Hell yeah!
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I can't wait till tomorrow night to test it!
cool... I'd love to get another Kona A and do the same (though probably with an Alfine out the back 🙂 )
Are you sure there will be enough flex in the belt?
Bandito what belt drive system have you used is it a gates one? And if so can i ask how much didi it cost?
Are you sure there will be enough flex in the belt?
don't need it on the A... it pivots round the BB, so no chain growth etc 🙂
Cool 8)
the belt doesn's stretch at all - what do I want flex for?
psychle - If I can find the funds (and it survives the winter as a SS) I'd like to put an Alfine 11 on it next year.
Yes, its a Gates. Cost about £200 for both sprockets, belt and horrifically expensive delivery from Germany. I've heard rumours they'll do a bulk-buy discount.
[gob smacked]
psychle - If I can find the funds (and it survives the winter as a SS) I'd like to put an Alfine 11 on it next year.
Schweet... the perfect winter bike eh!? 8)
Only asked don't take it to heart. 
well- the perfect winter bike would be rigid frame/forks, but belt-compatible rigid frames are hard to come by (yet)
I wanted to build one up to give it a go before buying a new belt-specific frame.
I'd tone down that 4th tag before the wife see it. It's essential!
Very nice.
i have have been looking for a Kona A to do just this! Interested to hear what it cost and how it runs?
that is the bike of the future
That washing in the background should be dry by now.
Bandit where did you buy the kit from was it direct from gates. I'm looking into it myself at the moment and am shortly having a custom frame built up
Neil - do you mean the tablecloth? or the Sofa? Poor stalking!
What have you done for top tube hose guides? Cable ties? John Swann @ the bike shop is using two silver ones on his A so if you buy a black pair he'll swap one.
Oh, and his is faster. It has white forks.
That's ace, keep us updated will you?
That is great!
How well does a concentric BB/Pivot bike pedal?
i've wanted to do this to my Kona A - but have come to the conclusion that an unemployed person, who has 3 working bikes already, cannot afford to do this.
or to keep the kona A frame.
hence mine is for sale 🙁
Ringo - belt was direct from Universal Transmission (Nicolai)
Will update with more pics and ride review, erm, once I've ridden it!
NIce idea, but my god that is an ugly thing.
Sorry
I had a quote of around £150 from [url= http://www.shandcycles.com/ ]Shand Cycles[/url] for a belt and sprockets, so a bit cheaper than getting direct from Germany.
Might be worth giving Steven a shout if anyone is interested.
Cheers, Rich
Good skills, looking forward to having a go. Makes me think of those rubber band powered aeroplanes I built as a kid.
Also leaning your bike against the wall like that is going to mark the paintwork.....
very nice Paul. Can I ask why rigid frames cannot take a belt drive?
Rigid frames can take a belt drive. But you have to get the saw out to fit it and then weld it together again, so it ain't going to be cheap or pretty!
SS FS? 😯
ah just realised that. 🙂
I guess with the full sus you take the rear linkage apart to get it on? guess someone needs to invent a belt that can be split then put back together....
I believe there are some rigis frames around that can be 'split' and rejoined. Doubt a belt can be made strong enough to be spilt
I have wanted to do the hardtail belt drive as well but not have a one off frame made. After looking around I bought a Whyte 19 as it thats looks good to cut and rejoin with plates. Will post pics when both brave enough and flush enough for the belts etc Thanks for link to Shand Cycles
I've been looking at doing that with one of these:
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only problem is they don't have horizontal dropouts so I'd have to stick to magic ratio
How does a belt drive pedal? Is it as instant as Metal? Or do you notice some slight stretch? Is it completely silent?! I want a full review!
Neat job ir_bandito 🙂
I was planning doing this to a Kona, but the price of the frame I was looking at went up, and I got diverted onto other projects and I'm not that keen on suspension anyway.
I'll be interested in your ride reports.
(BTW if you get flex problems they can be fixed.)
I think Chipps tested an experimental Orange P7 singlespeed with a belt drive of some kind and was quite impressed with it. I recall he said it felt like a chain but very quiet and it continuously shed any mud it picked up.
ill say it again it is the future
no nasty oily rattly chain to catch mud and clog up
pivot around the bb solves chain growth problems and probably avoid a lot of complicated suspension designs all wee need now is a lightweight belt compatible 10 speed version of hammerschimdt and life will be good
come on bike manufacturers sort it out
kona dont even make the A anymore do they?
That, with a rohloff, is the ultimate.
[i]kona dont even make the A anymore do they?[/i]
there are 'issues' with having a main pivot that is around the BB as far as pedalling efficiency is concerned. It's not an issue so much on play bikes but for the Kona A which was an xc bike they were a problem.
I guess new shock designs may help, though?
Why can't you have a chain tensioner on a FS belt drive bike?
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?
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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 - Membermolgrips - 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 🙂
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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
[url] http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/belt-drive-kona-a-update [/url]