molgrips – I think belts need more tension than a spring loaded tensioner provides

Kona still make the "Bass" I think which pivots around the BB. Was featured within the last 12months in the mag…

I've got an 18" Kona A if anyone wants it for spares. The front triangle is destroyed (broken around the BB shell, and the top tube's got a nasty ding) but the Fox shock is good and the rear triangle is sound – it's the disco slidey one rather than the v-only one!

the van nichols on the latest eurobike story has a roller to keep it on, is taht what you mean?

I cant quite work out what that roller is doing. its too far back to be used as a guide and its past the contact point so it cant be adding any more tension

Thinking about trying a belted here also if anyone thinking of a group buy
J.

Jerome id be in for it

Ok..
Anyone else ??
I have no idea on costs..

That washing in the background should be dry by now.

😆

Do the sockets on the back fit a standard single speed hub or do they need to be run a wheel with a standard freehub?

I cant quite work out what that roller is doing. its too far back to be used as a guide and its past the contact point so it cant be adding any more tension

I think the roller is positioned there to stop the belt lifting up off the sprocket and skipping. It may allow you to run slightly less tension, reducing the load on the bearings.

thepodge – Member
I cant quite work out what that roller is doing. its too far back to be used as a guide and its past the contact point so it cant be adding any more tension

It's not a tensioner, it's a snubber. The purpose is to stop the belt riding too high up the cog when the chainstay flexes. It is positioned at 90º to the dropout to allow the wheel to drop out easily.

IMO the use of a snubber is a kludge to make up for an inadequately stiff chainstay. They do however work very well. I made one for one of my conversions that was almost unrideable because of flex and it completely cured the riding up. In this case it would suggest that the VN belt drive frame is using the same chainstays as the chain driven one – no doubt because the Ti suppliers don't have anything suitable yet.

TandemJeremy – Member

molgrips – I think belts need more tension than a spring loaded tensioner provides

That's ridiculous! You're just wrong! How can you be so stupid!

Oh wait.. no, you're ok. Force of habit there 🙂

In this case it would suggest that the VN belt drive frame is using the same chainstays as the chain driven one – no doubt because the Ti suppliers don't have anything suitable yet.

It looks like VN have just used the dérailleur dropout to replace the hub specific one they were using on the chain driven model. RIP has one of those belt driven Zions but I don't think this years model had the roller. I expect he'll be a bit concerned now that VN seem to have identified a problem.

I've just sent them an email about it. It'll be interesting to see how it affects warranty.

That said, I've not experienced any belt jumping issues.

All in all it's an excellent ride.

maybe a stupid question and not sure if it has been asked before – but how is the belt connected or do you need a frame that splits to connect it up?

simon1975 – How much do you want for the remains of your 'A'?

The new DMR Bolt full sus frame looks like it would work well with this setup. How is belt drive for freeride type stuff, I would have thought it would work well?

Wow, loads of interest. I'd never have expected that 😉

First ride report: Erm, bit of a failure. Belt Alignment is REALLY important. And mine isn't quite right.
Ah well, back to the workshop for some fettling…. Watch this space.

And yes, Kona make the Bass (and Cowan DS) which are ripe for belt conversion.

I was going to put my Rohloff on this one, but it needs a bit more attention than a standard cassette hub.

Epicyclo – curios about what you mean about the flex. Email in my profile if you fancy getting touch.

Giantjason – you need a frame that splits (the belt doesn't). Thats the advantage of the Kona full-sus frames, simply split the sus linkage.

Oh, and you can't use a standard spring-tensioner, not becasue of the tension required, but because the belts aren't designed to be folded back on themselves. Maybe the new Schlumpf 14mm belts will get around that issue..

Oh dear, what happened? Did it fall off?

a dozen pedal strokes and a feeling not too dissimilar to a chain-snapping.
Yes, it fell off. Slipped off the rear sprocket, so they can't be aligned.

Ooops.

Nicknoxx I'd take £60 posted for my A including shock (freshly serviced). Got a couple of people who might just want to buy the rear triangle though, who I'll try to reply to today 🙂

Front triangle is unusable in my opinion. Ding in top tube when bought from previous owner, front triangle's clamp onto the main pivot bearings is sheared through general wear and tear (fatigue, not crashed).

ir_bandito – Member
…Epicyclo – curios about what you mean about the flex. Email in my profile if you fancy getting touch.

I'm talking about lateral flex of the chainstay when you put pressure on the pedals. What this results in is the belt being moved out of alignment and then approaching the rear cog at an angle*. This makes it difficult for the belt to slip into the grooves of the rear cog and it attempts to ride up. Because it does not stretch, it ends up snapping back into the grooves making a klaaak noise. The snubber will cure this because it makes it impossible for the belt to ride up high. Continued klaaaking will wreck the belt.

Of course, if your belt alignment is not perfect it will be trying to do this anyway. Play in your pivots will also cause this problem.

*Visualise your rear cogs as a series of parallel lines, and also your belt as a series of parallel lines feeding into the cog. Now think of what happens when you try to feed those parallel lines in at an angle.

See here for update

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/belt-drive-kona-a-update