MitchellH

Coming soon, chainless bikes..

OK, they're not for racing bikes, yet. The question is how long before they figure out how to make it better than a conventional drive train.

entukay

There's already at least one up on Trek's website, been there for a while now.

MadeInItaly

Chainless bikes, electric groups.... Man I glad I went back to steel. Now it's time to go back to 8 speed...

MONGO!

Never, can't have a belt drive with gears.

BananaTugger

Sure.

cedricbosch

You're kidding, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_gear

BikeIndustryGuy

Even SRAM makes a crank with two internal speeds using planetary gears.

MONGO!

Except internal gears

wanders

I think Caloso may have a case for copyright infringement. or Marx.

DVN

Sweet, I want to get that technology and put it on a bamboo bike:

https://www.evolvebicycles.com/

Then I will be saving my pants, and the planet!

eb314

I want a bike with a drive shaft.

BikeIndustryGuy

There's no reason why fixed gear or singlespeeds that are so trendy right now cannot use belts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEDzjebU_mM&eurl=

celerystalksme

that exists...can't remember the manufacturer. i have the link at home.

BikeIndustryGuy

it's amazing that people go on the internets, log into a forum, write something, post.

typed, "drive shaft bike in google"

first hit:

https://www.dynamicbicycles.com/

K&K_Dad

you mean like this
https://charlotte.craigslist.org/bik/920775039.html

wanders

https://www.dynamicbicycles.com/buy/Bikes.php?prodid=46#

A shop in Winston used to sell them.

StephenH

"If you've ever been riding down the street and had your pants cuff ripped asunder, there may be a revolution at hand."

So what is this marvelous solution?

"A guard over the belt-drive"

Doh! They've invented the Chain Guard! That's not a Belt Drive superiority, that's yesteryear's solution warmed over.

"Bjorling said the new belts are a low-maintenance solution to a chain, which has roughly 3,000 parts including all the links and connectors." Wow, that sounds high...

Sinn

Except you will not be saving the outrageous amount of man-hours it takes to put a bamboo bike together. Really, the energy savings with bamboo bikes is not much.

DVN

I was being sarcastic back there....I probably should have used this smilie:

trelhak

I think that there is a future in belt-driven bicycles. People used to say the same thing about belt-driven motorcycles. First is was, "the belts break," then when the belts became durable, "the belts can't handle the high torque of a sportbike," and there are belt-driven Buells out there that are putting out well over 100 ft.-lbs of torque.

An aramid carbon fiber belt weighs less than a chain and has comparable strength under reasonable conditions.

Aren't you excited to have something else made of carbon fiber to put on your bikes?

Booger

It'll happen eventually, and like everything else, it'll be hated on and then gradually accepted.

alphag33k

3000 does sound high, but quite a few bits to clean.
Visist Sheldon Brown's Website for the full directions - https://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

alancw3

i'm not a trek fan but i do have to give them credit for this bold move forward. i have always felt (ever since motorcycles started using blets) that they (belts) would be a great application for city bikes and beach cruisers! imho

BikeIndustryGuy

What? the belt is made by Gates, and it has been sold by others for quite a while. Hardly a bold move.

alpacalypse

Perhaps. But the truth about the belt drive is that all it's really got over the chain is weight and cleanliness. Maybe some durability thrown in there. It doesn't have much advantage on a utility bike over a chain and chaincase, and unless someone finds a way to gear it efficiently, it won't catch on with mainstream road/mountain/cyclocross bikes. Singlespeed mountain bikes seem to be one area that can actually take advantage, and lo and behold, Spot's already manufacturing them.

So while you're right that there's certainly some fear of new stuff in the industry, the truth is that the belt drive doesn't necessarily have market-wide usefulness yet.