ninevictor, that's interesting. Tell us about it.

Sooo many fine looking bikes on this thread!

OK! =)

The bike is a custom build by Zealot Bikes out of Corona, CA. The frame is KVA MS2 stainless steel with Paragon Poly Drops designed for belt drive. The frame and fork have eyelets for racks and fenders should I choose to go that route instead of the backpack I currently use.

The drivetrain is Gates Carbon Drive paired with Shimano Alfine 11 Di2

I wanted disc brakes so they selected Avid BB7 S Road calipers with Shimano centerlock rotors.

The front hub is an Alfine dynamo hub laced to Stan's ZTR Alpha 340 Disc tubeless rims with Hutchison Secteur 28c tires.

The framebuilder is a fellow bike + train commuter and rides a belt-drive bike. It was my interest in belt drive that sparked the conversation that resulted in this bike. We imagined a low-maintenance commute bike that could stand in for a traditional road bike because of my propensity to throw in some "extra credit" mileage on my afternoon rides home. Stainless steel was selected as the low-maintenance frame material. Shimano's mechanical Alfine 11 was the initial IGH of choice but we soon changed to Di2 after Di2 parts started becoming more readily available in the US. There's no functional reason we decided on Di2. The honest truth is that we all thought it would just be really cool. Gates' Carbon Drive was always the drive component of choice because of its durability and clean method of operation. No lube required; can't have grease getting on the pant legs. Disc brakes were used because I commute by bike rain-or-shine and the improved wet-weather performance of disc brakes over standard road calipers cannot be denied.

The Alfine 11 gear range is incredibly wide and very functional. I've taken the bike up some of the steeper climbs (>15% grade) in the area so the low gears are more than sufficient. Additionally I can easily cruise at 20 mph on the local MUPs and still have a couple of taller gears at my disposal. An added benefit is the belt drive is extremely quiet! It's even quieter than the single speed chain that was used to test the bike while the builders were waiting on Gates to release the Di2-compatible rear sprocket.

I hope that covers what you were looking for!

Yes, and more. It's a very special bike indeed.

Are you talking about this bike of yours? Sorry, but it's pretty different, aesthetically, from MVZ's bike.

Details? Brand?

Wait, did you jury-rig Di2 shifter & actuator to drive an Alfine, or does Shimano make an Alfine IGH with a Di2 shifter?

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post15960886

It's a Shimano groupset. They offer Di2 in Dura-Ace, Ultegra and Alfine IGH. This is all I could find on the Shimano website: https://www.shimano.com/publish/conte...lfine_di2.html

crap i guess i thought this was the hot or not thread when i said that. that's an old picture, i've changed a few things and have new pics in that other thread. i know it's not exactly the same but its the same idea. doesn't really matter was just making an observation

That's it. My next bike will be a belt drive. SS or IGH, I don't care.

You won't regret it. I'm loving mine.

Damn that's slick!

It's funny, I grew up in Corona... I will have to see if I know these guys.

Tre cool! Can I ask in what part of the world you live?

From the picture... Southern California, maybe Los Angeles county.

Pics of my new-to-me commuter bike, from craigslist. It looks pretty drab but rides so much better than the full-suspension Mongoose I had been riding. This is much faster, especially uphill. I bought it yesterday evening after work and rode it to work this morning after adding the underseat bag with a tube and lock and the front water bottle cage with a mini-pump clipped to the side.

It's a Raleigh USA MT 400, made in Seattle. The brakes, brake levers, shifters, and tires don't match each other, but both derailleurs are Shimano Deore LX. I imagine I'll change stuff over time - like having matching brake levers, especially. Do you guys have any favorites on the lower side of the price range? Right now one feels great (Shimano, looks like aluminum to me) but one feels cheap and flimsy (ProMax, looks like cheapest Chinese pot metal available).

Do either of the tires look backwards to you guys? They both do to me, but I confess I know little about bike tires.

Shopping list - brake levers...maybe I can buy one that matches the Shimano I like on craiglist, eBay, etc.?

Pedals - I don't like clips on pedals and while I could remove these, the pedals themselves are pretty mashed up. Is there sort of an inexpensive but durable favorite pedal among MTBers and commuters who wear regular shoes while riding?

Fenders, rear rack, and some kind of rack bag. Maybe a little stubby front rack too that mounts on the brake...uh...mounts? You guys know what I mean. There's a recent thread about them.

Grips. These are terrible. They are thicker at the outside and after my five mile commute this morning, it felt like all the pressure was on the bone between my pinky and wrist on each hand, instead of evenly distributed across my hands.

Saddle. It looks and feels like the stock seat on my Mongoose but I've been at my desk for about an hour now and I still feel like I'm on the bike. That didn't happen on the other bike. I guess it might be the lack of suspension, but otherwise I stand whenever going over bumps and such. I'll switch them out tonight and see how that works tomorrow.

nice ride. I'm looking for something like this in the northern UK but am not having so much luck

Big Ben's right. Southern California

The picture is Los Angeles Union Station.

Got the electric bike to work today. That's a 14Kv DC transformer it's hanging in front of.

ok, thanks - so you don't have to worry about snow, cold extremes, etc. Curious how the belts will hold up in the winter

I was looking at that pic and thinking, "isn't he somewhere over by Union Station with that ramp...", but I haven't gone through there in years, so wasn't going to be that specific.

According to Gates' FAQ, the belt will handle winter pretty much anywhere. The belt has an operating temperature range of -65F to 185F
https://www.gatescarbondrive.com/prod...AA8145290F3%7d

Yes sir. Multimodal commute FTW.

I know how much we like to see commuter bikes in there loaded and full. So here are a few of my "rainy day bike" from my commute this morning.