the kinetic tfr project

To adjust the tension on the Kinetic TFR drive belt, you have to slide the engine forward and backward. It’s easy to loosen, but tightening is a bit harder, so I will focus this post on tightening. If your belt is too tight you can loosen by moving the engine back. Same principal. You get it.

To tighten the belt you will have to slide the Kinetic’s engine forward (toward the front tire) by loosening 4 bolts (not removing) and pushing it.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that you not forget to loosen the bolt that holds the exhaust pipe on near the rear of the bike:

Loosen the three engine mounting bolts on located around the clutch unit (see image) with a 10mm deep socket. The two in the front go all the way through, so you may need to get another socket for the other side. A box wrench will work on the top one, but because of its location in the subframe, the lower one may require sockets on both sides.

Loosen them pretty good, but don’t pull them out. Once they are loose, slide the engine toward the front of the TFR. This may take some jiggling at first. If your TFR is like mine, it is very difficult to get any real tension on the belt without using something as leverage. So I figured out that you can stick an awl or a screwdriver in the space between the rearward mounting bolt and the edge of the hole in the subframe and pry the engine forward by pushing the handle of the driver toward the rear of the bike.

You may need to tighten the bolt with one hand while you pry with the other if you need to get it tighter. Be careful not to overtighten. The manual says to adjust until you can rev the engine with the bike on the stand, apply the brakes quickly, and not see any slipping of the belt on the rear wheel.

I recommend tightening the rearward bolt, top forward bolt, bottom forward bolt, and exhaust mount bolt in that order. It seems to work best for me.