[kz1000st]

I finally sucked it up and changed the drive belt on my 150cc Bashan. My Fashion's variator cover is held on by two bolts, The Bashan has about eight. After opening up the cover I was very surprised. After six years and 6,500 miles the belt showed signs of stretching but had zero cracks. The Gates Powerlink Premium is worth every penny. I had detected slippage and some vibration, a sure sign it needed changing, but it wasn't anywhere near ready to break.

Here's another surprise. I checked the rollers and after nearly 9,000 miles, and except for one, they had no flat spots. Even the one with a flat spot wasn't that bad. I just blew out the dust and reassembled the variator. The variator itself had no scouring and looked like new. I was ready to buy sliders and a new variator if the old one looked bad but it's fine.

I took it on a ride and it's a lot better. No slippage and lower rpms at the speed I ride. It's good to know that I can let this belt live in there for a long while and it will let me know when it needs changing without snapping. Oh, BTW. Both of the Gates belts say Made in China. I guess some of their products are up to the job.