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The most obvious thing is: you will lose power transmission immediately. That once happened to me on a vintage Moto Guzzi LeMans while overtaking (the cardan drive's joint broke apart, but didnt block the rear wheel). That was absolutely not funny.

Apart from that: it depends if the snapped belt just flies away or if it obstructs/blocks the rear sprocket (very dangerous instant blockage of the read wheel). A chain is probably more prone to that than a belt.

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Hm yeah, instant blockage is very not fun, but loss of power transmission doesn't sound that terrible. It should be fine to coast to a stop, even if you're overtaking (you can probably fall back into your old position, no?).

> but loss of power transmission doesn't sound that terrible

On a m/c it is, particularly when leaning in a turn. An experienced rider should recover, but it won't be fun. Also, other traffic participants don't expect a m/c to suddenly stop in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.

Never had such a drastic mechanical failure, just ran out of gas (on the GG bridge of all places) and had a blown main fuse (fortunately on the down-hill section and was able to coast through multiple lanes of traffic to a stop at the side of the road).

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