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I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions: - Belt drives are
by johnny99 10y ago
I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions:
- Belt drives are great. They're sturdier than chains, cleaner, and something I love, quieter. The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. Which keeps it yet cleaner. You can ride to work without worrying about grease on your pants.
- Whatever people ride in the Netherlands, a half-decent bike is a lot more pleasant than something slapped together. The gears don't grind, the brakes work, they weigh less--which hardly affects speed, but makes them easier to lug around, take up stairs, etc. Fancy carbon is unnecessary for commuting or about-town, but $500 for a quality bike that will be easy to maintain is reasonable. I speak as someone who has three frankenbikes in the garage--slapping something together is fun, but it's like getting an $800 car. Likely to be a headache.
- That said, bike shops tend to be snobby, and try to get you to buy more than you need. Regular people don't need carbon, or 30 gears, or to spend >$1k.
- It's nice that this is an integrated system. Fenders are great (again, keep you clean), and are often a pain to get on without them rubbing or making noise. Having them built in is a big plus, and makes the price more reasonable. Likewise, the trailer, racks, and bags that are made for this are all reasonably priced, and presumably work together well.
- If there are hills near you, 2 speeds suck--I live in SF and I'd be pushing this thing up hills all day. I'm also not a fan of coaster brakes. But this is a geo/personal thing, ymmv.
- If you're going to order a bike online and want something cheaper, two people in my office bought a Schwinn Discover on Amazon for about $270, and they're great bikes. They came in good shape, partially assembled, but benefitted from my doing a quick tune-up. Even if you paid a shop to do that for $50, still a lot cheaper than the Ikea bike, which itself could probably use some fine-tuning.
- tzakrajs 10y agoMy belt driven Scott Sub 10 slips teeth under really high torque. I dont know if this is typical of all belt driven, but they seem less robust under torque genrally.
- xorcist 10y agoI got one of those! I've done most of my commuting on it during the past year. Mine doesn't slip under load. Perhaps check with your bike shop that it is tensioned enough?
- mmariani 10y agoYou should check the tension of your carbon belt. Gates has an app to help you do that. Usually is just a matter of loosening the back weel bolts, adjusting the screws that push on the axel and retightenig the weel. If your frame doesn't have the adjustment screws you should check your bike manual.
- aluhut 10y agoI have question for you. Before my actual bike, I had a mountain bike for something around 15years. I never changed or did anything to the chain. It was perfect. Now I bought a new one. After 2 years I went to the shop to have it checked. They had to change the chain. When I told them my story with the old bike they told me: "that's how it is today. Chains are not what they were". I'm still in disbelieve. Can you confirm this?
- factorialboy 10y agoHere in Amsterdam, you can either buy a cheap Chinese made bike which breaks down often or an expensive but reliable Dutch bike. Needless to say, both are likely to get stolen within the first six months. ;-)
- abrax3141 10y agoWhy are bikes still getting stolen? So many bikes are stolen that you'd think the market for stolen bikes, and parts, which can't be THAT huge, would be saturated.
- johnny99 10y agoI think it's in part because they are their own getaway vehicles. And they're often parked outside, so you don't have to break in to anything.
- miloshadzic 10y agopeople whose bikes get stolen need new ones
- agumonkey 10y agoGood point on the belt. I wonder if people paired that to a NuVinci CVT system: https://youtu.be/GHYGOIttuVM https://youtu.be/GHYGOIttuVM - no noise - no grease - no shift shock - no fixed gear I'd love to try a bike like this. ...
- kojeovo 10y agoCheck out Vanhawks
- asgeirn 10y agoGrace makes an e-bike with this combination: http://www.grace-bikes.com/en/bikes/mx2urban/ http://www.grace-bikes.com/en/bikes/mx2urban/
- jolux 10y agoThey exist. I saw one in an issue of Popular Mechanics a few years ago. Forget the name though unfortunately. It was an e-bike with a NuVinci CVT and had these crazy wheels that had nothing but three massive spokes.
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- EvanClarke 10y agoThey exist - I have one; and very nice. Mine is made by Lekker.
- agumonkey 10y agoNo problem with the variator ? too heavy ? lack of efficiency ? maintenance or frailty ? Just curious, one guy on reddit said he didn't trust the thing much.
- skrause 10y ago> The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. That has nothing do to with belt vs. chain, you can easily combine a chain with a gear hub and add a chain guard.
- protomyth 10y agoI just have a tough time believing a belt is better than a chain, when I've had two cars with timing belts break before the suggested replacement mileage, but never had the problem with a timing chain. It seems like the same would be true of a bicycle.
- nrjdhsbsid 10y agoChains are great if you drive a car to 125k miles and junk it, but I've recently started preferring belts since I try to make mine last 200. Eventually the chain tensioners wear out and changing a chain is enough work that I usually scrap the car at that point. Belts are much easier to change, and perhaps more importantly, inspect.
- ayuvar 10y agoNot to mention that a lot of chain-drive cars often choose cheaper or substandard materials for chain guides. You end up with a choice between sounding like it's broken and having to spend a good chunk of a weekend dismantling it.
- nrjdhsbsid 10y agoI've driven a lot of cars beyond that point where the chain guides don't exist... The sounds of a chain sloshing around are unmistakable :). If you're lucky it will skip a few teeth one day and give you a chance to fix it. Unlucky, it skips a bunch of teeth and bends all the exhaust valves. I managed to salvage one of those too by driving around at high rpm until the valves had...Hammered themselves mostly straight again. Wouldn't recommend, usually you'll get an iffy cylinder or two after that that mysteriously only fire above 2000 rpm
- toomanybeersies 10y agoI've owned 3 vehicles with cam chains. All of them have over 320,000 km (200k miles). None of them have had issues with the chain or the tensioner. That could be a testament to old Japanese engines (specifically Nissan) though, two from 1996 and one from 1982.
- awqrre 10y agoUsually belts don't require grease... and to tell you the truth I don't see why they put that white belt guard on top...
- analog31 10y agoIn addition to keeping your pants clean, the chainguard also helps keep your pant cuff from getting caught in the chain.
- awqrre 10y agoI can somewhat understand the belt-guard around the pedal gear, but why all the way back to the rear wheel? This bike sounds like a scam, especially if you look at the cost...
- analog31 10y agoI suspect that some of the design choices come down to styling. In terms of cost, this is a bike with a special market niche: Placement in Ikea stores, and branding associated with European lifestyle.
- david-given 10y agoMy elder brother used to build bicycles out of bits he pulled out of a river. Like, literally. He once built a bicycle that was so awful that it lasted him a complete undergraduate session at university, then a complete postgraduate session at a different university, and then I got it and it lasted me a complete (four-year) undergraduate session at a third university, and didn't get stolen once. I only managed to get rid of it by leaving it, unlocked, in the hall of residence bike sheds, over the summer vacation. Even then it was possible the bin men just threw it away. But I like to think that it got thrown back into a river, and is waiting to rise again in future generations and make some other poor student's life a misery...
- castratikron 10y agoBack in college I got rid of my old bike by just leaving it unlocked outside. It was gone in a few days.
- david-given 10y agoTried that. Turns out, even bike thieves have standards.
- mattmillr 10y agoIn Brooklyn, I got rid of half a bike (missing front fork and seat) by setting it outside for about 20 minutes. I guess you could say I got rid of the first half by setting it outside overnight, poorly locked to a post, but it was unintentional.
- seltzered_ 10y agoWorth watching this timelapse of a bicycle left locked outside for a year in NYC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZcXF10Ir9Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZcXF10Ir9Q It holds alright until little things start to get missing, after which the rest of it quickly gets stolen.
- _Wintermute 10y agoA negative for belt drives, especially on a bike this price, is the cost of replacement parts. I think a shimano nexus 3sp would be a much more sensible option, though obviously it's not as striking and wouldn't get to the HN front page.
- trgn 10y agoGood list. I'd add two other pros: - unisex frame - upright riding position
- colanderman 10y ago> The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. To be fair, the angle of a chain doesn't change either, if you have an internally geared hub, as one must with belts.