Originally Posted by scrapser

Any new technology will go through the early to late adopter bell curve. Adopters along the spectrum will be found in manufacturers, dealers, and end-users. None of them will go through the transition at the same pace. At this point, belt drives are not embedded in the general population as a "need" but rather a "nice to have if I can afford it" (assuming they know it even exists).

There are still some kinks to iron out with belt drives as there always are with new inventions. How fast the best version of the technology becomes mainstream is determined by how fast the adoption process proceeds. People who resist adoption in spite of being able to afford it are the biggest roadblock to progress as they are part of the only population that can help work out the problems that will be encountered by actually using the new equipment and put it through its paces.

At the other end (manufacturing) you have the problem of profitability. The biggest roadblock from this end will be the proliferation of variations of the same product (belt drive system) that are incompatible with each other due to the manufacturers trying to establish proprietary designs, making it even more difficult (and expensive) for users to buy into the technology.