Changed belt and rollers on my SW when I first bought it. Official maintenance schedule calls for 10k inspection/replacement. Many on the SW forum go 25k and some like me replace about 15-20k. Belt is 110.00 and rollers 60 bucks. Easy replacement for the do it yourselfer.
Ok so say at 50K about 2.5 x $180.00 = $450 in parts. I can buy a belt for the B650 for $340 from Partzilla. If the owner can work on it themselves than I'd consider it a net wash. Granted working on most scooter CVTs is very easy (my Atlantic requires several panels to be removed because the rear one overhangs the CVT cover) like the MyRoad where you just have to take the cover off the CVT/swing arm. Most B650's I've worked on for just a belt replacement and some adjuster gears I charge parts and labor about $900, but also if the owner of a regular CVT scooter can't do the repairs himself I'm sure the net cost for the same mileage would be simliar to the B650.
I think the MyRoad belt runs a bit more than your Silverwing one, about $150.
I bought some Dr Pulley sliders for the Atlantic 500 (28.5 gram rollers stock to 26 gram sliders) recently and can't wait until I have time to feel what kind of changes it will make to the way it runs.
Read too many when the belt quits B. 650 scare stories.......and compare that to the video of a senior changing broken SW belt alongside the highway. With tools and parts from under his seat, whilest buddy filmed the whole thing standing on the berm!
Yes a standard CVT is easier to work on but cost per mile should be comparable whether to not the owner can work on it or not, barring a roadside repair, lol.
According to Suzuki, the B650 drive belt is a "life time" belt. Most don't have issues until 60k+ but I guess Suzuki never figured some folks might drive the wheels off these things. But I think the opposite is true as most bikes never reach those higher mileages. Except for that high mileage Burgman, my SW is the highest mileage bike I've ever bought which was 39k at purchase. Even my older 95 GL 1500 Goldwing only had 25k.
This was discussed in the early years when the B650 came out, I even called Suzuki asking what they recommended. Ultimately either they hadn't done enough reliability testing or there were to many variables to how long they would last. Given that the majority of scooter owners (or even some motorcycle owners to as you said) never put lots of miles on them a lifetime could be of how long the owner keeps it. I have had B650's I've worked on that had belts fail at 27 K and 45 K, another local guy had one go at 49K and I've had other parts fail in them at 54 K and 62 K but the belts appeared to still be ok. If it were up to me i'd think a 50 K replacement would be reasonable.
