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[Closed] Belt drive. It may be time to admit defeat.

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Seems weird, I've had 10x your miles out of chains, the one on my meta lasted 2000+ miles before a rock killed it


 
Posted : 16/11/2014 10:32 am
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I've found KMC chains to be dire, despite the love on here.

9000km on a x10sl dlc road chain - well past the 1.0mm wear marker on my chain checker, fitted a new cassette at 5000km, shifted perfect on old cassette, still perfect on new cassette


 
Posted : 16/11/2014 10:32 am
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I don't get how people to claim to do years with a singlespeed chain. I have recently gone Rohloff on my mountainbike and even of mostly try trails I find chain strech quite bad. Chain binned at just over 1000k second one not gonna last more then 1500 it seems.


 
Posted : 16/11/2014 10:36 am
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MTG, (at the risk of sounding condescending) are you leaving enough slack in that chain?


 
Posted : 16/11/2014 10:40 am
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Rohloff, chainstretch, HA!

If it's still attached, keep pedalling mate.

MTG does seem to be beating on the drivetrain impressively. I took a Rohloff-equipped bike to Oz and NZ with a shitton of luggage and the chain didn't break. Hell I rode up the world's steepest street* with around 40KGs on, pushing so hard in the bottom gear that I was puffing like a powelifter. The strain on the drivetrain was [i]exceptional[/i].

Nothing broke. I only changed my chain affter the trip because I felt like it. XTR 771 spec, Thorn Ally Chainring, Rohloff Rear Sprocket. It did thousands of miles afterwards.

[IMG] [/IMG]

If I didn't wear it out with this lunacy, I fail to see why a belt is worth the effort.

*Yeah, OK offroad can be steeper, but not by much. I was forced to zig-zag to stop the front lifting off. Bear in mind I'd couriered for a few months and then been riding around the south of NZ for 3 months, I was probably able to generate about as much drivetrain force as as TdF racer [though I didnt have the endurance. Hell I rode so hard into the wind giving my Ex a slipstream my damn Achilles frayed/strained. That sucked.]

EDIT: NB my chain was never tight.

EDIT EDIT:

cynic-al - Member
Is anyone else disappointed this thread is not about turntables?

NO. Belt drive FTW.

PS - when riding up that street I was around 85kg of almost only muscle, and pulling down on the bars so hard they damn near bent. With 175mm Cranks the torque was enough to make the whole gorram frame wind up!


 
Posted : 16/11/2014 11:53 am
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That chain is on the Lynskey and was already part worn when the belt stripped on the Qoroz. I've got no record of when I originally fitted it.

So your statement about a chain biting the dust with 'just over a months use' is actually bobbins, and you have no clue about how old it is...? Have you considered a career writing headlines for tabloids? 🙄


 
Posted : 16/11/2014 12:23 pm
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Just to be clear, chain snapping is a different issue to chain wear.

Graham, why not trynone of those floating fully enclosed chain guards? Saw one on a bike in Germany, look very good.


 
Posted : 16/11/2014 4:01 pm
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Bobbins is a strong word, I'd prefer guesstimate. 😛
Although I'll admit that claiming it was a KMC X9 was bobbins; turns out it was a Shimano. 😳

I always thought of my Qoroz as my main bike and my Lynskey as my spare.
If I was racing, I'd set the Qoroz up as either Rohloff or SS and the Lynskey the same to take as a spare bike.
I'm not planning on doing any more races, so when I removed the belt drive from the Qoroz, I thought I'd leave it more or less permanently as Rohloff and the Lynskey as SS.
I also took the opportunity to use up some odd size chainrings and sprockets I had by swapping bits around between both my bikes, Mrs MTG's bike and the tandem.
Somewhere in the confusion, the Lynskey ended up with the old chain off the rear of the tandem, or possibly the 'cross bike, which I thought was KMC, but now turns out it wasn't.
Anyway, I've now fitted the Lynskey with the old Shimano chain off the 'cross bike, or possibly the tandem.

Anyway, it's got another part worn chain on it, so when that one wears out, I'll fit a new one and keep a record of how long it lasts.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 11:09 am
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Well that's cleared that up then...


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 11:17 am
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[url= http://www.hebie.de/schutz/kettenschuetzer/chainglider/350/?&L=1 ]Hebie Chainglider[/url]

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 11:18 am
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I'd find a different route to work while you're at it, or try to ride around the puddles.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 11:46 am
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Well that's cleared that up then

Do you wanna hear about the tyres? 😀

I've seen those Chaingliders before, but always thought of them as a commuter thing to keep chain oil off your smart trousers.
They look like they would just fill up with mud on a mountain bike.

I don't know, but I've always thought that most of the mud gets on the chain from the back tyre and most water from the front tyre.
I've thought about making some sort of snow plough shaped attachment, on the set tube where the front derailleur mounts, to divert any mud stuck to the rear tyre off to one side or the other, over the top of the chain and away from the chain stay bridge where it normally collects. A sort of metal rear Neoguard.
I don't know if that would help or if it's been tried before.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 11:51 am
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Have a look at Geoff Apps' bike - there's a plate to keep the tyre mud from the chain and the chain is running inside some kind of tubes. If you made a BB mount thing out of aluminium sheet it could act as a flat guard between tyre and chain and a curved guard in front of the chain ring to keep the water off.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:05 pm
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They look like they would just fill up with mud on a mountain bike.

Worth a try though? I have a feeling it'd help a lot. I'd use one if I had a SS or hub geared bike.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:09 pm
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If I'm honest I think you're just exposing your drivetrain to the sorts of wear that it would take most folk a year or more to do.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:09 pm
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Katz FTW:

[img] [/img]
Fully sealed chain drive in the swing-arm, to Rohloff wheel. Shame they've gone bust. Got to be scope for a similar design with a gearbox up front.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:21 pm
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After 350 or so dry miles, after going through it's first bit of gloopy mud when down in Dorset I now have a nice ornament hanging in my garage to remind me how useless it is.

[img] [/img]

Clocked up 1500+ miles on it's replacement chain and cogs with a slight chain stretch and EEB tightening.
If in mud avoid, great for commuting on tarmac


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:31 pm
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"If in mud avoid, great for commuting on tarmac"

my experiance dealing with trek district warrenty claims from the till side of the desk says otherwise- even with the propper deflection measurement tool for set up - one for the history books.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:34 pm
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MTG

Why not run a track chain, surely you won't kill that?


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:41 pm
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I may have asked this before but does the frame flex a lot in use?

Could it be subtle enough that on a SS/IGH chains alignment its enough to add more, than can be tolerated, lateral force causing premature wear?


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 12:49 pm
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letmetalktomark - Member

I may have asked this before but does the frame flex a lot in use?

For the use of a Gates Belt drive the frame has to be passed by Gates for stiffness to make sure the flex doesn't cause the problem, so I believe


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 2:20 pm
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[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 2:41 pm
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For the use of a Gates Belt drive the frame has to be passed by Gates for stiffness to make sure the flex doesn't cause the problem, so I believe

Mike Travers told me that apparently the Angus isn't Gates certified due to the horseshoe-shape plate chainstay/BB interface
Neither is my Kona A, and there's no doubt the frame flex through the pivots caused problems, but since getting the centre-track belt and the bolt in hub, its been fine.


 
Posted : 17/11/2014 3:15 pm
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For the use of a Gates Belt drive the frame has to be passed by Gates for stiffness to make sure the flex doesn't cause the problem, so I believe

That's not really true. There's nothing to stop you buying gates beltdrive parts and fitting them to any old thing. And yes, if the frame isn't suited (too flexy/inaccurate chainline) then the experience you'll have with the system will be poor.

The Gates test exists to make sure designers/builders have access to data to make sure their design will work as expected.

Some vendors want you to submit some of this data before they sell you parts to work with the beltdrive. This is to ensure you don't build a bike to use the system that then proves to be a bit shonky, giving the whole system a bad name.


 
Posted : 10/01/2015 1:36 pm
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