Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 999 / 749 > Timing Belt

[adrian.groves]

Does anybody know if the timing belts on a 749 are the same as for any cars.

Call me tight but Renault belts are about £15 each whereas Ducati charge £45 each for the same thing.

[keefer]

good luck
you wont find much support for cheep belt alternatives on here.
I'm as tight as they come and I wouldn't bother with cheep belts.
any way welcome to the club.

[andyb]

I aggree with keefer, its not just about the belt its the fitment as well! gone are the days of giving it a twist to say its tight enough!

They use a sonic tester now!!!

[Martini]

I experimented some years ago with Continental belts (rather than the Gates ones Ducati use) for my SS.

I took my old Gates/Ducati belts to an engineering shop to buy genuine Gates belts. (It annoyed me that the Gates belts were made in UK for peanuts, exported to Bologna and put in carboard box then imported back to the UK at many times the price).

Anyway, the shop didn't have Gates belts but did have identical Conti belts for about £5 each.

They worked a treat but everyone I spoke to in this forum thought I was nuts.

No reason you shouldn't buy Gates belts from a Gates retailer. I notice that the latest "Ducati" ones from Bologna now have the Gates logo etc on them, rather than being printed "Ducati".