Gates Carbon Belt Drive

I've had a Cube Editor as my only bike since March 2016. My previous bike, a second-hand Scott Sub 10 with hydarulic disc brakes won me over to hub gears after a lifetime of derailleurs, but was stolen. The only way to cheer myself up  was to go up a  notch from the previous 7-speed to an 11-speed Alfine with a belt drive. The cost was partly paid by my insurance company but I had to go through their appointed bike shop down in Wales, Wheelies. I described my dream bike and htey came back with the Cube Editor (~£1200). They said it would take 3 months to get in but they actually delivered it to me within 2 months. Not the most enticing of names for a bike, but I love it. It has the 11-speed, hydraulic discs (the Shimanos leaked badly and were replaced after a year by Clarke versions which seem to be much better and a lot cheaper) and a Carbon drive transmission. 

This is the only bike that I have and I do around 100 miles a week on roads and tracks. According to one web source, the belt takes loses around 1 watt on average  more than a chain, just to make it go round.  This is due to the extra pre-load (or pre-tensioning) required to stop the belt skipping teeth. I expected it to feel as if I was stirring thick honey but it doesn't.  I must have done 7 to 8 thousand miles now and have had no issues. There's a cute phone app that, in theory, lets you tension the belt by measuring it's pitch when twanged as if tuning a fiddle. The frequency should be around 70 Hertz.  In practice this doesn't usually work well and I usually do it by feel.

It's a total joy to have a bike that virtually needs no oiling. After fixing a back wheel puncture, my hands look as if I've been doing light gardening rather than bathing in muddy oil. The 11-speed Alfine is also fantastic. The steps are all the same until the lowest which is perhaps twice as wide. More or less the same range of a typical front and back derailleur setup, but without the worry of the chain jumping off the top sprocket and into the spokes or the frequent need to buy new chains, blocks and rings. 

I don't know why UK shops, including my own beloved Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative, don't stock belt-drive bikes. The only ones that I see seem to be Dutch or German cyclists coming over for a holiday in Scotland.

I haven't used a belt drive.

Other side of the coin view. Shimano 105 derailleur gears, with Rock'n'Roll Gold lube, hydraulic disc brakes, tubeless tyres and good sealant. Low maintenance in my view and low cost overall, can still be used in summer for more pleasant riding.

I honestly don't think its that much hassle, and I have commuted for 2 winters in a row every day, 150 miles a week. Punctures were the big pain, not chain cleaning (as that lube is so clean and hard waring when wet). So I think you are solving the wrong problem. Spend the money on tubeless tyres and rim conversion instead.

Got a customer with a Cube hybrid which has Alfine 8 & Gates Belt Drive..... works well aside of a couple of irritations. One of course is the guys build and he knocks out bottom brackets like they are cheese and in 18 months this has needed another, a Thun brand as many Dutch bikes use.  Secondly he is a bit of a fussy fella that want's everything to just work. 

The second issue he had was gears jumping, and we all know with hubs you just ease off the pedal as you change then pedal on.... I think to be honest he is a wee bit heavy on the gears too. Anyway....over Christmas he was away and he asked me to strip the hub down and relube it etc. so that was done and it still slipped. In the end I narrowed it down to the plastic Cassette body which moves the gears into place....... but.... there are 3 types...so get the correct one.

We have now an agreement that when it's in for service the cassette body will be swapped out

As for the Gates belt.... faultless..... and the cassette body now had been upgraded so you don't need the 2mm allen key anymore for the cable

Got a customer with a Cube hybrid which has Alfine 8 & Gates Belt Drive..... works well aside of a couple of irritations. One of course is the guys build and he knocks out bottom brackets like they are cheese and in 18 months this has needed another, a Thun brand as many Dutch bikes use.  Secondly he is a bit of a fussy fella that want's everything to just work. 

The second issue he had was gears jumping, and we all know with hubs you just ease off the pedal as you change then pedal on.... I think to be honest he is a wee bit heavy on the gears too. Anyway....over Christmas he was away and he asked me to strip the hub down and relube it etc. so that was done and it still slipped. In the end I narrowed it down to the plastic Cassette body which moves the gears into place....... but.... there are 3 types...so get the correct one.

We have now an agreement that when it's in for service the cassette body will be swapped out

As for the Gates belt.... faultless..... and the cassette body now had been upgraded so you don't need the 2mm allen key anymore for the cable

Hasn't one of the new Boardman commuters got a belt drive?

Ah yes, the top end URB. £2000 though... But it has got di2 and a carbon drive

https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/1586-urb-9.4.html

Hi again inicholson,

If you do end up going down the Gates Carbon Belt drive route and you want another bike to consider then this is pretty good looking and so could be one to consider for you.

Bombtrack Outlaw 2

http://bombtrack.com/outlaw2/

Or you end up ditching the Gates Drive and going for a chain then there's potentially another couple of bikes to consider in a similar vein:-

Bombtrack Arise Geared:-

http://bombtrack.com/arise-geared/

Marin Nicasio RC:-

https://www.marinbikes.com/gb/bikes/nicasio-rc

If you do like the Bombtrack bikes I'm not sure if you can get them anywhere in Glasgow but they're UK distributor is called Lyon but they don't show any shops in Glasgow I'm afraid:-

https://www.lyon.co.uk/outdoor/bombtrack-uk-stockists

John

I considered the belt drive for my current rohloff build, but not much, already going for hydrolic disc brakes, tubeless and internal gearing, I thought the gates a step too far.  Sticking with the chain drive as I know chains a bit, and my chosen frame, surly ogre doesn't have the opening in the stays.   If I had gone for an equivilent Shand then I might have done.  

It's also easier to carry a few spare quicklinks rather than the belt,  always thinking about failure.

Real advantage of the Gates would be that my chain is only ever clean straight after cleaning and lubing, the moment my off road bit of my commute start, everything is filthy, it's been a very muddy winter for me.

Belt-drive is a little less efficient, measurable compared to clean and well-maintained geared chain arrangement, but probably barely enough to really notice.

They are not mainstream but there is plenty out there if you search, not mass-market so higher priced.

Maintenance might be a little cheaper overall, but the main advantage is not having to clean and service the drivetrain as frequently. Belts aren't cheap but should last ages.

I would definitely prefer belt-drive for commuting. Rohloff hubs are expensive, ideally I'd opt for Shimano Alfine 11-speed.

Reliability should be good, you just need to ensure belt tension is optimum, I think you only need to do this when fitting a new belt. I think when they stretch is when to replace them.

Hi inicholson,

For all year round commuting I can definitely recommend having a bike with an internal gear hub as I have one myself and I find it much easier to manage from a cleaning & maintenance perspective.  I have an Alfine 8 and they're by no means perfect and are built to a price point (compared to say a Rohloff IGH) and so they do have a few issues but I'd buy another tomorrow & I'd recommend it for an all weathers commute bike compared to having derailleur gears.

However my apologies because I've never used a Gates Carbon Belt Drive although I can definitelty see the appeal again from a cleaning & maintenance perspective.

I thought I'd send this message though because I recently saw a similar question discussed on another forum as per the links below.  I'm sorry if I'm not meant to post links to other forums!

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/opinions-on-3-flat-bar-bikes.228669/

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/cube-bikes.229280/

Good luck with your bike search!

John

I have used one of these with my hub gear bike 

https://www.evanscycles.com/zefal-sealant-spray-with-mount-100ml-EV17042...

I've used them a couple of times when commuting and I've got back on the road in a few minutes

I have a Focus Planet belt drive with Alfine hub.

This has been my first winter commuting on it and it has been brilliant, pretty much zero maintainance.

One thing to watch out for is the chain ring and sprocket size, both are far far more expensive to change for a belt drive than a regular chain and will usually require a completely new belt too.

With a fairly wide ranged hub you should be ok but if you go for a three or two speed hub you may need to put some thought into what ratios you want prior to ordering.

Likewise if your commute is particularly hilly or pan flat you may want to shift the range up or down.

A puncture on a hub gear would be a right pain in the arse so I'd also spec some marathon plus tyres or something similarly bombproof.

I just bought a used chain drive hub gear bike. Took a while to figure out how to get rear wheel off. I think it'd be same regardless whether belt or chain.
A 2mm Alan key is a must in your puncture repair kit!
Adjustment was simple. (Shimano Nexus 8- line it up in 4th).
Would hate to get a puncture on a cold, wet night.. A little bit of fiddling with hub gear mechs yet less maintenance per views of cleaning and stuff that leaves wheel on.