Ducati Monster Forum

OEM or ExactFit?

whatever you can get your hands on.

THeres nothing wrong with either, but haiving used 6 pairs of OEM and 2 pairs of exact fits, the exact fits work just fine ( i have a set of exact fits in my 1100EVO motor)

Just make sure they are Kevlar as are the latest OEM with red lettering. Wear rate is the same in the 2-valves but the OEM manufacturer claims long "shelf life".

We've installed hundreds of ExactFit belts and have experienced no failures.  I recommend them without qualification.

I picked up the ExactFit for both my 1100 EVO, and the incoming 1098.

I put the ExactFit belts on my S4Rs and they are nice belts.

Are you saying that there were OEM belts which were not Kevalr, and not red lettered? I can not remember any motorsport timing belt which was not either Kevlar, or some other type of synthetic fiber, or stainless steel. But, I am new to Ducs and willing to learn.

There are, but those are old. I dint even think they exist anymore.

hi mate.

i chose oem for my 696. why?

tension. the oem belts according to the manufacturer's manual is set at 140hz, but the exact fits apparently best  work at ~100hz. being the first time i was installing them, i wanted to go oem...

now that i did it, the amount of wrap of the belts make them pretty secure even at lower tension.

that said, i was not fond of putting chinese made belts on my new duke... oem is made by gates in the UK. they are also revised belts.

for me the price difference wasn't enough to move away from oem.

ExactFit belts on my M1100 coz that's what Brad Black stocks and recommended to me, nothing to do with any price diff between them and OEM.

Good enough for Brad is good enough for me  [thumbsup]

never heard of any tension differences for the exact fit belts.

The last update I saw from Ducati changed belt tension to 110 Hz +/- 5 Hz for all models, two-valvers and four-valvers.

I chose exactfit belts for my 695. Why?

Because Chris is a top bloke who does a shitload of great work for all of us, including making YouTube videos showing how to change belts.

Even if he does sound like a yank on the videos.

Is he not a Yank??

my understanding what that was a DNA TSB... AFAIK, i don't think this revision applied elsewhere in the world. it also conflicts w/ Gates, the oem maker's own documentation that lists 140 for the 2vs... it has been that way for a long time. As i was doing the job for the first time, i followed the factory manual for the 2009 696.


abso-freakin-lutely. an awesome resource. I very much appreciate Brad Black in Vic picking the product line up and generally being very helpful.

As I alluded to, i pretty much shat my pants cos it was the first time doing the job on the duke, so i went 'by the book'... now that i've done it, it is pretty simple and the amount of wrap of both pullies and the fact they are seperate belts gives me lots of confidence, and i'll consider Exactfit next time.

FWIW, with the tension thing, i was alluding to a thread re: DS1000 engines in which the belts whined unless the tension was drawn down, apparently they preferred 99hz rather than any more tension. also switching to oem belts eliminated the problem. The only other really minor thing that erked me, was at all times exactfit were posited as being 'the same as oem' - yet i understand they are rubberised at the teeth. This has maybe contributed to initial noise issues - my small issue here is that they may in fact be very good, but they are clearly not the same composition.

lots of the 1000 and 1100 ds motors need the belts run loose to stop them being noisy when hot, which I believe is the bearing surface of the cam rubbing through the oil film.  it's a nasty bearing running style noise that really makes your skin crawl.  mainly happens on the later motors, 2006 ish production, with the different lh journal.  don't think I've heard it on an early motor.

some of them (all models) do whine a bit when new, but I don't see that as an issue.  the problem you run into when supplying an aftermarket part of such perceived importance to the general public is that you have no control over what the general public does with them.  quite a % of the general public tend to do things that make professionals in the appropriate field gasp in horror.  so if the result of fitting the exactfit belts are not the same as the genuine in some way when fitted by someone who's skill level is unknown and unobserved, the best thing chris can do is offer a refund and recommend oem, as that way you avoid any issue based on the product and potential misuse of it.  the public in question may be doing it right, but when the problem is 1,000km away and you can't see what is being done you have doubt in the process as such.

the recommended belt tensions have varied a lot since the sonic method was introduced.  originally they were 125/140 ish or 140 on both, now they're saying 110 and 90 when checked in service.  and the difference b/w 100 and 180 on a 2v is only a minor adjustment because there's no easy incremental adjustment system like a 4v.  4v is quite easy to hit a number, 2v is back and forth.

just my take on it anyway.