GAtes Belt Drive
ultimate commuter
another first from ThorUSA
First pic:
Dahon Mu xl Sport with Shimano 8 speed Alfine redband internal rear hub
Second pic:
The heart of the Gates Carbon Drive Belt system
Third pic :
clearance belt to frame
Fourth pic:
clearance viewed from other side
Picture 5:
in order to get a straight belt- line and have clearance, I added a custom ( RED) spacer to the BB in order to move it out just a bit. Also on this pic you can see that I did not have track chainring bolts ( shorter than usual ) and had to use ugly spacer
Picture 6:
I needed to switch to a 130 mm boltcircle crankset ( from the stock 110 mm bcd). This older Stronglight worked well, but any other 130mm bcd crank will work also
Picture 7:
looking good. Gearing inches is 24-74 versus the standard one of 30-91. That is roughly 25 % difference.
What that means is that you have to pedal faster by 25 % to ride the same speed or pedal 25 % longer to reach the same
distance ( in the same gear ).
But the good news is, that the 8 speed hub has plenty of gears which will be perfect.
With a low of 24 you will be able to climb the steepest hills with 25 % less pedal effort. The only downside
is that you will spin out going downhill in more than 25 miles of speed and simply have to coast. No problem in my book !
If you live in a hilly area you will LOVE the gearing this way.
all Mu XL SPort are sold. Sorry no belt conversions are being done unless we find a bike model which works, stay tuned for exiting things to come down the pipeline.
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