The Excellent Benefits Of A Belt-drive Bike

It's been a feature of some of the ranges announced lately by some of the world's

principal bike producers that the top-of-the-range designs have featured a belt drive instead of the usual chain. This represents quite a departure from the conventional way of doing things.

The bike chain has been around in all probability since the invention of the bicycle itself, and a very smart invention it is too. Linked metal sections are strong, flexible in one direction, but resistant to distortion in the other, sideways direction.

And naturally, the great advantage of a chain drive is that it can use derailleur gears. Derailleurs have undergone incredible upgrades over the years. Beginning with just 5, moving up to 30 gears, the derailleur mechanism is used on bikes from inexpensive runabouts to state-of-the-art racers. So why alter a winning formula?

Well a chain drive does have drawbacks, particularly for the commuter and leisure cyclist:-

The chain quickly gets grimy, and can leave you and your clothing stained with oil.

If it's not kept properly lubricated, a chain quickly gets rusty and noisy.

The belt drive gets over these drawbacks.It replaces the chain with a toothed belt made of a high-strength, low friction material - often polyurethane toughened with carbon fibre.

Of course, other components have to be redesigned to suit - both rear sprocket and front chainwheel have to to be built to match the belt. Additionally, the frame itself has to be altered, as the continuous belt will not go over the chainstay. This means that either the chainstay has to be made with a break, or a detachable dropout must be used.

Nonetheless, the benefits are clear to see:-

Completely clean running, as the belt does not need lubrication at all.

Silent operation

A belt will as a rule last 2 or 3 times as long as a chain.

The other main point is that derailleur gears cannot be used, so belt drives will thus be limited to single speed or internal gear hub bikes. These internal gear hubs are improving all the time - the truth is they are now available with up to 11 ratios.

As an example, the SUB 10 from Scott uses a Gates Carbon Drive to great advantage, coupling it with an 8-speed Alfine drive to give a pretty much maintenance-free city bike that will get you to the office quickly and cleanly.

A belt drive seems to be a great contribution to the world of the commuter and city bike.

by: Stephen Bailey

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