Do we know what exactly the belt is rubbing against to make the noise? My guess would be the side of the pulley, which would stop it running off, if this is the case, then it would seem that the back wheel or the BB are out of alignment, maybe both, so it could be just a 'simple' [but probably time consuming] job of realigning them.
Maybe I'm wrong and the noise caused by something else entirely, but I can't see what.
Has anyone emailed the factory to ask them?
I think this noise is indeed the Drive belt rubbing on the outside edge of the drive sprocket - the element which stops the belt coming off.
Its v annoying - light oil fixed it last time - so hoping it will again.
Paul, my thought exactly.
With two places to be out of alignment, the rear wheel may be the best place to start.
m3boy, as Paul suggested, adjusting one or both is the permanent answer to the belt noise issue. I do believe the BB was solid mounted to the frame and with the BB upgrade rubber mounting kit, it's still frame mounted and maybe there are no adjustment places and you have to just assume it's where it has to go.
If you assume the BB is where it should be and the belt is rubbing on the outside pulley flange, you would just move the rear axle forward on the right side which would run the belt back toward the middle of the pulley. This is no different than a belt sander belt alignment.
But when you're through with moving the right side forward a bit, be sure you didn't end up over tensioning the belt. As moving forward on the right will very slightly tighten the belt.
If you have the means to jackstand the M3W up safely, you can run the rear wheel with the motor and the belt will just roll inward. A person can then just make minor tweaks with the right side to bring the belt true to the center of the pulley.
I've seen pictures posted here that have no outside flange on the pulley and the belt was more than an 1/8" of an inch off the pulley. If the outside flange is a bolt on, maybe someone took it off to quiet it down rather than adjusting the axle/wheel alignment.
I've also seen two different axle adjusters. I'm guessing the earlier one was the cam/step ones that have notches in the eccentric cams and the later version, again guessing, is the old style bike type with a "U" support and a threaded rod with infinite adjustments versus the notched cam style.
It's not going to be very hard to do the rear axle tweaking and from what I've read posted, it will solve some issues for more than a couple of you.
Good luck with your tweaking...
