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Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

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Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#271

Post by fian »

aluhut wrote: post #134
johnny99 wrote: post #119

I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions: - Belt drives are great. They're sturdier than chains, cleaner, and something I love, quieter. The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. Which keeps it yet cleaner. You can ride to work without worrying…

I have question for you. Before my actual bike, I had a mountain bike for something around 15years. I never changed or did anything to the chain. It was perfect. Now I bought a new one. After 2 years I went to the shop to have it checked. They had to change the chain. When I told them my story with the old bike they told me: "that's how it is today. Chains are not what they were". I'm still in disbelieve. Can you con…

The chain and gear sprockets are progressively getting thinner in pursuit of lower overall bike weight. This is driven by the racing side of cycling, similar to automotive tech coming through R&D in Formula 1 racing.

A lighter bike is nicer to ride. It is less effort to accelerate from a stop and a 1kg difference will be noticeable when riding up hill.

The trade-off of the thinner drive train components is that they will wear and stretch faster. Continuing to use a stretched chain will cause accelerated wear on the sprockets. When the sprockets get too worn the teeth become very pointy and chain will start to skip on the rear cassette or drop off the chain rings.

Track bikes (fixed gear, single speeds) are the exception, as the chains are still very thick as they are designed to take more force from acceleration from the track sprinters.

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#272

Post by sliken »

aluhut wrote: post #134
johnny99 wrote: post #119

I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions: - Belt drives are great. They're sturdier than chains, cleaner, and something I love, quieter. The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. Which keeps it yet cleaner. You can ride to work without worrying…

I have question for you. Before my actual bike, I had a mountain bike for something around 15years. I never changed or did anything to the chain. It was perfect. Now I bought a new one. After 2 years I went to the shop to have it checked. They had to change the chain. When I told them my story with the old bike they told me: "that's how it is today. Chains are not what they were". I'm still in disbelieve. Can you con…

15 years ago it was likely a 7 speed. In that same space todays bikes have 11-12 gears.

Additionally chains and gear teeth can wear together way past the designed for tolerances. So over 15 years things might work, but then you have to replace the chain, cassette, and chainrings. Replacing any piece alone would likely make things MUCH worse.

Generally if you ride daily it's worth replacing a chain annually, or at least checking for "stretch", which is actually wear. Chains are MUCH cheaper to replace than chainrings and cassettes.

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#273

Post by sliken »

MagnumOpus wrote: post #240
peller wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably just mean proof of purchase. The other important bit is the serial number (analogous to a car's VIN), often found under the bottom bracket.[0] You can (and should) register it with the local police, and there are a few online registries too. It's not an effective deterrent[1], but it's better than nothing. (I've had a bike returned to me because I registered it. That was before I learned to always use K…

> always use Kryptonite U-locks Don't. My bike was stolen by rapidly sawing (dremeling?) through a Kryptolok in broad daylight in a place with some of the most heavy law enforcement presence in Europe. Their locks are much weaker than their marketing.

Kryptonite are plenty strong, they are a good deterent, but not theft proof by any means. I've talked with people who's job was to cut bike locks. It was generally something like cables, 15 seconds. Offbrand u-locks 45 seconds and 1/3rd of a cutting wheel, name brands minute in a half and a cutting wheel. Then the "new york style" heavy ulocks were on the order of 5 minutes and 3 wheels.

Certainly there are bigger cutting discs, if you are willing to make a bunch of noise and sparks you can cut them more quickly.

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#274

Post by colanderman »

johnny99 wrote: post #119

I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions: - Belt drives are great. They're sturdier than chains, cleaner, and something I love, quieter. The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. Which keeps it yet cleaner. You can ride to work without worrying…

> The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does.

To be fair, the angle of a chain doesn't change either, if you have an internally geared hub, as one must with belts.

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#275

Post by johnny99 »

aluhut wrote: post #170
johnny99 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the bike, but can be true. Fifteen years ago you might have had 7 cogs in the back, and today you can have 10 or even 11. Which means chains are a little thinner, to accommodate the extra gears. Also, depends on mileage not years--an old, unridden bike will be fine. You can usually get ~3k miles from a chain without having to change the cassette (the cluster of gears in the back). If you let the chain go t…

It wasn't mileage. I was a more frequent biker back then. I'll get one of those measuring tools and learn how to use them. Otherwise it'll be 2 years again after this season.

A ruler works great: https://cyclingtips.com/2016/09/how-to-check-for-chain-wear-...

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#276

Post by abrax3141 »

Lexarius wrote: post #195
abrax3141 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are bikes still getting stolen? So many bikes are stolen that you'd think the market for stolen bikes, and parts, which can't be THAT huge, would be saturated.

That's like asking "Why are people still manufacturing bikes, you'd think everyone who wants a bike would have one by this point". Bikes generally have shorter lifespans than people, and we're also making new people-who-want-bikes all the time.

I'm guessing that it's more like people are getting them stolen regularly. What I don't get is why the bottom of the pyramid (cf other branch of this thread) doesn't fill up.

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#277

Post by abrax3141 »

67726e wrote: post #259
abrax3141 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pyramid scheme, to which my original point applies specifically.

How so?

The bottom of the pyramid should fill up with stolen bikes faster than the bikes rust out. Although I guess with 13M more births than deaths each year, there's 13M more potential outlets for stolen bikes. My guess is that most of those buy new or unstolen used, but with only 1.5M bike thefts a year, I may have just data'ed myself out of my OP! (All data for US 2015)

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#278

Post by analog31 »

awqrre wrote: post #268
analog31 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to keeping your pants clean, the chainguard also helps keep your pant cuff from getting caught in the chain.

I can somewhat understand the belt-guard around the pedal gear, but why all the way back to the rear wheel? This bike sounds like a scam, especially if you look at the cost...

I suspect that some of the design choices come down to styling. In terms of cost, this is a bike with a special market niche: Placement in Ikea stores, and branding associated with European lifestyle.

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#279

Post by halostatue »

userbinator wrote: post #40
tyingq wrote: post #14

Zooming in, the belt says "Conti Drive System" on it. More info on that here: http://www.conti-drive-system.com/ They seem to be competing with the "Gates Carbon Drive", here: http://www.gatescarbondrive.com/ I know nothing of bicycles, but I do recall when automakers started replacing timing chains with timing belts. The results weren't always great, especially with interference engines where misaligned timing means…

More interesting is the fact that it's a 2-speed automatic. I've seen previous attempts at adding automatic transmissions to bikes but much of the reviews out there seem to mostly complain about the shift points and inability to control them. E.g. they shift at a fixed speed and there's no way to "kickdown" unlike an automotive automatic, which also takes into account engine speed and throttle position. I suppose the…

I’ve got a Norco (CityGlide) with the SRAM 2-sped automatic on it. It’s pretty good. The shift is more based on the torque applied than the speed you’re going at; coasting and then using light torque will shift back to first gear pretty quickly.

Aside from the belt drive, this looks pretty close to the CityGlide that I have, and at a similar price (on sale). (The CityGlide lists around CA$799, and I got mine at a bike show for CA$450; I’ve spent more since then, including getting fenders.) If I didn’t already have a two-speed automatic, I’d probably look at this seriously.

I also have a Dahon (Speed P8) that I use in the winter, although I might be using the Norco a bit this winter. When I replace the Dahon, I’m strongly considering a Montague full-sized folding bike.

Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA

#280

Post by semi-extrinsic »

loeg wrote: post #252
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The great thing about 10/11 speed cassettes is that you can go single on the front end. I did that three years ago, and man is it better. So I sacrifised the very highest and the very lowest gear compared to my old 3x9, but this thing never drops the chain off the front end, there is no front derailleur that always gets bent and fails to shift properly, and there are no awkward momentum-bleeding crazy shift-down-one,…

> The great thing about 10/11 speed cassettes is that you can go single on the front end. I did that three years ago, and man is it better. Well, maybe if you live somewhere pretty flat. Or are willing to give up some high-end range (>25 mph). 10/11 speed cassettes generally only have a few teeth wider range than a ~7 speed, for example (e.g., you can get a 13-28 7-speed and the bigger 11 speeds are 11-32 (road)) . M…

Yeah, I don't know about road bikes, I run a 10 speed 11-34 MTB cassette in a low-end downhill rear derailleur (Shimano Zee). My area is not exactly flat, I guess I make up for it by being an old squats addict. It's good enough for light trail use for me, even with two kids in the bike trailer.
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