Originally Posted by
rafiki530
I am interested about the new center drive system and wonder if it will prevent some of the stretching issues on the belt that I have heard about with the original system.
Gates
does claim that CenterTrack belts have been designed with higher tensile strength. I'm curious as to the origin of your stretch stories, though. Chains certainly elongate over time as their bushings wear down, but from what I understand about carbon fibre, it does not stretch appreciably. I think there's this popular notion that belts are "rubbery". When people think of rubber, they imagine something that stretches. I doubt that the belt-stretch stories you've heard hold water. It's more likely that people who claim to have experienced belt stretch are actually experiencing their hubs slipping, their chainrings slipping, or some other part of the drivetrain moving around.
Originally Posted by
rafiki530
I like that you made the break in your frame at the chain stay
Just a small point, the break is in the seat stay. I haven't yet uploaded any full-bike photos, so I know that it's hard to tell what's where.
Originally Posted by
rafiki530
…since I have now heard from a fellow district rider who's frame has a break at the dropouts that there are tension issues that can develop in the belt if there is a break at the dropouts and from what I have heard Is the reason why the new districts have the break in the chain stays now to accept the belt.
Neat! I didn't notice that about the new Districts, but there it is. I have a belt drive Trek Soho with split dropouts, and I haven't touched the beltline in years. Runs smoother than the day I bought it.
Originally Posted by
rafiki530
how did you do your spacing on your hyper glide hub? did you center it or put it out on the edge?
The hub you see pictured there is a junker that I have lying around (anyone want to buy a 24h Xero Lite?). The real hub for this build is still in the mail. When I get it, I'm going to head into the shop and do two things. First, I'm going to shorten the bottom bracket spindle. The one that's in there right now was designed to handle road gearing; it's too long for a single speed. Once that's done, I'll put everything together and fiddle with spacers until the beltline is perfect. I'll post photos so you can see where they fell! My prediction is dead centre in the cassette.
Originally Posted by
rafiki530
the one reason I strayed away from the idea was due to the fact that there weren't a lot of options in gearing and belt size and hub selection.
That rings somewhat true today. You basically have the choice of any Shimano Hyperglide hub for most cog sizes. Your choices begin to dwindle if you want to belt drive a Nexus/Alfine/Rohloff. On the tail end there's a single cog choice for NuVinci hubs, and one 21t thread-on cog if you want to go fixie. Even though I had the option of using any 9-spline Hyperglide hub, I still managed to knock myself out looking for a black 24h single speed 126mm one. Eventually I gave up, and bought a black 24h 8-speed 130mm one.
Originally Posted by
rafiki530
Maybe if I get the dough I will try something with the Phil wood belt drive designs.
Just a word of warning, Phil Wood stuff is still on the old system. Ask them when they're going to CenterTrack, or go it alone.