The skipping would do my head in too ! I remember my AT setup on the GTR ; belt skipping. I had to tighten up to a level that i didnt like either. Because of the very large wheel-gear , the belt sits at a “very wide” angle on the smaller motor-gear so inn fact reducing contact-area. You catch my drift ? When the wheelgear is smaller . the contact on both gears is much more “snug” , more contact area. I remember the video/review from Lee Wright on the Flux ; he was talking about the belt-width of 2cm used because of this reason ! With these wider belts have more rolling resistance , so actually not good for energy , but it was done to eliminate the beltskipping i believe…
Maybe Frederic will come by to acknowledge …
Maybe an idea for your build ? 2cm belts ?
That said I ran some tests with idlers vs not. very non sciency, used 16mm belts on 18/36 setup. Ran one side with idlers and the other without. adjusted each side 3-4 times to the point of not skipping when slaming on the breaks at high speeds. After a few rides and measuring with a ir tempgun and touche touche with my hands the idler side ran about 4-5 C° hotter.
I’d still rather run idlers no matter what because it can roll much easier resulting in having to put less throttle on flats. Better for the motor to have less tension too. Besides that the bigger number of engaged teeth will decrease pulley wear by spreading the load more
I wouldn’t be worried about the belt getting warm, that is probably just a result of more tooth engagement
there will always be opinions. For me personally if I can get away with not using idlers I prefer it. in your case and probably on most at setups I would run idlers.
My old board had V4 TB mounts and I was trying to run 14t to 40t and I had major skipping issues. That being said, when I was running 16:40 I did not. To each his own, but I prefer a looser belt on my setups now.
Gears are cool too though, haven’t gotten to try that out yet
Yeah, that’s exactly what I think the problem is. I’m using a 72T wheel pulley and a 15T motor pulley. Because of the large wheel pulley, the belt only contacts about 1/4 of the motor pulley.
Idlers are required for wheel pulleys this large. I’ve tried idlers before and am not a fan of how they perform. Too much maintenance and drag. I think its gear drives or bust for me.
on the flipside pneumatics got shitty freeroll anyways, even with gear drives you can’t even remotely compare them to urethane. so who cares
Yeah, that’s for sure. That was a bit of a shocker for me since this is my first pneumatic board.
So the drag wouldn’t be a dealbreaker on pneumatics, but the added maintenance would. On a previous build I was constantly having to play with the idlers to maintain tension, alignment and keep them clean.
Really? I haven’t had to touch mine since I built it. They haven’t moved or caused any issues. Probably 250 miles on the idlers so far
What mounts are you using? Did they come with idlers or did you have to source them yourself?
I am using the Boardnamics mounts, they come with idlers that mount into a machined slot and have a sleeve and all that
If his gear drives take too long, I may have to give these mounts a try. Gear drives would definitely be my preference though.
If all else fails, why not try chains? I know they’re noisy but I’ve gone as far as pairing a 9T tooth motor sprocket with a 74T wheel sprocket and I can still lock up the wheel while braking without the chain skipping. That’s without an idler too.
I’ve been considering chains for my mountainboard since they’re so strong but we shall see.
Do you think something like this putty you could use to fill the holes, sand it and paint it to cover it up?
J-B Weld 8237 PlasticWeld Plastic Repair Epoxy Putty - 2 oz. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003S2E4UE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_xh64FbXR25DZT
That’s possible, but would be too much work.
Paging @rafaelinmissouri for pictures of his solution. He taped over the holes, filled the back with hot glue, then sharpied the exterior hot glue holes black. If you really wanted to take his solution to another level, you could use black hot glue.
If you really wanna take it on gravel or dirt trails and mud I would really look at chains.
Yeah that was my main thinking, lots of bike paths around here have that kind of terrainl.
It’s either that or Moon AT GD
It the skipping persists and you want to consider idlers the new boardnamics mounts are a pretty affordable option.
I had their original ones and they were great.
Not as pretty as the ATC ones.
https://boardnamics.com/product/precision-xl-motor-mount-set/
ATC also had new ones with dual mounts.
https://allterraincreations.com/shop/ols/products/atc-motor-mounts-mbs-matrix2-trucks
And there is IdeaTB you saw on my builds. But they will ruin the all Black.
With the idlers I’m running 14/72 and it is super solid.
I will be curious to see what results you get with having adjusted the motors.