Belt drive bikes - The advantages of a bike without a chain

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28 July 2020

Bicycles with belt drive are increasingly common. The advantages of a belt drive bike convince many cyclists to choose a belt drive over a chain. But the fact that belt drive bicycles are getting cheaper plays a role too. Lighter weight, less maintenance, longer lifespan and also very quiet, who wouldn’t want that?

A belt drive is a one-piece toothed belt. Together with special gears, this results in a durable and extremely quiet system that requires very little maintenance on top of that.

Another upside of a bike with belt drive: no more dirty chain that stains your clothes!

Belt drive for e-bikes and city bikes is far from new. The technology has existed for pretty long already. Unfortunately, belt drive technology used to be very expensive. The advantages couldn’t outweigh the cost.

For this reason, many people would still choose a bike with a traditional chain. But cycling with belt drive has gotten a whole lot cheaper already. What’s more, the price difference has become very small.

If you keep in mind that you save a lot on maintenance, you might just be cheaper off with a belt drive bicycle. We’ll list all the advantages of a bike with belt drive for you.

Belt drive is easy to maintain

A belt drive lasts up to 4 times as long as an old-fashioned bicycle chain. And you’ll never need to grease it. If it’s dirty, removing any sand with a cloth is sufficient.

Maintaining a belt drive is very easy: you won’t need to lift a finger.

A separate belt drive is a lot more expensive than a new bike chain however. But since it lasts much longer, the price per mile is more favourable.

A belt drive is very light

A belt drive is reinforced with carbon fibres. Because of this, a belt drive is not only much lighter than a regular bike chain, it’s also tough as nails.

Thanks to carbon fibre, a belt drive is super tough and super light.

Add to that the longer lifespan, and you can imagine how in the long run, a bike with belt drive is often cheaper than a bike with a chain.

You won’t hear a belt drive!

Aside from advantages such as longer lifespan and less maintenance, a belt drive is also incredibly quiet. No more rattling bike chain!

You wouldn’t expect it, but a bike with belt drive is really ultra quiet.

A bike chain makes noise. Not to the point of requiring you to cycle with earplugs, but if you try a bike with belt drive, the difference becomes evident. All metal parts of a traditional bike chain with gears produce a relatively high amount of noise.

Do you like enjoy silent cycling? Then a belt drive is an excellent choice. No matter how dirty or sandy the belt gets, it will remain quiet!

A belt drive bike enables you to cycle faster

A bike chain has a lot of moving links. And even if you grease it appropriately, it’s still a bunch of metal parts chafing against each other, which causes loss of energy.

One last advantage: using the same amount of energy, you can cycle faster on a bike with belt drive than using a chain.

Any noise is history with a belt drive bike. Using the same amount of force, you’ll be able to cycle faster. You’re not only really quiet, but also breathtakingly fast! It turns out a bike with belt drive has a lot of upsides.