Belt drive pedal bike

DUTR

Any of you readers have one? just seeking a non biased review.

Johnmcl7

When I returned to cycling I liked the sound of the belt drive and bought a 2011 Trek Soho Deluxe which was a hybrid bike using a Gates carbon belt drive and a Shimano Nexus eight speed hub:

[img]https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-68VH5vC/0/O/i-68VH5vC-O.jpg[/img]

In general use it was fantastic keeping incredibly quiet and smooth even though I was cycling it through the winter and it didn't need regular lubrication like a chain.  However before it was two years old the belt had worn prematurely and both it and the rear sprocket needed replaced which was a surprise as Gates at the time had sold the belt as having a much longer life than a chain.  I spoke to Gates and despite boasting about the all weather benefits of the belt they claimed since I used the belt regularly in wet weather that the belt life would be shorter.

Trek stepped in and paid for the replacement belt but with doing more cycling and using a road bike as my main bike I stopped using the hybrid.  All my bikes are now chain drive and I wouldn't consider another belt drive bike because there's just too many issues with them.  You can't use a derailleur and you need a frame with a cut out plus if you have any problems, you're stuffed since there's no way to repair the belt if it splits and very few retailers actually carry the parts.  Comparatively everywhere has chains and you can carry spare links to get you going with a chain break.

DUTR

Nice bike and thanks for the update, I'm ready to order a road bike, but also fancied another hybrid/urban bike too.

fred246

I had awful problems with the Nexus 8 speed hubs. I had 3 brand new ones and none lasted longer than 18 months. They are very heavy 2Kg on rear wheel. Full of numerous little parts. The maintenance oil and tools to maintain were horrendously expensive. Would hate to have a puncture. Lining up yellow and red dots. Really hated it. Would never touch Nexus again. I wanted to like it and I ignored all the negative reviews. Big mistake.

Johnmcl7

DUTR said:

Nice bike and thanks for the update, I'm ready to order a road bike, but also fancied another hybrid/urban bike too.

Lots of choice out there and obviously you need to find what suits your use.  When I bought the Soho I was advised against a hybrid but looking back it suited my use at the time and worked well for what I wanted.  I changed to a road bike when I was wanting to do a lot more miles and still a fairly practical bike with mudguards and a rack on it.

DUTR

My current road bike is old (raleigh criterium) 52/42 chainset with 13-18 on the back 22c wheels, my current hybrid is a matrix express, the next 2 bikes will more than likely be Boardman SLR8.9 and URB 8.9

[Deleted User]

42/18 as your easiest gear, my legs said ouch. Hope you live in Norfolk or are built like Froome!

DUTR

Deleted_User said:

42/18 as your easiest gear, my legs said ouch. Hope you live in Norfolk or are built like Froome!

Heh heh , west mids but cycle up the beacon no probs and cross county into Cannock

Spelunthus

fred246 said:

I had awful problems with the Nexus 8 speed hubs......

I've had a Nexus hub (11 speed) on my Charge Hybrid for last 9 years and I have had zero problems - so I would not condemn them out of hand. Sure, it may have lots of little parts inside - but I've never seen them and they work and cause no problems.  I've done two oil changes in that time; its a trivial process (the oil is a silly price).    Gear adjustment by lining up two dots takes 30 seconds once a year.  I've removed the rear wheel several time for tyre/tube changes - it' takes 30 seconds longer than a standard wheel.   Everyone's experience is different, but I would not be afraid of Nexus hubs

[Deleted User]

DUTR said:

Deleted_User said:

42/18 as your easiest gear, my legs said ouch. Hope you live in Norfolk or are built like Froome!

Heh heh , west mids but cycle up the beacon no probs and cross county into Cannock

I've taken my CX on the blue trails at Cannock and that was a 36/28 originally, some of the hills are a push, out on the road 36/34 is my easiest and even that on some hills like Hardknott and Wrynose, had to keep stopping

Johnmcl7

beavertron said:

Another poster commented that parts were hard to find but I don't think that's the case at all. I do know someone who replaced their chainrings and belt at 7 years, and they just ordered both online and they arrived reasonably promptly. 

I'm skeptical that a belt would break without showing it before hand, but I know chains break with no warning. 

Overall I like mine. Its sad to see bad reviews when I and others I know have had good experiences. That said, it will give you very restricted choice on your bike choice. 

It very much is the case that belts are far harder to find than chains, there's very few companies in the UK that stock them and I had to get mine ordered from Europe at the time.  Looking now there's still hardly anyone stocking them, none of the main online retailers do and most certainly none locally.  On the other hand you can buy chains of every time from anywhere that sells bike parts and get a replacement chain or cassette, that's most certainly not the case with Gates belt parts.  The parts are significantly more expensive 

I don't know how you can be sceptical of a belt breaking without warning when there's not really any way it can produce a warning, they just snap and that's it.  You don't have to believe me since a ten second Google search will show numerous examples of the belts breaking especially on mountain bikes where as I found, they don't stand up well to poor weather conditions.  Crucially when they do break you're completely stuffed, you won't find a local store with a replacement and you cannot repair them.  Chains will tend to give a warning before they break it but the big difference is when they break, they can be easily repaired on the go with quicklinks and you can walk into any bike shop and buy a replacement.

You should be changing oil in the hub not just because that's what Shimano specify must be done but once you destroy some of the internal gears through lack of maintenance, it's an entire new hub you're going need - check page 85 here:

https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/dm/DM-AL0001-09-ENG.pdf

I was initially a big fan of my belt drive bike but even putting aside the problems I found they just don't have that much of an advantage over chain drive bikes to counter their many downsides, your post struggles to give any advantages either given two of your pro's are for the hub not the belt drive  When I bought the belt drive I didn't think a chain drive could hold up to the day to day use all year I needed it for but having bought a few chain drive bikes since, they've held up well (much longer than the belt did) even the winter MTB which lives a pretty rough life.