see what I'm talking about,

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1n4d0f0AhGsfNlAilwXJD3tlZxnLhxtoth8ei4jLDj7c

There must be a cross strap otherwise one risks bending the handlebars. Personally having bent the handlebars on my '03 I won't do it anymore. I wouldn't like having straps rubbing on the plastic and paint, it doesn't take too long to cause damage.

I bought a canyon dancer but haven't ever used it. I now tie them down from the triple tree.

 

[MJR]

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1n4d0f0AhGsfNlAilwXJD3tlZxnLhxtoth8ei4jLDj7c

Oh and I forgot to mention a funny thing on this link. On my Android tablet while clicking on the Google site link and opening in Google Chrome causes the browser Google Chrome to crash.

 

[Burgman to go]

Spire_Rider welcome to Burgman USA. I bet you are from Chesterfield, sorry to hear about your problem. Please keep us informed as to how you get on.

 

[Spire_Rider]

Yep, from Chesterfield UK been out riding with a buddy from Doncaster, a few of us are connected on Burgman Riders UK groups on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/372035469509652/
only had the Burgman a couple of months, so a little disappointed to have such major work undertaken, was hoping for a good few years pain free riding, loved riding it after riding a big cruiser for the last 9 years.

The feedback and support is / has been fantastic.

LeDude your pages and videos are fantastic and are used by many of us to do routine simple stuff and are recommended and passed on from other riders.

If anyone's got anything else to add about replacing the CVT belt, I will be printing the info out and taking to garage tuesday, monday being a holiday in the UK, and taking a leap of faith and having the repair carried out and hope all goes well and the repair is good for a long time.

Thanks again for the great support and feedback.

Steve

 

[Chérie]

Please post 2-3 photo of CVT bolt once remove.

 

[DanB]

Check out my thread about replacing cvt belt without pulling the engine. http://burgmanusa.com/forums/15-burgman-650/77049-replacing-cvt-belt.html

 

[LeDude]

For LeDude,
you show your 650 on the flatbed tow truck at your "CVT REPAIRS" link above. I've never seen a bike held down in the front like yours is in that picture, with the straps coming down from the handlebars crisscross left to right etc across the glove box and on to the anchor points.

Can you comment on the plus or minus of anchoring it that way?
Thanks, Bill

I personally would not tie down a ride that way, that was the toe truck driver's solution and it wasn't hitting the tupperware so it was safe.

Personally, I always secure the front wheel via a ratcheted strap to immobilize it and then run a strap from each handlebar to balance and stabilize the bike.

I do the same thing for the rear wheel and run a one strap on each side.

all the best.....