info on possible replacement belt for GEBE bikes

Tom Allen

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Gates makes GEBE belts. The belts they make for GEBE are proprietary--only GEBE can sell them So GEBE can ask what they want for them and have no competitors. Gates makes a version of the belt that is the same in every respect save one--it is not made with kevlar cording. How much difference that makes in length of life I don't know. What I do know is that the one belt can be purchased online for about 12$, with UPS shipping the total is about 23$. GEBE charges 32$ for their product and shipping is probably something like 8$. So...
 
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Gates makes GEBE belts. The belts they make for GEBE are proprietary--only GEBE can sell them So GEBE can ask what they want for them and have no competitors. Gates makes a version of the belt that is the same in every respect save one--it is not made with kevlar cording. How much difference that makes in length of life I don't know. What I do know is that the one belt can be purchased online for about 12$, with UPS shipping the total is about 23$. GEBE charges 32$ for their product and shipping is probably something like 8$. So...


Have to look up some laws. A long time ago the gummint forced the big 3 automakers to allow aftermarket parts to be used on their products. which is why we have brands such as Autolite, Delco Remy, MOPAR etc.
It actually may not be legal for GEBE to to force you to buy their replacement parts.
 
GEBE belt

I just want to state that GEBE is not forceing you to buy there belt, you may have to but from them to get a belt but that is your choice.

They do have a belt that when adjusted correctly will last go for a long time.
 
Gates makes GEBE belts. The belts they make for GEBE are proprietary--only GEBE can sell them So GEBE can ask what they want for them and have no competitors. Gates makes a version of the belt that is the same in every respect save one--it is not made with kevlar cording. How much difference that makes in length of life I don't know. What I do know is that the one belt can be purchased online for about 12$, with UPS shipping the total is about 23$. GEBE charges 32$ for their product and shipping is probably something like 8$. So...
Nope, wrong. "Gates Powergrip HTD 1635-5M-09" SKU-072053936834
looks like about $15 shipped from Royal,... you're welcome.
 
I just want to state that GEBE is not forceing you to buy there belt, you may have to but from them to get a belt but that is your choice.

They do have a belt that when adjusted correctly will last go for a long time.

They have arranged it so that the manufacturer of their belts will not sell the belt through any other distributor. You have to go to them. It is called cornering the market, it is a type of monopoly. I what way is that not forcing?
I am not saying they have an inferior product--although 50 bucks for a 20 in diameter plastic ring is indicative of a policy of price inflation.What do you suppose they pay the manufacturer for those?
Well, what do I know. Maybe they need to puff their prices to make the kind of profit they need to make so they can live the kind of life they want to live. God knows I'd probably do the same in their position.
 
Tom,

May I ask, do you own a GEBE kit?

I do and it is the best system I have seen. The plastic ring you speak of happens to to be a geared ring in the moulding of the product. Some one may have had a problem with the ring but in the three and half years I have no troubles and have not known of any one else having a problem. We get what we pay for in life and GEBE is worth the price, it is a higher cost item but worth every penny.

My only problem with my bike is I don't get all the time to ride that I would like.
 
Yes, I do have a GEBE. I can't compare systems. GEBE is the only one I've had. As I said, I'm not knocking their product--I guess what bothers me and mobilizes me on this issue is the experience I had with them when I first received my kit. I have described this elsewhere and below is a copy of what I wrote then:
I installed motor, started it without belt engagement, and the bike jumped and ran off with me on top barely able to hold on. I had a pretty good scare flying along a bumpy road going faster than I ever had on a bike. Finally I thought of the kill switch and killed engine. I could smell the belt--I know that burnt rubber smell. The belt was damaged, I think, by being run while slack at top speed over the belt ring.
The problem, obviously, is in the way the throttle is set. It is set too high. I read the manual on this issue. Checked, could find nothing wrong with how I had routed the throttle cable.So I took off the air-filter housing to look at the throttle cable hook up. It does not look like the illustration you provide, nor does it look like the illustration in the engine manual. I can only suppose that it has been set up incorrectly. I am sending a photo of what I have on my engine.Please advise.
Not hearing more from you Sat, I took matters into my own hands. I first tried to adjust the throttle in the manner described in the manual. Needless to say it was a fruitless venture because the thing had been installed incorrectly--at least for the purpose the engine was sold for. If it had been a lawn mower engine, maybe, not for a motor bike. For one thing the barrel nut had no threads to ride on under it. It was resting over the plastic sheathing of the cable housing.It was the classic lever connected to nothing. Finally in despair I removed the cable end from the throttle arm, and by dint of get effort with the wrong tools managed to cut away half an inch of the cable housing. I reintroduced the cable to the slot in the throttle arm and was finally able to get the arm to touch the idle screw.
So, I solved my own problem. Except I feel the belt was damaged, burned in the incident described in earlier emails.

These paragraphs are copies of what I sent to GEBE after the incident described. The lady send back a message wherein she criticized me for starting the engine while sitting on it and with the belt engaged--which I hadn't done.I started the engine while standing next to the bike and without the belt engaged. She then said that probably the belt had been damaged and I could purchase another from them if that were the case. Enough said.
 
I have to emend my reecnt reply--I said the woman at GEBE had upbraided me for starting engine with belt engaged--actually she upbraided me for starting engine with belt disengaged--which I had done, and as it turned out, luckily. If the engine had been engaged the bike would have probably been wricked altogether. Snuff
 
Tom,


Did you get the GEBE running correctly?
For sure we are not to start the engine with the belt disengaged, that will trash the best.

When I first installed my kit I had a bit of a kinked throttle cable and my engine was running to fast. After adjusting the cable and freeing it up, engine response is correct.

If you have not got the problem corrected yet I would suggest removing the belt from the engine and getting the throttle corrected before installing the belt again.

As for the belt burning smell I find that the alignment has to be right on as per the instructions to run correctly.

When I installed my kit the first time I installed the way GEBE suggest and found that a flat tire was a pain due to having to realign the belt. I have sence taken the kit off and cut the bracket that mounted on the axel and now is mounted to the frame. I can now take the wheel off without having to deal with the motor also. Also I have less troubles with the belt (my trouble was just alignment).

If I knew how to put pictures on I would send some but I have no idea how that done..At age 68 and a retired woodworked sawdust I understand better than the computer.

Robert
 
Nope, wrong. "Gates Powergrip HTD 1635-5M-09" SKU-072053936834
looks like about $15 shipped from Royal,... you're welcome.

Are you sure this is a direct replacement for the belt you get from GEBE? If you read the description it says it it made with a fiberglass cord. Not kevlar.
 
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