Viewing on my phone and accidently 'disliked' a post - apologies. Those vertical pullies are at the correct position for TDC compression (135 degs CCW from dot alignment)
I believe that if the pulley dots/lines are correctly set then as long as your sight glass pointer /dot is showing (like the picture) then you are good. Have you checked the horizontal cylinder is at TDC on the firing stroke?
Belts fitted this afternoon, mostly straightforward but spent a couple of frustrated hours trying to get the vertical belt tensioned on the bottom pulley to fit properly over the adjuster wheel - got there in the end, horizontal belt was a piece of cake in comparison, turned the engine over with the rear wheel a few times and no nasty noises so i assume nothing is touching, will get it all back together tomorrow and strike it up with my fingers firmly crossed!
Got everything back together this morning, struck it up and had a moment of severe panic with a clattering engine...took me about 10 secs to realise I'd left it in 6th gear and forgot to put it back in neutral ...phew!, tried it again and it's sweet as a nut, I'll take it out for a spin as soon as this constant rain clears.
I've read through the post and maybe missed it but no reminder that when you tension the belts turn them anti-clockwise
Yes, I did turn tensioners anti clockwise, I saw how close the belts teeth would be to each other when turned clockwise. I found the the most challenging part was getting the vertical belt to sit and tension properly from the bottom roller, took me quite a few attempts before I got it right.
It's always daunting the first time due to the pressure to get it right. And extremely relieving when it fires up and idles! Ive used those same renault Gates belts before. Ran for 2 years perfect. Still looked mint when replaced with Exactfit.
Just had a closer look at the belts I removed recently...the one shown in the pic is starting to fray, other one is ok- can't recall whether this one was the V or H belt tho. These belts were supposedly fitted in September 2021, about 1200 miles ago!!. Mmm!!...food for thought.
I dont know for sure, but there are traces of red print on them. I will be checking the Gates ones i fitted on a regular basis for wear and tension.
Looks like they were installed incorrectly. Possible abrasion from hitting the lip of the roller tensioner?
I was shocked when I saw it and my guess is as suggested above - the belt in question looks like it had been chafing against a lip on one of the rollers due to incorrect or incompetent fitment, they also look like they've been on longer than i was led to believe, good job I changed them when I did...
Took the bike for a quickie earlier, just to check all is ok after fitting my new belts, took it steady at first then ramped things up a bit - all seems tickety boo, good sense of achievement since its the first time i've done the belts on a desmoquattro, and also saved myself a good few quid...
When you crank the engine or spin the back wheel the cam shafts turn anti clockwise, this means the belts direction is towards the rear.Yours arrows on the belts are pointing forward.It might not matter as the ca cycleworks do not have direction arrows.
