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New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

cyclingtips.com

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Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#31

Post by petre »

EarthIsHome wrote: post #6
invernomut0 wrote: post #2

How does it compare with the rohloff system? Anyways it seems to be significantly more expensive thus I don't think it will become widespread.

I enjoy the rohloff system. I use it with the gates centertrack belt drive instead of a chain. The rohloff system is quite heavy though, so I don't know if it's "more efficient" than a traditional high end sprocket-and-chain system. The rohloff also shifts the weight to the rear of the bike. Maybe the pinion gear box system might be better since its weight is low and towards the center of the bike.

It's not more efficient than a clean derailleur transmission but less maintenance. The trouble with derailleurs is dirt.

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#32

Post by alistairSH »

usrusr wrote: post #12
stiray wrote: post #7

As a guy who ignored the chain on his first bike with XTR gears and had to replace whole drivetrain - yep, I would buy this chain. No question asked, as long as they guarantee me that it wont be stretched.

Just accept that chains are the consumable #1 for a bike and be happy. Shimano chains are absurdly cheap anyways.

This. On a mountain bike, replace the chain every 50 hours of use, or annually and the rest of the drivetrain will last for years.

Or, if you're dumb and lazy (me!), ride the whole lot into the ground and replace the whole bike every few years because #shinynewtoy!

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#33

Post by rorykoehler »

leoh wrote: post #9

Great chain, but the Gates Carbon Drive is likely a superior technology. Europe has largely adopted it, but it is rare in the states. I have a Riese & Müller bike with a Gates Carbon Drive and it is absolutely lovely. Silent, but best of all, no grease on my pants or hands, ever. They handle dirt and dust super well (just dry off and wipe down with a cloth/no gears get jammed with a sealed planetary gear system). It…

What about potential of the ceramicspeed driven design? https://www.ceramicspeed.com/en/driven/

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#34

Post by Yetanfou »

leoh wrote: post #9

Great chain, but the Gates Carbon Drive is likely a superior technology. Europe has largely adopted it, but it is rare in the states. I have a Riese & Müller bike with a Gates Carbon Drive and it is absolutely lovely. Silent, but best of all, no grease on my pants or hands, ever. They handle dirt and dust super well (just dry off and wipe down with a cloth/no gears get jammed with a sealed planetary gear system). It…

I've destroyed a number of Sturmey Archer planetary drive clutches - the square cross-shaped bit which transfers force from the sprocket holder to the drive - by just using them, leaving me wary of planetary drives. While I've also gone through derailleurs they do seem to handle power better than planetary drives and have the additional advantage of feeling far more like a direct drive. One of the advantages of a bicycle is its simplicity, there is not much between your feet and whatever goes for road you happen to be on. I'll gladly give up 2% of efficiency to keep the system simple, repairable with off-the-shelf parts which can be found anywhere in the world and affordable.

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#35

Post by petre »

vondur wrote: post #3
invernomut0 wrote: post #2

How does it compare with the rohloff system? Anyways it seems to be significantly more expensive thus I don't think it will become widespread.

I sure hope it's cheaper than the Rohloff hub, I can't imagine anyone buying these if they are very expensive. I thought I had read that chains and sprockets were pretty efficeint in terms of energy loss.

Tourers buy them. Money well spent. Just change the oil every year. Less efficient than a clean deraileur drivetrain but those stay clean for about 30 minutes.

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#36

Post by mdoms »

ska wrote: post #28
usrusr wrote: post #11

I really don't get it: what power are they claiming to be transferring on the side of the tooth that isn't engaging with a roller chain? Also note that this is only for track bikes with a perfectly straight chainline (technically speaking it would also work for internal gear hubs wish are increasingly driven by belts in the upper price range). The shifting chain that is deployed diagonally more often than straight is…

I don't think they are claiming any power is transferred by the other side, just that it forces a more uniform fit and distributed the power transfer over more teeth.

They very much are making that claim.

> The future apparently isn’t far away, as New Motion Labs has developed a new Dual Engagement chain that is supposedly able to transfer high power on both sides of the tooth, over nearly all the teeth available to the chain.

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#37

Post by buzzerbetrayed »

carlob wrote: post #19
colechristensen wrote: post #15

Reading through there is something very noticeably absent: any claims of increased efficiency. If you spread pressure out offer wider areas, you don’t get less overall friction at least in the first order approximation of friction you find in first year physics. What it looks like is an attempt to make something better that improves metrics which aren’t necessarily coupled to better overall performance.

Given a conventional chain can be up to 98% efficient then the maximum increase in efficiency is 1/.98 - 1 = 2.04%

Is 100% efficiency physically possible? Or are they just trying to get as close as they can, knowing they can never truly reach 100%?

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#38

Post by wishinghand »

alistairSH wrote: post #21
leoh wrote: post #9

Great chain, but the Gates Carbon Drive is likely a superior technology. Europe has largely adopted it, but it is rare in the states. I have a Riese & Müller bike with a Gates Carbon Drive and it is absolutely lovely. Silent, but best of all, no grease on my pants or hands, ever. They handle dirt and dust super well (just dry off and wipe down with a cloth/no gears get jammed with a sealed planetary gear system). It…

How do you handle gears with the belt? Most of the bike I've seen in the US that use the system are single-speeds. I suppose you could use a internally-geared hub, but a Rohloff is mega-expensive and the Shimano offerings leave a lot to be desired.

I bought a Spot Ajax with an Alfine 11 speed hub. Shifts well and has a good spread. I’m a recreational bicyclist though, I have no idea how it “performs”.

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#39

Post by ruined »

petre wrote: post #25
jandrese wrote: post #8

How well can these handle dirt and debris? It looks like a high precision connection which makes me slightly worried that an errant grain of sand or just an accumulation of road grime might jam up the works.

People concerned with dirt do not concern themselves with chain efficiency but rather stuff that removes dirt.

reliability in adverse conditions is an important facet of any design. nobody cares about a new hyperefficient vehicle if it has to operate in a vacuum

Re: New bike chain claims to be faster, more durable

#40

Post by at-fates-hands »

Side note:

I used to work in a bike shop for about ten years. One time had a guy come in who worked with Kyronics. We all made jokes about freezing dead people - but he said you can apply Kryonics to a wide array of stuff not just dead people.

One of the many things some of the team riders were seriously considering was having their cranks, chains and frames frozen since its supposed to alter the molecular structure to make them stiffer and more durable.

I'm not sure they did it, but it was a topic of constant conversation for weeks afterwards.

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