Carbon Belt Drive Bike Review

Belts can make a lot of noise on sandy dry roads.

Carbon belt drive bike review.

It has no moving components like a chain but uses a single loop of carbon inside a nylon cover. Free yourself from oily rusty chains and join the gates carbon drive revolution. Say hello to simplicity and fun. Carbon belt drives last substantially longer due to not stretching in the same way as a chain.

In addition belt drive touring bikes are silent and require almost no maintenance other than odd clean with a toothbrush. Are carbon belt drives the future. Another minor annoyance with the belt is figuring out how much tension to run. To put that into perspective a standard derailleur drivetrain will rarely shift well after 10 000km.

I ve got a belt drive touring bike and a belt drive tandem sitting in my garage which both have 30 000km on their original belts. Deemed quiet efficient and grease free. Veer noted its upcoming pro version will have more crankarm options in the fall. Our carbon reinforced belts last longer than chains never need grease and are nearly maintenance free.

Customer service was understanding fast and responsive. The gates carbon belt drive is clean looking and performing. At this price the l train s quality and resilience struck owners as great value. The first is that carbon belts typically can t be broken and re installed like a normal chain.

There s no doubt that gates carbon belt drive is an excellent drivetrain solution for long distance touring bikes. Reimbursement was given where appropriate. The gates carbon drive or belt drive as it has come to be known is a completely grease free low maintenance alternative to a standard roller chain. It s capable of handling the same or greater maximum load standards as a chain drive so it can be ridden hard.

These are the advantages of the gates carbon drive system. Carbon drivetrains are expensive but i think they re pretty good value if you consider the kilometres you ll get per dollar invested. Advantages of belt drive bikes. The current front belt ring is for use with 5 bolt 130 bcd crankarm spiders.

This is primarily why the product is not mainstream. There s two ways to properly measure the tension a gates tension meter or the gates smartphone app. Belts can only be used with an internally geared hub or as a singlespeed not for derailleurs. In place of a chain is the gates carbon belt drive.

As good as a belt drive system sounds there are some drawbacks that need to be considered. Say goodbye to high maintenance bike chains. The carbon drive system consists of two sprockets and a carbon fiber reinforced belt. Initially met with skepticism gates carbon drive has gained industry acceptance and is now featured on hundreds of bike models from more than 200 brands around the world.