If you bought a bicycle between say 1893 and 2007, chances are you know what a bike chain tattoo (aka “rookie mark”) is鈥攖he greasy imprint of your bike chain on your leg or pant cuff. Bike chains, greasy and annoying as they can be, are a critical part of two-wheeled forward motion. Though your chain will periodically fall, rust after a rain shower, and generally make a nuisance of itself, if you’re going to bike, you need a chain.
Or you did. In 2007, to combat the sometimes rusty, seizing, calf-printing, mis-shifting chain, invented the Carbon Belt Drive.
It鈥檚 not so different from a chain and chainrings/cassette, but instead of a metal chain, the system uses a half-inch wide belt made from carbon fiber and polyurethane that mates perfectly as you pedal with what looks like a thick chainring. The belt is super strong, rust impervious鈥攅ven after being sprayed for 192 hours with salt water鈥攁nd it won鈥檛 leave a print on your pants. It also won鈥檛 stretch over time like a chain. Because there is no metal-to-metal contact, belt drives don鈥檛 need the lube that eventually turns into greasy dirt. And, no metal on metal not only means zero maintenance, but a smoother ride. It鈥檚 virtually silent鈥攏o clacking. And the clincher: it鈥檚 lighter than a standard drivetrain.
The idea for a belt drive bike came from other industries. Gates had developed high-performance belt drives for everything from dragster blowers to snowmobiles, but they had never applied the idea to bikes.
When they did, a few brands were interested and the system debuted on five bikes total in 2008. Today, there are more than 200 bike models from 80 brands using Gates belt drives on every style of pedal-powered vehicle, from urban bikes to mountain bikes to e-bikes. Paired with internally geared hubs, gearboxes, and multi-speed bottom brackets, it鈥檚 not only for single聽 speeders.
The only bummer: you can鈥檛 retrofit your bike with the system. A belt drive requires a split frame that can be unbolted in the back in order to slide the unbreakable belt over the front and rear cogs. A belt can鈥檛 be broken and reconnected like a traditional chain, and it doesn鈥檛 shift gears in the same way鈥攁n internal shifting hub is required. (.)
To highlight the advantages of belt-drive bikes, particularly that you , Gates just re-launched their website. Don鈥檛 be alarmed鈥攖hough at first you might think you鈥檝e clicked onto some sort of religious site or yoga retreat center where everyone is required to wear white. It鈥檚 just Gates making a point鈥攜ou鈥檒l never have to worry about grease on your leg again.
鈥淲e want to blow up people鈥檚 notions of what bicycling can be,鈥 says Todd Sellden, director of Gates Carbon Drive Systems. 鈥淭he goal is to create buzz and enthusiasm for Carbon Drive as a lifestyle improvement that makes bicycling easier by eliminating some of the grime.鈥
Last summer, we had the chance to test Redline鈥檚 Monobelt 29er which features Gates Carbon Drive. A single-speed double-butted chromoly frame belt drive bike, it lived up to all of Gates鈥 promises鈥攃lean, quiet, smooth and hassle-free. The Rockshox Reba fork took up bumps in the trail, and for this rider, pedaling a single speed made me a better biker鈥攊t trained me to power up hills, and to use my body position more effectively. Plus, it gave me quads of steel. The bike: , $1700.