Gates timing belts for ST1100

Hello, i have been sent e another Gates imitation. Is there anyone in the USA willing to purchase a genuine Gates T325 sealed in original box with qr code and serial number and I will gladly send money for belt and postage to the UK?
 
You have way more patience than me. I would have gone to an auto parts store and got that gates belt that you needed or my local Honda dealer. Me I don't do on line shopping. I want to physically inspect what i'm buying before I pay for it.
 
Ideally that is my view, where I live there isnt a local supplier so I have to rely on the internet. When you ask them is it boxed with QR code and serial number they reply yes and it arrives in a plastic bag................
 
Me and the wife are both disabaled the st1100 and sidecar is our only vehicle so patience is wearing thin.
 
bikerboy7 said:
Me and the wife are both disabaled the st1100 and sidecar is our only vehicle so patience is wearing thin.
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Do you have any friends or family in a larger area that could secure that belt for you. I just find it odd that there should be more ST's over there than here in the USA hence more than enough parts availability. If you find a place you had better "stock" up on things like brake pads, hoses and thermostats to avoid the aggravation.
 
You can secure a Honda belt, but how old is it, I have already have had two timing belt failures . maybe just bad luck but the only belts that have time dated are the Gates belts.
 
If you have had two belt failures you sure its the belts and not your pulley/water pump? Me if I were in your shoes I'd get the Honda one since I have no choice. Like I posted earlier mine is original on my bike. 69K and 19 years old.......and I don't worry about it. The day it breaks will be just the excuse I need to go get me another bike.
 
Both have been water pump failures, so decided to buy a "new" st - 2002 only 35k then, you guessed it water pump failing, so I splashed out on a new water pump and thought that a new timing would fix the bike for 10yrs plus.
 
Uncle Phil said:
On all three of my ST1100s - 97,97,02 - the timing belts were not changed until 100,000 miles - regardless of age.
The ones that came off looked as good as the ones that went on. :biggrin:
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That's why I ain't worried about mine. Long before I joined this forum you guys were the beta testers:rofl1:
 
bikerboy7 said:
Both have been water pump failures, so decided to buy a "new" st - 2002 only 35k then, you guessed it water pump failing, so I splashed out on a new water pump and thought that a new timing would fix the bike for 10yrs plus.
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Sounds like you've been extremely unlucky on water pumps, but that shouldn't make you paranoid about the timing belt. As Uncle Phil mentioned, the consensus of many on this forum is the original Honda timing belt is good for 20 years of normal riding without any issues. The Gates replacement seems to be of similar quality, although I don't think anybody is running a really old one yet because the Honda belt lasts the first 20 years. Since you can't seem to find a genuine Gates belt, if you have to go with the Honda belt don't worry about how long its been sitting on a shelf, that's not going to matter at all.
 
bikerboy7 said:
Both have been water pump failures, so decided to buy a "new" st - 2002 only 35k then, you guessed it water pump failing, so I splashed out on a new water pump and thought that a new timing would fix the bike for 10yrs plus.
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Water pump failures on the 1100 are not that common, UNLESS the wrong type of coolant was used. There have been failures due to the use of a coolant containing silicates, which destroy the water pump seal in short order. BTDT myself many years ago. For you to have had multiple water pumps go, I would suspect improper coolant. Most coolants nowadays do not contain the gritty additive, but over the pond, we can't be sure what is available there.
 
I agree with you, the first failure was at quite high miles (not all by myself) the second I installed damaged engine and the 2002 previous owner presumably used a silicate coolant. Thanks for the reassurance will prob go with a new Honda belt - if only to save returning the gates belts!
 
I contacted a large Honda parts supplier in the UK with a question about age of the Honda belts they supply this was their reponse:

Hello John

We have a reasonable turnover of this part - a number of ST1100 models use the same part number and many are still on the road. As a result we tend not to have these sat around for long. Our current stock of 16 has arrived in 3 batches, the oldest of which is from November 2018. These would have come directly from Honda.

The belts are still manufactured in Japan for Honda by a company called Unitta, widely regarded as the best quality belts available for this kind of application - it certainly would not be a case of a large number of belts being made around the same time as the bike, and that stock being sold over the years until depleted, meaning you might get a belt that is 18 or 19 years old.

I'd be confident that our stock of this part is perfectly fine for sale and use.

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards
Sam

Parts Enquiry Response Team - spares@fowlers.co.uk

A quick internet search revieled that Unitta was the Japananese branch of Gates. Ordered one so all is well.
 
Thank you bikerboy7. I've already bought and returned three no-genuine Gates belts in UK. Is fowlers belt OK? I'm going to order one right now.
 

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Doing some PM on my '96 ST (take note Jim Van) and I pulled the left side cam belt (inspection) cover off for a look at the still original belt. Twenty three years and 117,000 km later, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and a new one. No sign of cracking, loose fibres, or worn teeth (humps) on the belt at all. Rotating the crank clockwise allows a full and thorough look, via the inspection cover, of both sides of the entire belt.
 
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