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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

#81

Post by filmor »

Yetanfou wrote: post #60
kleer001 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a lot less range Maybe in the more popular implementations like from Shimano. But there's internal hubs with greater ratio spread than chained: The Rohloff: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/internal-gears.html

...which at ~€1100 costs more than many people will spend on a bike, weighs more than a full set of sprockets and a derailleur, is less efficient due to the staged planetary drive, can only be repaired by sending it back to the factory, can (like other planetary drives) not be shifted under load and as such is more of an interesting novelty than a real solution to the stated problem.

Good internal hub gears can be shifted under load, and the Rohloff one is probably as good as it gets.

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

#82

Post by FpUser »

>"This isn’t just some lab experiment, either. They’re soon going to be used in top-tier UCI track races."

As long as it is not an absolute crap pros would use whatever equipment their sponsor tells them to use. Chain durability for pros does not matter and whatever the difference in friction are really negligible.

>"ability to transfer 25% more Torque"

Any decent chain will handle way more torque than cyclist can deliver so what's the point.

>“four times increase in system lifetime”

I believe it when I see it. Also how much more this puppy gonna cost and cyclists would need to change chainrings and sprockets. This much troubles for the sake of chain? Sorry but I have my doubts.

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

#83

Post by cptskippy »

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…

> Europe has largely adopted it

I'm not sure you're using the term "largely adopted" correctly. It implies that something is the majority or norm, not a rare occurrence.

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

#84

Post by pandemic_region »

pierot wrote: post #74
owenversteeg wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the Netherlands and have traveled Europe very extensively and I have never seen one single belt driven bike... I have a feeling that it'll be a long time before Europe widely adopts them :) Does look very cool, though.

Oh, but you can see those from time to time Belgium. Largely adopted? No, not at all.

Cube has one https://www.cube.eu/en/2020/bikes/urban/hyde/cube-hyde-pro-b... , I bought the 2018 model it's really nice and convenient to drive. Going back to traditional chain once you drove one of these may be similar to automatic vs manual gear shift in a car, why would you? Note: I'm a casual cyclist.

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

#85

Post by FpUser »

owenversteeg wrote: post #48
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 live in the Netherlands and have traveled Europe very extensively and I have never seen one single belt driven bike... I have a feeling that it'll be a long time before Europe widely adopts them :) Does look very cool, though.

I've seen quite a few of those here in Toronto. One owner I've spoken to actually said that it has noticeably higher friction. I did not try those bikes myself so can not really confirm/deny.

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

#86

Post by ip26 »

alistairSH wrote: post #30
brudgers wrote: post #10

Reduced chain width has significantly changed bicycle drive trains over recent decades. Bicycles have many more usable gears. A manufacturer who pushed a non-standard chain heavily would wound cycle shops. Standardization facilities keeping parts in stock.

I'm not sure that's true. SRAM already went with their own non-compatible design with their latest road groups (AXS road). Bottom bracket "standards" have proliferated over the last 20 years (all 8 of the bikes in my garage use a different system). Hub spacing is non-standard too (100mm/130mm QR, 100/135 QR, 100/135 TA, 100/142 TA, 110/148 TA, Superboost, DH, and a few other niche standards). Even within a brand, the…

It's true that bikes are a pretty sad story when it comes to standards. I think axles is going to settle down soon though. QR seems to be on the way out and standard TA for road with boost TA for mountain seems like the direction we are headed...

(Disc brakes in particular are not a good match for QR)

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

#87

Post by FpUser »

rorykoehler wrote: post #33
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/

Some cyclists are indoctrinated to the point that they might actually buy this insanity.

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

#88

Post by ComputerGuru »

rdiddly wrote: post #66

I'll tell ya what I see: no rollers. Pins rubbing (wearing) both sides of the tooth. Including the back side, which will never exert any forward longitudinal force on a chain unless it's made of magnets. I also see a highly suspect FEA diagram on the right, where teeth not even engaged still show non-zero stresses (lighter blue, not the darkest blue), indicating that the color/stress scale has been changed compared t…

> I guess I'm a bit (to use one of Bike Snob NYC's favorite words) nonplussed.

JK Rowling taught me that nonplussed is apparently a part of the daily vernacular in the UK.

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

#89

Post by shirakawasuna »

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…

Any idea of the sustainability of the Gates Carbon Drive system? Looks like it's made of polymer + carbon fiber. On the other hand, traditional chains eat+shed oil and grease.

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

#90

Post by frabbit »

alistairSH wrote: post #32
usrusr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

50 hours of use

I assume this is a typo for 500?

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