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Hey, don’t expect too much from me guys!
But as it happens I do know a bit about this.
I got a friendly belt and bearing specialist to research this for me some years ago.
The belt is an original Gilera design and it has an exclusive manufacture patent, not sure if that is quite the right description but a lot of belts have exclusive manufacturer deals attached to them to prevent cheap copies being made that could wreck engines and reputations, fair enough I think.
Also my specialist researched the dimensions and could not find anything the same size, and don’t forget that even the same size may not mean the same spec.
So the bottom line is, only original belts. They are not that expensive and they are available so I don’t think we should grumble too much.
They don’t have a reputation for breaking but I would change it every 15000 miles if used regularly or every year if it stands around. Book says every 12000, which is normally reckoned to be two years.
I run mine till 14-15000 and they have always looked perfect when I take them off.
All the twin cam engines use the same belt.
There are two rotor pullers. One for the early engines up to the Saturno and another for the 556 engines.
Saturno size: 35 x 1.5mm.
Nordwest size: 38 x 1.5mm.
And on the Nordwest / RC600 don’t forget to remove the ignition pick up before you fit the puller!!
Cheers David

Thanks David, I guessed you might have researched it all already.

72degrees wrote:

Thanks David, I guessed you might have researched it all already.

over the weekend I'll remove the cover to check the belt I fitted in August last year and look at the old belt I removed to see if I can read any print on it, though I remember the print on it being almost in braille
I doubt Gilera or any other engine designer would or could design a belt, it could be a special to suit their requirements from the belt maker.
Designers in most cases would try to find a standard bought in part, as it make their life so much easier and less costly.

I've just found the Dayco catalogue and I'm downloading it. That might be interesting.
There's a cross reference lookup, so if you can decipher a number and it isn't branded 'Dayco' that might be even more interesting.

From what Joachim and David have found though it seems there is little chance of an alternative for new belts. At least it seems they are still available.

So the situation is as Joachim said and as David suggested, Dayco are the only manufacturer now. Here is a screen shot of what Joachim has already found. You can click on uploaded images to see them at their full size.

72degrees wrote:

So the situation is as Joachim said and as David suggested, Dayco are the only manufacturer now. Here is a screen shot of what Joachim has already found. You can click on uploaded images to see them at their full size.

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As Alice would say curiouser and cureiouser.
I've still got the Megadyne book on my office table and remember it was listed under the sub brand of Isoran.
Will look see Saturday afternoon Inshala