Following this
[url] http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ive-gone-and-done-it-now-full-sus-belt-drive-content [/url]
So, last night I got a bit of time to try and improve the Kona. After a bit of trial and error, I got what appeared to be a dead-straight belt-line. Spinning the cranks inside, everything stayed straight and true, and a midnight jaunt along the back lane, everything stayed in place.
This evening, I went out to test it. Tentatively spun along the road into town, no problems, tried out of the saddle sprinting, everything's fine. Detour into the hospital car-park and down the steps, all good. Dare I say, the bike seems Fun, belt or no belt 🙂
One case of "ratchet-slap" from trying to wheelie, easily solved with a snubber I think. Head uphill so I can point the bike down a rougher section to see how it copes. Out the saddle, power down and BANG! Belt off. Put it back on and set off, this time watching the belt. Sure enough, after a few pedal strokes, its moving sideways off the rear sprocket. So clearly, the increased tension of getting me uphill is enough to put a sideways component on the belt and pull it off. Hopefully re-shimming the cog will help. Job for tomorrow night.
But aside from that the Kona A is a right laugh, and the belt is effortlessly silent (except when it comes off).
Question for Epicyclo - would a snubber help and would increased belt tension help?
The snubber stopped the problem on one of my bikes that was dire.
Gates do want you to use plenty belt tension, but I don't use a lot. My reasons are that the rest of the components on the bike aren't designed for it - ie BB and rear hub bearings. Also extra tension is a good way to end up with cracked spiders on your cranks (been there, done that).
But the advantage of higher tension is that your system is "preloaded" and anything that is going to move sideways (like clearances in your pivots) has the movement taken out of it.
Try a snubber first. Dead easy to make with simple handyman tools, a bit of flat bar, and something like a skateboard wheel as a pulley (or you could buy the Gates one). You set it up at about 7 o'clock on the rear cog with the pulley about 1mm above the belt. That way there's no contact unless the belt starts to rise.
Why the belt drive?
Cheers epicyclo.
And, why not?
Shirley bbs and hubs are under those loads or lesser ones anyway?
Hey epicyclo. On the rear sprocket, should the flange be on the inside or outside? Pics in the manual show it both ways round. At the moment i have both flanges on the outside.
I run my rear cog with the flange in, but whatever it takes to get them aligned 🙂
It's alive! Photos and details to follow. 🙂