Gates Belt Drive

No pics yet, it's a titanium X-frame 29er with belt drive, build by Bill Grove.......frame is finished only waiting for paint..... can't wait :!: :D
 
Had one didnt like it, it mullered the rear sprocket on the shimano nexus gearing too, although i blame shimano for having made it out of crap aluminium.

It was a bit weird at first not having that chain noise or the sound of deraileurs when you changed gear...all in all at the moment i think its still a bit of a gimmick but it might be alright on single speed i suppose. Personally i enjoy having gears.
 
1duck":20dl9w0v said:
Had one didnt like it, it mullered the rear sprocket on the shimano nexus gearing too, although i blame shimano for having made it out of crap aluminium.

Sprocket is a Gates component not a Shimano one. Belt drive is not even officially supported by Shimano.

And AFAIK it's not made for offroading.
 
Yeah it was on a trek soho, so more of a commuter than a mountain bike...i just assumed the rear sprocket which was attached to the shimano hub was all shimanos doing.

Anyway the nexus hub was heavy (not really a problem on a commuter) the belt also started slipping mainly because of the rear sprocket being worn...just generally not very good.

That said i loved the idea, the way it was sold to me as maintenance free cycling and a belt that would last for stupid amounts of miles...all seemed like a very nice idea.

I can see why shimano wouldn't recommend it for off roading, i mean just the slightest touch of snow on the belt caused it to slip and come off...what should have taken me 15 minutes took me more like an hour, in the end i abandoned the bike chained to a railing and walked the rest.

I thought i was alone but i read a post by a canadian guy who said his bike became unusable for 5 months a year as soon as it started snowing.
If it can't cope with snow i wouldn't fancy its chances of handling off road mud and crud...I may be completely wrong though.
 
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