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What's wrong with belt drives?

3K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  wim 
#1 ·
Say you have a road bike that was made to accommodate a multiple-gear internal hub, and it uses a belt instead of a chain.

- tougher to get parts in a store
- first gen belts will clog in snow

What other problems are there with belts? Why are more people not using them if they're supposedly lower maintenance, lower friction, lower weight?
 
#2 ·
Weight for the total combination would be higher I would guess, but belts have been used on motorcycles for years reliably. On a fixed gear bike it could work easily, still probably a weight increase though.
 
#3 ·
.... What other problems are there with belts? Why are more people not using them if they're supposedly lower maintenance, lower friction, lower weight?
I have wondered about this myself. Couldn't the bottom bracket be replaced with a non free-wheeling 3 speed hub, and the rear hub replaced with a normal 8 speed hub? Making a cog-less 24 speed.

But then.... why use a belt when a direct drive [shaft] could be used (Shaft drive bicycle | Flickr - Photo Sharing!). Hasn't all this... already been tried.
 
#4 ·
Weight and efficiency



Geared hubs are very heavy, very expensive, and very inefficient. Other than that it's a great idea. And people have been trying to get shaft drive to work for about 100 years. Technically possible but all the same problems of internally geared hubs. In motorcycles where you have power to spare people don't mind so much. When YOU have to supply all the power people are going to reject something that might be 90% (or less) efficient compared to the 98% efficiency of chain drive.
 
#6 ·
I think I'd hate the efficiency drop too much. lubing and cleaning the drivetrain takes me 5-10 minutes, and I can get faster at it. Would rather do that than push harder for less.
 
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